Ashlee Buzzard, the California mom accused of killing her 9-year-old daughter, Melodee Buzzard, pleaded not responsible Friday morning throughout a short however emotional arraignment in Santa Barbara County Superior Courtroom.
Buzzard, 40, appeared in custody for the listening to, the place a choose formally arraigned her on costs of first-degree homicide, “mendacity in wait” and associated firearm costs within the demise of her daughter, whose stays had been found Dec. 6 in a distant space of Utah.
The courtroom erupted as Buzzard entered the not responsible plea on all counts, as folks seated within the gallery cried “oh my god,” video of the listening to exhibits. A court docket officer briefly known as for order earlier than the continuing continued.
Buzzard will stay held with out bail pending additional proceedings, in keeping with the Santa Barbara County district legal professional’s workplace. Her preliminary listening to is scheduled for Jan. 7.
Authorities allege that Buzzard fatally shot Melodee throughout a multistate street journey in October earlier than returning alone to Santa Barbara County.
Investigators consider the killing occurred on or round Oct. 9, shortly after the pair had been final seen collectively on surveillance video close to the Utah-Colorado border.
Melodee had been reported lacking weeks earlier after failing to return house from what investigators described as an “uncommon” cross-country journey along with her mom. In accordance with sheriff’s officers, Buzzard rented a car for the journey and took deliberate steps to keep away from detection, together with sporting wigs and clumsy disguises. Buzzard was additionally captured on surveillance swapping license plates and backing into gasoline stations so cameras wouldn’t seize figuring out data, investigators allege.
On Dec. 6, a pair found Melodee’s decomposed physique alongside a distant stretch of State Route 24 close to Caineville, Utah.
Prosecutors alleged Buzzard carried out the homicide with a excessive diploma of “planning, sophistication, or professionalism.” A legal criticism described the homicide as totally deliberate and “skilled,” alleging Buzzard carried out the killing with a “excessive diploma of cruelty, viciousness, or callousness.”
“This stage of legal exercise is especially surprising given the calculated, cold-blooded and criminally subtle premeditation and heartlessness that went into planning it,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Invoice Brown mentioned at a Tuesday information convention.
Ballistics proof performed a key function within the case, investigators mentioned. Cartridge casings recovered close to the Utah crime scene had been matched via a federal database to an expended casing beforehand discovered throughout a search of Buzzard’s house in Vandenberg Village.
A reside spherical of comparable ammunition was additionally recovered from the rental automobile Buzzard used through the journey, in keeping with legislation enforcement officers. DNA testing later confirmed a familial match between Buzzard and the stays present in Utah.
Buzzard was arrested at her Santa Barbara County residence Dec. 23.
Investigators relied on bodily, digital and forensic proof when cooperation from the suspect was not forthcoming. Authorities haven’t recognized a motive and don’t consider anybody else was concerned.
Authorities had been made conscious of Melodee’s disappearance when her extended absence was first reported by a faculty administrator, triggering the preliminary welfare examine that launched the investigation.
Investigators mentioned Buzzard was “uncooperative” all through the investigation and declined to offer a verifiable clarification for her daughter’s whereabouts when deputies first contacted her in October. Detectives later obtained search warrants for Buzzard’s house, a storage unit and the rental car tied to the street journey.
Melodee’s disappearance drew widespread consideration, with relations and neighborhood members organizing searches as authorities tracked the mom’s actions via California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas.
“We had been all hoping to seek out Melodee alive, as you undoubtedly had been as properly,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Patrick Grandy mentioned on the Tuesday information convention. “Our collective hearts are damaged because of this mindless consequence.”
Courtroom information present Buzzard has confronted monetary instability in recent times, together with a Chapter 7 chapter submitting and a number of civil collections instances.
Prosecutors allege Buzzard’s intent to kill was fashioned in Santa Barbara County, which is why the case might be tried regionally regardless of the killing occurring out of state, sheriff’s officers mentioned.
Buzzard’s subsequent court docket look is ready for Jan. 7, when a choose will decide whether or not there may be ample proof for the case to proceed to trial.
