Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - MOMMY DISGUISES MISSING MELODEE, 9, IN WIGS ON BIZARRE CROSS-COUNTRY ROAD-TRIP

Episode Date: November 13, 2025

Joining Nancy Grace today: Greg Morse - Criminal Defense Attorney of Morse Legal, Author of “The Untested” (found on Amazon) Lauren Johnson-Norris - Defense Attorney (specializing in juvenile, and CPS cases in Orange County, California), and Founder of Johnson Criminal Law Group Dr. Bethany Marshall -  Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker," and featured in hit show "Paris in Love" on Peacock; Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, X: @DrBethanyLive Irv Brandt - Former Senior Inspector, US Marshals Service International Investigations Branch, Chief Inspector, DOJ Office of International Affairs; Country Attaché, US Embassy Kingston, Jamaica. Author of, “SOLO SHOT: CURSE OF THE BLUE STONE," "Forever Solo: Knight of the Dragon,” “Flying Solo: Top of the World," “Solo Journey: Buddha Knights a Jack Solo Mystery Novel," and “Going Solo: The Gospel of Luke” X: @JackSoloAuthor” Rhonda Dequier - Founder, Missing In America Network (an advocacy program for the families of missing persons)  Anne Emerson - Senior Investigative Reporter for Criminally Obsessed (which can be found on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X and Facebook: Criminally Obsessed), Host of the Award-Winning Podcast: "Unsolved South Carolina: The Murdaugh Murders, Money and Mystery." Sydney Sumner- Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Mommy disguises missing melody just nine years old and a bizarre series of wigs on a very odd cross-country road trip. Mommy comes home, no melody. I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime stories. Thank you for being with us.

Where is this little girl? Timeline was very sketchy, and mom is not giving any information at all. Where is Melody? Please help us find this girl. Mommy being completely uncooperative in the search for Melody. Why? Is there any good reason? Mommy can't tell us where her nine-year-old little girl is?

is before I bring you up to date on this bizarre cross-country road trip and the changing of the wigs and the outfits and the disguises, mommy changing the license plates on a rental car during that cross-country trip with her child. Who does that? I want to take you straight into a courtroom in the last hours. This has gone down. Mommy, Ashley Buzzard, in court, on criminal charges. This is our friends at Court TV. But they were not charges in relation to her missing little girl. And yes, Melody, nine years old, is missing. Straight out to Ann Emerson, senior investigative reporter, criminally obsessed on YouTube, and star of Unsolved South Carolina of the Murdog Murder's Money and Mystery. And thank you for being with us. Why is

Isn't mommy charged with her disappearing child? Why is she charged on some other false imprisonment? What happened? Right now, we were so surprised when that false imprisonment charge came in. It looks like someone had gone to the house to try and talk to her from what he's told us that we now know the man who says he was the one that filed this criminal complaint. Well, Anne Emerson, you're absolutely correct. His name is Tyler Brewer. And apparently he goes over to Buzzard, that's Ashley Buzzard, Melody's mother's home, to offer to help look for Melody and they get into it. And apparently Ashley Buzzard tells him some story about where Melody is, then thinks better of it and holds him in her home locks the doors and holds him with a box. Cutter, listen. After weeks of refusing to give any information about her daughter's whereabouts,

Ashley Buzzard is taken into custody, but the arrest on a charge of false imprisonment isn't related to Melody. A friend of Buzzard's, Tyler Brewer, stopped by Buzzard's home to offer help locating Melody. Brewer claims Buzzard told him exactly where and with whom she left Melody in Utah. Brewer tells police, he doesn't trust the information Buzzard gave him about Melody. Brewer says Buzzard is visibly distressed after of bulging Melody's location, screws her eyes shut, and makes fists over and over. Buzzard allegedly produced a box cutter and secured her front door with four locks,

standing in front of it to prevent Brewer from leaving. When Brewer does manage to escape, he goes straight to police. Who does that to a guy, this guy, Tyler Brewer, who's coming to try to help find Melody, and what did she tell him about Melody's location? Of course, now he thinks she could have been lying. And why lie about your daughter's whereabouts? This as the specter was Melody sold? We know she, Ashley Buzzard, is in a lot of debt, thousands and thousands of dollars of debt.

We know she needs money. She doesn't have a job. She's in debt. She takes Melody on a cross-country bizarre road trip and comes back without her. Has Melody been sold? Has Melody a nine-year-old little little. girl being trafficked? Is Melody still alive? Why? Let's take a look at her in court again. Because when you see her in court, there's Ashley Buzzard standing with her lawyer,

and that's our friends at court TV. Why didn't anybody ask her, where's Melody? And why does she look like that? Let's see how she looked at a rental, a car rental business, where she was renting a car. Hey, is that her? Yes, it is. And she is done up. Let me tell you. Look at that head full of fake hair. Okay, the false eyelashes, the makeup, the outfit, completely uncharacteristic of Ashley Buzzard. Why the change in appearance and why? There you go. Do you see those go-go boots she's got going on right there? Why? Why? Why is her daughter falling recalcitantly behind her wearing a wig? It's just, it's too much for me.

Straight out to Lauren Johnson Norris joining us, high profile defense attorney, specializing in juvenile in CPS cases. You can find her. She's the founder of the Johnson Criminal Law Group. Lauren, she's in court. She's in the clutches of law enforcement. She's in front of a judge. Did nobody say, hey, where's Melody?

Well, I'm sure absolutely and understand the frustration about wanting to ask that question. But when a defendant is in court, they won't be speaking. Their attorney speaks for them. And her attorney would have asserted the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination to protect her rights so that she doesn't say something that could land her in jail. You know, I really appreciate what you're saying, Lauren Johnson-Norris. But if you notice, there's not a jury there. So her asserting, as we all know, a trial lawyer's know, if you know the defendant is going to assert the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, if you know they're going to do that, you cannot continue to ask them that in front of a jury.

You can't do it if they've already advanced their Fifth Amendment right. But there's not a jury. So why didn't the prosecutor ask? Why didn't the judge ask? Am I the only one that wants to know where is it? is Melody. You're so concerned that by asserting her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, it could somehow prejudice a jury. There is no jury, Lauren. Well, of course, there's no jury at her arraignment. But we know that anything that she can say

can incriminate her. And potentially, if she's placed under oath, anything that she says, of course, could be used in a case. So while everyone may want to ask for that question... Not if she asserts the fifth? Sure. But if she asserts the fifth... we know she's not going to be speaking, right? So she wouldn't be saying anything at all. A judge would, rather a prosecutor, would have to give immunity to her to get that information.

Now, we don't know if that has been discussed between the prosecution and the defense about just locating Melody and seeing where she is to get that information. But I am sure that the law enforcement investigation is going on behind the scenes. We just don't see it on TV. Okay, guys, so she's there in court.

You see Ashley Buzzard in court with a defense lawyer. That means there's a prosecutor. That means there's a judge. There's law enforcement standing right there staring at her, shooting daggers right at her. This is from our friends at court TV. And nobody says, hey, where's Melody? Maybe she'll answer. Maybe she won't.

Maybe she'll assert her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. But nobody even asked. Guys, where was Melody taken on that road trip? Joining us tonight, a special guest. It is the Santa Barbara Sheriff's P-I-O Public Information Officer Raquel Zick. Raquel, a three-day road trip. What have you learned? Detectives learned that there was a three-day road trip that began on October 7th,

and it went as far out as Nebraska down into Kansas before the re-year. return trip that ended in Lompoke. We do know on that return trip that Ashley did come back to Lompoke without Melody. To Sydney Sumner, Crime Stories Investigative reporter, Raquel, I'll be right back with you. Sydney, Lompoke, where is Lompoke? Southwest of Vandenberg Village, where Ashley and Melody live together at that home on Mars Avenue. So that's the main city center. Vandenberg Village is very small. So you would head into Lompoc for shopping, things of that nature. So, Sid, where exactly did she go?

Well, from Lompoc, it looks like she made a really big loop, driving east all the way to Nebraska, then driving south into Kansas, and then coming back to California, back to Lompoc, through Utah and Colorado. Wow, a circuitous route. Take a look at that. Now, can we establish?

was Melody with her the entire time. We now know that she stopped at a gas station, the junction gas station. Listen. It was really, really freaking weird because she just like opened the door at the store and then he said, did you guys know you have a whole bunch of kittens out here? Though gas stations in Pangwidge and Circleville

could not provide surveillance footage, finding it taped over two days prior, an employee at the pit stop in Junction Yucon Utah is convinced she had a brief interaction with Ashley Buzzard. The employees say Ashley did not purchase anything but told her about cats hanging around the store. The employee says Buzzard left with a woman in her late 20s to mid 30s with purple hair driving in a white car with California plates. From our friends at KUTV and there's more. I kind of walked towards the door going what the crap was that when they left and noticed that they had a California license.

plate. There's a lot of nature, a lot of woods around here. So it's like if this is where she was the day before she got home, like, who knows? You know, anything could happen. KU.T.V.S. Straight out to Irv Brandt. You know him well. Former Senior Inspector U.S. Marshal Service International Investigations Branch. What is that? He's gone all around the world looking for missing people and bad guys. Irv Brant is also the author of a series of books about Jack Solo. Gee, I wonder who that could be patterned after. Irv Brant, did you hear what the gas station attendants are saying?

They're convinced they saw Ashley Buzzard. They are convinced she had Melody with her. They state that she had poked her head in and when she about kittens and when she left, it was so odd, her behavior was so odd, they actually said, what the crap was that? And they even looked out and saw she had a California car tag.

What could have happened that made them curious? Curious enough to go? I mean, you know, Irf, how many times have you seen something you thought was odd and you looked to check the tag? Well, the gas

station attendance, and I agree with you, Nancy, that it is very odd. But when you're talking about that area of the country, where you're going into Utah and Colorado, I'm pretty familiar with it. There's not a lot out there, and there's not a lot of people coming through. And the people that tend to live and work there look at people they don't know hard. And something about that struck those people as unusual. Straight out to Anne Emerson, senior investigative reporter criminally obsessed. And what I find significant, and I'm circling back in a moment to Sydney regarding the timeline, is when this gas station attendant saw, and they're

convinced they saw the mom, Ashley Buzzard, they did not see Melody. What do you know about this interaction? Well, it's, it was so bizarre, I think, that that's why this gas station attendant it remembered what she thought she saw. First of all, remember, Ashley's wearing a wig, and it looks weird. So I think there was a part of it that was like, why is this woman coming in with this wig talking about these kittens outside? So she kind of leans out, and she was actually on the phone, I think, right after or right during this interaction with her husband, and that's why she could recollect it. She looks out and she sees in the car someone with purple hair is what she said. Now, we asked very specifically, our partners at KUTV were sent down to this area to talk

to them about this. And she said she thought the woman in the car was in her 20s or 30s. And that was a huge red flag to all of us. That something had possibly happened between that Colorado, Utah border. And now we're just down the road on Route 89. What's going on? And that really was very concerning. But we don't know for sure, right? We don't know for sure if Melody looked older for some reason, but a nine-year-old looking like a 20 to 30-year-old, it was just too much for me to believe. To Sidney Sumner, Crime Stories investigative reporter, Ann Emerson is spot on, and she's identified a very critical moment in this road trip. So the mom, we believe, Ashley Buzzard, goes to this gas station, and where, we're

is the gas station. Quickly, Sidney? Junction, Utah. They see who they believe to be this woman, the mother, Ashley Buzzard. She comes in. She doesn't buy anything, but she asked them about kittens, cats outside the gas station. It sticks in the attendance memory. She was on the phone with her husband and must have recounted what just happened. They They look out for some reason, their suspicion is roused, they look out, they see the white rental car, they see that it now has California plates, and they see what they believe to be, a woman in her 20s to 30s with purple hair in the car with the mom. Do I understand it correctly, Sidney? Yes, that is the gas station attendance account of what happened. And she didn't really get a good look at that passenger in the car.

So she claimed that this woman with the purple hair looked to be in her late 20s to maybe her early 30s, but she didn't have an interaction with anyone outside of Ashley. And this was weird. Ashley poked her head in the door, said, hey, do you know there's a bunch of kittens out here? And walked off, got back in her car, and took off. So it was kind of a weird interaction. Yeah, she didn't get a good look at that passenger in the car. And the car did have California plates, which matches what she rented.

So that car, that rental car was assigned a California plate when she left. We know at some point during the drive, she switched to a New York license plate. But by the time that she was back in Junction, Utah, that car had California plates again. Was that melody in the car wearing another bizarre wig, courtesy of Mommy? Or was that truly an adult female? And you've got to look at it, Irv Brandt, from the perspective of the gas station attendant. If the gas station attendant saw the California tags, I originally thought that means she sees the car leaving, but in California, you have to have a tag on the front and the back

of your car. So she could have seen the car coming toward her. So we've got to get a description, a good description, as best as she can give, of the woman or child with a purple wig on. That's correct, Nancy. I mean, this is a very important piece of the investigation, and it needs to be locked down as closely as it can. If she didn't actually see the, you know, the passenger in the car other than the purple hair, you know, it could have been of any age. We just need, they need to make sure of, you know, what she's saying. Straight back out to special guests joining us, the Santa Barbara shares P-I-O is Raquel Zick.

Raquel, this siding, what do you make of it? We do have a confirmed siting as recent as October 9th, which would have been on the route back, and that would have been on the Colorado side of the Colorado, Utah border. This trip was taken in a white rental vehicle from a rental agency in Lompoke, and we do know that somewhere along the route, the California license plate was switched out to a New York license plate. Additionally, we know that Ashley and Melody did wear wigs along this trip, and those two things coupled together lead us to believe that this was done to avoid detection along that trip. Joining us now, a special guest, it's Elizabeth Mesa. This is Melody's aunt. As you will recall, Melody's father passed away in a vehicle accident on a motorcycle. This is Melody's aunt on her father's side, her paternal aunt.

Elizabeth, thank you for being with us tonight. I am stunned that the mom walks out of court and no one presses her for information on where is Melody? Yeah, this whole thing is pretty shocking and it's very heartbreaking that there's no no force to tell her where, tells where Melody is. We're still

in the dark, absolutely, with no information whatsoever. And she walks out so careless, so nonchalant, like it's not a big deal. Like it's no big deal at all. And Lizabeth, I also heard where her

attorney was asked, well, is Ashley Buzzard concerned about Melody's welfare and her lawyer, Buzzard's lawyer says, I can't comment. How can you not comment on whether a mom is concerned about her nine-year-old little girl? I don't understand it at all. I have tried to wrap my mind around this whole thing and, you know, try to give empathy and try to put myself in her shoes, but I just

can't. There's just, there's something up there that's not right in her mind and for her not to have any concern for her daughter whatsoever is absolutely disgusting. When did you learn that Ashley Buzzard had walked out of court and nobody made her answer, where is your daughter? I mean, they didn't even put the question to her. If she needed to take the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, she could have. But nobody even bothered to ask her in court. Yeah, I was at work, and I had people, my mother-in-law and a family friend.

was there in the court and then many news stations were there and I was contacted and my stomach just completely dropped I felt sick it was just where's the justice for melody where is Malady that's just the question and she just walked right past with not even a care don't like it doesn't even bother her that we're asking this crime Stories with Nancy Grace. But aside from the disastrous court hearing where a judge let her walk free with an ankle monitor, I mean, this woman clearly knows how to plut, how to change the car tags, the license plates on cars.

You think she can't beat an ankle monitor for Pete's sake? To me, that was an insult. It was an insult on top of injury. I agree. It's definitely a slap in the face. An ankle monitor, she went through, travel through the Midwest, changing license plates in disguise, but yet you're going to give her an ankle monitor that she wasn't a flight risk. I mean, she's concealing her daughter's identity and not cooperating in the police, but let her free. It doesn't make any sense.

I've got a question. When you said that she went across the country, which she did, that has been documented in the, disguise. I find that very odd that you put your nine-year-old little girl in a series of wigs when you go in and out of a stout. Okay, there she is right there. There is buzzard with little Melody and she's got her daughter. That's the rental car location. She's in a wig and she's got her daughter in a wig. Why would you do that? And I also find it interesting that you see Melody just kind of walking behind her. I don't like the looks of that either.

Yeah, I noticed the body language between the two of them is very off when they're at the rental place. It doesn't seem like a normal nine-year-old. I mean, she's just standing there with her arms crossed just with like this. I mean, poor child, she's in a wig with a hoodie on. Mom's in full disguise. Like, why? You know, that's the question, why? Why are you doing this to her?

She should be out plain. She should be wearing a disguise. She should be her last worry. You know, another thing that's scaring me, Lizabeth, is that I know Ashley Buzzard has run through a lot of money, thousands and thousands of dollars she owes people. She needs money. She's broke. She takes a rental car in disguise across the country, hours and hours and hours of driving.

She changes the plates on the car. Who does that? Then she changes the plates back when she returns home without Melody. She needs money. She went in disguise. She changed the car plates. Have you considered the very disturbing fact that Melody was sold or trafficked at nine years old? Of course, that's a thought, you know, something that you definitely don't want to think of.

But, yeah, I mean, that's definitely a thought because none of this makes sense. You know, I mean, that's definitely nothing that we hope for. We hope that she's safe and that we could get her back. But, I mean, it doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense. And like you said, she owes thousands of dollars to people. But yet she, I mean, she doesn't have a job. She's on a fixed income on housing.

What is she spending all this money on? Why did she need all those credit cards? I mean, she doesn't have a vehicle. There's just so many wonders on what's going on. Where is she getting money, Elizabeth? Well, she's on housing, and she receives social security benefits. But other than that, I mean, she doesn't have a job. I don't know where she's getting her money to rent cars.

I mean, renting a car to drive across the Midwest isn't cheap. And then the food and the gas. I mean, she can't get that much money. money on what through the government. I mean, they don't give you that much money. So she has to be doing something else. I don't know. I try sitting here thinking and I'm just completely mind-blown over everything at a loss for words. Has anyone been able to confront her about where is Melody? No, I mean, not. We've attempted to. We went over there. We've been trying to talk to her.

We personally, the family, have had no success with that after my niece was able to talk to her that one time. And then, no, she doesn't correspond with us whatsoever. Does she have a cell phone, Lisbeth? I mean, she has to have a cell phone because she's ordering all these packages. So she has to have some type of electrical device. I mean, she has to. So here we go. We know she's got a cell phone, which leads me to, has the phone been pinged?

That will give me a direct route of where she's been unless she shut it off. But there's one thing she cannot shut off, and that is the satellite, the nav system on rental cars, if that rental car had a nav system, which I believe that it did. So that is a simple matter to track where she went on that nav system. system. Question. Have you or anyone within your family been in touch with L.E. Law Enforcement? I made several phone calls trying to get a hold of the detective. I emailed and I asked him to please, if you're not going to call me back, please get in touch with my mother-in-law because she was very upset and she wanted answers. And thankfully he did. He reached out to her. I'm not sure of his

name, but he reached out to her about a week or so ago, and he just let her know that they're still working on the case. They don't have any new information, and they would keep us updated. And, I mean, we know just as little information as y'all do. We get the information after it hits the news. So we don't know anything else. We don't know anything more than everybody else knows. So it's pretty frustrating because they don't let us.

know when they're going to be doing things, you know, so it's, it's just frustrating. The whole thing is frustrating. It doesn't make any sense to me. I just keep, you know, wondering, is Melody okay? Um, does she need anything? You know, I mean, I just think of my own kids and knowing that they're in school and they're playing with their friends and Thanksgiving's coming up and it's just heartbreaking. It's absolutely heartbreaking. I've got such a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, Lizabeth. We're in a catch-22. Law enforcement is because they're trying to find Melody just like you are, but they don't have any proof of any wrongdoing so they cannot arrest Buzzard until they get some kind of proof. And every minute counts. If Melody is still

alive and there is a strong possibility she is, how long will she be alive? And how long until she is lost in some web of trafficking. You know children are sold, then they're sold, then they're moved, then they're moved, they go to place, to place, to place, to place, to where you can't find them. That could be happening right now, tonight, as we're talking. She could be in some person's car, in the back of the car, getting taken across the country to some other location to some other person that wants a little girl her age for nothing good. good. That could be happening right now and the mom's not talking. I have another question for you, Lizabeth. Did you ever know buzzard to dress up in all of these wigs or to dress her child

up in wigs or is that specifically for this road trip? No, this is, I've never seen her in so much makeup or dressed the way she was. Never. She was always just, um, she was always just, um, in like jeans and a t-shirt you know i mean never in full makeup like this ever never seen her in a wig she always had her natural hair which was um shoulder like mid back maybe very curly but this whole costume disguise this is all new i mean i wouldn't have recognized her if i seen her on the street i mean this is just a total new character yeah i mean she's decked out with a full-on wig, false eyelashes, either a leather or pleather jacket, tights, matching boots, the works.

She's put a lot of time into that look she's got going on right there. Lizabeth, is she hold back up in her home now? Yes, she returned last night. This is just killing me that we can't get anything out of her. And under our Constitution, we can't make her answer questions. Lizbeth, what is your message to Melody tonight if she can hear you? I just want to let Melody know that she has a lot of family that loves her. She has her grandma, her sister, aunts, uncles, cousins.

We're all here for her and we love her very much. And we just want her home safe. Joining us tonight, Melody's paternal aunt who has been trying and trying for weeks on in to find nine-year-old Melody. Where is Melody? How could she be gone a year and just reported missing, or was she? Without getting some kind of direct indication from Ashley

of where Melody should be, it's going to be much more difficult. Mommy, just in court on another serious criminal charge, and that would be false imprisonment, by use of a box cutter on a guy that shows up offering to help find Melody, not a stranger, someone she knows, a guy named Tyler Brewer, and apparently law enforcement believe him because they issue a formal charge, and nobody asks Ashley Buzzard, where's Melody, bringing up the chilling possibility that this little girl has been sold or trafficked?

straight back out to Santa Barbara Sheriff's P-I-O, Raquel Zick. What happened to the rental vehicle and the changing of plates? Yeah, so we know that the vehicle left the rental agency bearing a California plate that was assigned to that vehicle. We know that somewhere along the route that was switched out to a New York plate that did not belong to Ashley, and it does not belong to the vehicle. And then before it was returned back to the rental agency at Lompoc, the California plate was replaced. So it's a little challenging. It's more challenging to track that vehicle

as it goes through states because we're not sure what license plate we're looking at associated with this white sedan. And additionally, it's hard to tell how many times or if that plate was switched back and forth. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining me now, a veteran defense attorney. You know him well. Greg Morse, criminal defense attorney out of Palm Beach, founder of Morse legal and author of The Untested on Amazon. Greg, when you have a client that changes the car tags on her car, I mean, when you go on a road trip, do you take time to change the tags and think about it? In California, you have a front. and a back tag. That's a lot of work. Why?

Well, Nancy, you're looking at these innocuous actions of the mom and trying to impute that she sold her daughter. She got rid of her into sex slavery. But these are just unconnected actions by someone. They don't prove anything. They're clearly not enough to arrest. So they're meaningless in and of themselves. And she's doing the right thing by not talking to the police because they manipulate and they change statements and they put more meaning on things than maybe the information calls for to lead to a conclusion that she did something wrong. They're now releasing her on house arrest for what seems like a nonsense charge of false imprisonment unrelated. You know, they're leveraging the law enforcement and unrelated to keep her

close for this investigation into her daughter. She may be distraught. She, you know, is broken down and very emotional, so she's probably not thinking right anyway, because her daughter's missing. And the information that's out there now doesn't prove anything. Her daughter's missing because she took her on a bizarre road trip and made her wear wigs the whole way along, and now suddenly she's gone. To Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us, psychoanalyst, author of Deal Breakers, you can see her now on Peacock, and you can find her at Dr. Bethany Marshall.com. Dr. Bethany Marshall, in all of your travels which are extensive, her parents were missionaries

all over the world and she went along, have you ever seen or seen a video of a snake charmer? The snake charmer, you know, plays the musical instrument and goes back and forth. And suddenly the very poisonous snake, they're both going symbiotically like this and you start falling under each other's trance, right? and as soon as the music stops, the snake, bites somebody. Okay, that is what Greg Morris just did. Did you hear what he said? The mother's distraught?

Really? I didn't see her crying. Let's see a shot of that court TV video of Mommy in court. She's standing there just as cold as a block of ice. And, oh, by the way, Bethany, after this, this is her on court TV? Somebody asked the lawyer, hey, is your client worried about me? Melody? The lawyer said, quote, I can't comment. I'm worried about Melody. Why isn't the mother worried about Melody? You know what? You're the shrink. Hit me. Well, the mother's more worried about kittens than about Melody, apparently. Here's what concerns me. The mother is in quite a bit of debt. She and her daughter look so sexualized in terms of their appearance. The mother is sexualizing the daughter that somebody at a convenience story.

actually thinks a nine-year-old is between 20 and 30 years of age. That means the mother is putting makeup, the purple wig, all of that. What this tells me, and also all the changing of the tags and the license plates, this mother, I do not believe, is sophisticated enough to do that on her own. But this is not a highly functioning mother, so it tells me somebody might be coaching her, telling her how to live the car. Because you please put Bethany up. I think she's being coached.

I'm sorry. I just, I'm hearing static right now. You said this is not a highly functioning mother. Pause. This mother knows enough to get a rental car to change out the tags throughout her cross-country road trip with her little girl who goes missing, to change outfits, put on disguises, and come back without her and fend off authorities who are questioning her about where is Melody. And you say she's not high functioning?

I disagree. I, Nancy, I do not think she's high functioning. I think she's being coached. Let me remind everyone that the mother, that just sticks in my mouth, the mother in this case, Ashley Buzzard, has not been charged and has not been named as a person of interest in Melody's disappearance.

She just happens, Rhonda, DeCher, founder of Missing an American Network. She just happens to be the last one known to be with Melody on a hundreds and hundreds of miles road trip, just the two of them, a Mommy and Me moment, and she comes back without her daughter and won't tell anybody where she is. How disturbed are you, Rhonda? And of course, this came to the forefront during the Chandra Levy case, if you remember that, where Chandra Levy went missing from her high rise in D.C. and the Ritzie high-rise would video, would tape over their surveillance. So we don't really know what time Shandra left her home.

We don't know if she was dressed to go out to a dinner party or to go jogging or to go back to work to the office, no idea. We don't know who was with her. We know nothing because every 72, they tape over it just like the gas station. considering pushing legislation to disallow that. But therefore, we don't have the video of that gas station. At least we have the eyewitness accounts. But I want to hear your take, Rhonda.

Well, look, I believe that we would be in a much better place if we had a better photograph of Melody, and the gas station would have been able to provide that if she was in that vehicle with her mom. I feel like the whole communities along that route could be looking out or could be looking through all of their videos to see where else that vehicle was seen. And I hope that the investigators are out there speaking with every single establishment along that road to see what they can find out. And hopefully they will come up with more videos so that we can actually see who we're supposed to be looking for. To Irv Brandt, author of Solo Shot, Curse of the Blue Stone, and Much More on Amazon.

But for my purposes, Irv Brandt has been with the U.S. government going all around the country, hunting down, tracking down, bad guys, and missing people. Irv, what do we do now? Well, Nancy, this is a complex investigation in the sense it covers so much, territory between California and Nebraska than the route back. But having said that, it's not complex and what they're looking for. And they will have the manpower. The FBI is assisting California. All the other states will join in and any other federal agencies that they deemed necessary. They will track that route as best they can. They will interview all the

witnesses that they can find to the last time that child was seen. To Greg Morse, a veteran trial lawyer, joining us out of Palm Beach. Why didn't anybody ask her in court? Where's Melody. Well, she has a lawyer, so she's not going to, she can't compel her to testify against herself. So, rightfully so, regardless of what's going on around her, false imprisonment charge. She's not, no, I don't know if she would be or not, but again, you're going to tell someone that's being looked at for a crime, you're going to tell someone that was charged with an unrelated crime. Do not speak with anyone or the police. That's good sound advice. That's Defense Law 101. She has a Fifth Amendment right, and she's exercising it. There's nothing

wrong with that. You know yourself. It can't be used against her in court if she is ultimately arrested in the future for something involving her daughter. But right now, there's not much other than the police began an investigation. Here's the last point of the daughter. They use this nonsense false imprisonment to get her into custody to see if that would provide leverage. But the only thing that did probably was get her a lawyer, probably court appointed since she doesn't seem to have much money. And he or she's going to tell her, hey, don't talk to anybody, no matter what they ask, even if you want to help. She may want to help. You may want to talk, but she's not.

And that's sound advice right now. That's right, Dr. Bethany. She wants to help so much. She stood there in court and didn't say a word and is being uncooperative and not helping police find Melody. That's how much she wants to help. Dr. Bethany Marshall, what do you think? I think that the fact that she took her daughter out of school and was homeschooling her was red flag number one, cutting the daughter off from relatives, a loving grandmother, aunt's uncles, red flag number two,

running up debt, dressing her daughter up in this manner and taking her across the country. But most notably, Nancy, when you interview somebody and you want to. I wonder if there's homicide or sex trafficking or something like that. What you really look for is whether or not there is empathy towards the lost child. There's no empathy. You know, Nancy, according to one report, she was taking down missing children, missing melody buzzard photos. That's not lack of empathy even, that's malice, that's destruction, that's getting in the way of the investigation. This mother, I think, does not want this daughter to be found for some reason, because if the daughter's found and the daughter talks about what happened, there's a lot of hell that could rain down on this mother.

Ann Emerson, is that true? And senior investigative reporter, criminally obsessed. Is the mom, Ashley Buzzard, accused of tearing down missing persons posters? Absolutely. We've got it on video. Like she was seen by a, like actually like a little surveillance camera. It's out there of, um, of her going in her front yard. And these were, these are community members who have been extremely concerned. There are plenty of neighbors who have been speaking out about this. And they've been watching this house for a while. And, and they watched her go in the front yard, see these signs and start pulling them up out of her yard. because for whatever reason, she didn't feel like they needed to have those signs in front of her yard. Another thing about these neighbors is that they have been watching strange behavior.

I mean, I asked, have you seen her, have you ever seen Melody in a, in a wig or in a disguise before? And they were like, well, I don't know about the wig, but I do know every time she goes out, she keeps her covered up with a hoodie. What? So this has been, this behavior has, for whatever reason, if there's a mental health issue, which we've heard a lot about, of course, or some reason that she would feel like she needs to keep her hidden, there are definitely signs that have been going on according to the neighbors for more than a minute. To Rhonda DeKare joining us missing an American network. What now? Well, we are sponsoring six billboards throughout California, Nevada, and Utah in order to help the public know who to look for and who to call if they see her. I have been asking everybody in those communities to print out posters and hang them up so people that aren't watching TV or on social media so that they know that there is this little girl missing and she possibly was in their communities. and if they saw anything to contact the authorities. And I have also put it out there that if any businesses want me to send them flyers

that they can hand out, that I will mail flyers to anybody along that route or anywhere where it would help to locate her. The search for nine-year-old melody is happening now. The state is trying desperately to find her. Law enforcement across multiple jurisdictions are working nine. and day to find this little girl and hopefully bring her home. If you know or think you know anything at all about missing melody age nine, please call Santa Barbara County Sheriff's 805-681-4-1-50. Repeat, 805-6-8-1-4-1-5-0. Tonight we remember an American hero, Officer Michael

Candler, Big Stone Gap, PD. Virginia, just 29, shot and killed in the line of duty, leaving behind a grieving wife Natasha and daughter Cameron, American hero officer Michael Camler. Nancy Gray signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an I-Heart podcast.