SERIALously - 332: Kohberger Hits Back, Woman Escapes Captivity, Melodee Buzzard Missing & Mom Refuses to Talk
Episode Date: October 30, 2025This week on Headline Highlights: new updates have surfaced in the Bryan Kohberger case as he tries to weasel out of paying restitution to the victims’ families. A French woman who was held captive ...by a couple for five years has finally escaped, shocking investigators with the details of her confinement. Police are investigating the murder of 25-year-old Chloe Henry, whose body was found dumped in a ditch just ten miles from her hometown of Moeres, New York. In a bizarre case out of Texas, a woman was arrested after running over her husband with an SUV, claiming she “tried to hit him, not kill him.” And the search intensifies for 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, while her mother refuses to cooperate with investigators. If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow the show for weekly deep dives into the darkest true crime cases! To watch the video version of this episode, head over to youtube.com/@annieelise Where is Madalina Cojocari? | Little Girl Vanishes and Parents Point The Finger At Each Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtZb0vbrHGw 🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks 🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to both of my weekly true crime series 10 to Life & Serialously with Annie Elise wherever you get your podcasts on the Annie Elise Channel! 🍎 Apple Podcasts | Where you can also unlock access to 100+ and growing extra exclusive deep dives. 💚 Spotify 🔴 YouTube 🎙️ All Other Platforms 📸 Follow Annie on Socials Instagram: @_annieelise TikTok: @_annieelise Substack: @annieelise Facebook: @10toLife ⭐Sponsors Wondery’s Scamfluencers: Listen to Scamfluencers NOW wherever you get your podcasts. One Skin: Support your skin’s longevity with OneSkin and get 15% off with code AE at http://oneskin.co. 👗 Shop Annie’s Must-Haves! ShopMY: bit.ly/AnnieElise_ShopMy Amazon: bit.ly/AnnieElise_Amazon 🫵🏻 Get Involved or Recommend a Case About Annie: www.annieelise.com For Business Inquiries: 10toLife@WMEAgency.com 📚 Episode Sources ABC13 | CBS 6 Albany | Daily Mail | Herald Scotland | Idaho Statesman | KHOU 11 | Law & Crime | Miami Herald | NewsBreak | New York Post | New York State Police | People | Yahoo News | 1011 Now •••••••••••••••••• 🚨Disclaimers 1️⃣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me. 2️⃣ Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. 3️⃣ The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.
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                                        Hey, true crime besties, welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly.
                                         
                                        Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly.
                                         
    
                                        with me, your true crime bestie and your host, Annie Elise. And look, for all of you who are watching
                                         
                                        this on YouTube, I'm coming to you fresh-faced. I just got micranetaling done, which I do micrneedling
                                         
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                                        for the first 24 hours, you're not supposed to put anything on your face because your pores are
                                         
                                        like the most open they will be. So I'm coming to you fresh-faced. I've got no makeup on. I'm super,
                                         
                                        super shiny and like, super glowy. So maybe it's a jump scare. For those of you who are listening to
                                         
    
                                        the audio version, you're welcome. At least you don't have to see this. No, but honestly,
                                         
                                        microneedling has like changed my life. So not a sponsored ad. Just telling you the truth.
                                         
                                        But no, so we have a lot to go over today. We have only one update in a case that I want to talk to you about just because this guy is like the scum of the earth and I need to tell you what's happening. And then we have a lot of new cases. Some that I know a lot of you have been wanting answers on and have been like sliding in my DMs on Instagram, emailing us. And so I want to get to all of it. Before we get to that, I got to say, thank you, thank you, thank you. Tour has officially wrapped.
                                         
                                        this week where the final shows in Portland, Tacoma, San Francisco. You guys brought the energy.
                                         
                                        I freaking love meeting you guys in the wild. It is like the peak of my existence. I'm not exaggerating,
                                         
                                        whether it's crime con tour, people who have come up to me in airports, meeting you guys in
                                         
                                        real life just makes me so happy. And I feel like it sounds so crazy now that I say this out loud
                                         
                                        because I'm probably like adding fuel to a parisocial type situation, which isn't good. But I
                                         
    
                                        feel like you guys are my friends. When I'm here in my studio talking to the camera, talking
                                         
                                        in the mic, I feel like you are literally right behind the camera and I'm talking with you.
                                         
                                        So when I see you in real life, literally, I hug you guys. I'm so excited. We're talking and
                                         
                                        like, I just love it so much. So we officially wrapped this year's tour this week and the shows
                                         
                                        were amazing. You guys are all amazing. I just want to thank you guys again so much for your
                                         
                                        support, for coming out, for sharing your stories with me, for sharing certain mementos and
                                         
                                        big moments of your life with me. You can see in my studio, I've put all of it on the bookshelf
                                         
                                        behind me. So I feel like everything you guys have given me. It's right here. It's like I feel like
                                         
    
                                        you're with me and I feel like we're all together. And again, I know that probably sounds
                                         
                                        so fucking crazy when I say that out loud. But I don't know, whatever. Call me crazy.
                                         
                                        I feel like we are all friends. So suck it. No. So anyway, I don't think I'm going to be going
                                         
                                        on tour next year. I think I'm going to take a little bit of a break. I will go to CrimeCon.
                                         
                                        I'm sure. It's in Vegas next year. I think it's in May of 26. And maybe I'll go on tour. Maybe I'll do
                                         
                                        like one or two shows. But this one was definitely a bit draining. It was what, 17 or 18 cities.
                                         
                                        And it just was a lot. And I think I just want to like pause for a moment. But yes, it was,
                                         
                                        it was very rewarding. And I loved meeting all of you guys. So let's get into this first update because
                                         
    
                                        this freaking douchebag is back on my radar. I don't even know why he still is alive to be quite
                                         
                                        honest, but it is Brian Coburger. And this piece of garbage, piece of filth, sewer rat is actually
                                         
                                        now hitting back at the victim's families, saying, uh, I don't need to pay restitution because
                                         
                                        you guys all made enough money off your GoFundMe's. Like, are you kidding me? The freaking
                                         
                                        audacity of this creep. So let me break it down for you. Attorneys for Brian Coburger are now
                                         
                                        asking a judge to excuse the convicted killer from paying tens of thousands of dollars to the
                                         
                                        of the Idaho victims, claiming that the families have already raised enough money through
                                         
                                        GoFundMe. Now, as a reminder, he was ordered to pay nearly $290,000 in restitution when he
                                         
    
                                        pleaded guilty back in the summer to the horrific quadruple murder, but the prosecutors also
                                         
                                        recently requested about $30,000 more so that they could cover the victim's family's travel
                                         
                                        expenses during the case. But Brian's defense team is firing back saying that because
                                         
                                        several of the GoFundMe pages raised tens of thousands of dollars for those exact same expenses,
                                         
                                        one totaling to over 73,000, another to 48,000, and a third for more than 85,000.
                                         
                                        They're arguing that because of that, the families, quote, get this, did not suffer an economic loss,
                                         
                                        not one that requires reimbursement. They also claim that Brian has no ability to pay,
                                         
                                        not now, not ever, since he is serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho's
                                         
    
                                        Max security prison, which let me get to that in a minute because there is a way this
                                         
                                        douchebag can pay and I'll tell you about it. So anyway, a virtual hearing is scheduled for
                                         
                                        November 5th where the judge will decide if Brian's restitution can be reduced or if he's going
                                         
                                        to remain on the hook for every single penny. And honestly, a lot of people are outraged by this,
                                         
                                        rightfully so. And I think a lot of people are kind of saying what I know I'm thinking and what I'm
                                         
                                        sure many of you are thinking that commissary money, that is income. So any money that is being put
                                         
                                        on his books by his mommy, his daddy, his sister, who is basically, unfortunately, his identical
                                         
                                        twin, not real, but looks exactly like him. I mean, imagine having to walk around with his face
                                         
    
                                        for the rest of your life. But they're putting money on his commissary books, right? That is income.
                                         
                                        He's allowed to buy a cup of noodles, a book, you know, shaving cream, whatever the hell he wants to
                                         
                                        buy, that money should go directly to the victim's families. He should have to pay for the rest of
                                         
                                        his life. He shouldn't be allowed to buy cushy things to make his life more comfortable and easy
                                         
                                        in prison and have accessibility to those funds. Those funds, in my opinion, should be directly
                                         
                                        rerouted to restitution. I don't know. He, I think he just needs to feel what he has done,
                                         
                                        and he will not feel that way if he doesn't have actual repercussions. Being in prison is not enough of a
                                         
                                        repercussion, in my opinion for him. And I think a lot of this, too, this could just be me,
                                         
    
                                        curious to know what any psychologists or, you know, professionals in the space think. But I think
                                         
                                        by him doing this, I think he is in a sick way trying to get control back. I think he's trying to
                                         
                                        have some sort of level of control and just continue to like fire back at these victims and their
                                         
                                        families. It's so twisted and so sick. So we will see what happens during that hearing again.
                                         
                                        It is scheduled for November 5th, so possibly we'll be in next week's updates or maybe the updates after that.
                                         
                                        But I'm going to watch this closely and this guy, it's just like, I really wish the firing squad got a hold of him.
                                         
                                        Although I do love the idea of him being a little bit tortured in prison.
                                         
                                        I'll be honest.
                                         
    
                                        That does make me sleep a little warm and fuzzy at night.
                                         
                                        But I think a firing squad would have been nicer just to get him out of our lives forever.
                                         
                                        Okay, so this next case, this is actually very wild because this next story is out of France,
                                         
                                        and it's honestly one of the most disturbing things that I have read in a while.
                                         
                                        A woman in her 40s escaped after allegedly being held captive for five years by a couple in France.
                                         
                                        It's this small town called St. Molf in Western France, but she was held captive by them for five years.
                                         
                                        Now, she managed to slip away on October 14th, and when she did,
                                         
                                        She was barefoot, she was freezing, she was in total shock, and she had escaped the garage where she had been imprisoned, and I'll tell you a little bit more about the conditions in a moment here, but she ran to a neighbor's house begging them for help, which, luckily, that neighbor was home and immediately called the police.
                                         
    
                                        Now, when the officers got to the property, they found that the garage door had been completely sealed shut from the outside by using concrete blocks, just barricading it so that it was completely just, you know, literally.
                                         
                                        sealed. Inside the garage, there was like this little deck chair where she apparently had to sleep,
                                         
                                        that's where they forced her to sleep, a plastic pot that she used as a toilet, and then evidence
                                         
                                        that she had been fed porridge, which is kind of like oatmeal, but it had been mixed with
                                         
                                        dish soap. They also reported that when they approached this woman and found her, she was
                                         
                                        described as, quote, very thin, and that she had lost almost 50 kilograms, which I think I did the
                                         
                                        math and it's more than like 100 pounds. So she was like emaciated, very thin, very malnourished,
                                         
                                        and she also had the signs of hypothermia. Her skin had been washed with bleach.
                                         
    
                                        Dish soap, as I said, had been found in her food. And the authorities also believe that she had been
                                         
                                        drugged. So the police arrested two people. Get this. A woman in her 60s and her boyfriend who was
                                         
                                        82 years old. They both have been charged with kidnapping, torture,
                                         
                                        and what prosecutors are calling, quote, acts of barbarity.
                                         
                                        Now, here's where it gets even worse.
                                         
                                        The investigators say that the victim originally lived there as a roommate with the female suspect,
                                         
                                        who, by the way, is a nursing assistant.
                                         
                                        But then, after the suspect's boyfriend moved in, things allegedly escalated.
                                         
    
                                        The woman was forced to live in a tent in the garden.
                                         
                                        Then she was moved and locked into the garage full time.
                                         
                                        And the couple also allegedly systematically drained her bank account.
                                         
                                        and stole her social security benefits for years.
                                         
                                        So it seems like this was kind of an issue or like a control play,
                                         
                                        trying to get off on the control and the power play of it all,
                                         
                                        but also the financial benefit of her bank account and continuous social security benefits.
                                         
                                        Now, when questioned, both of the suspects admitted to part of the facts.
                                         
    
                                        However, they allegedly are trying to downplay just how serious it was,
                                         
                                        which the authorities obviously aren't buying it.
                                         
                                        the physical evidence matches this woman's story exactly. There's no way of getting out of it.
                                         
                                        And she's now being treated for hypothermia, severe maltrition, and the prosecutor say that she is
                                         
                                        extremely fragile. However, she is safe. She is recovering. But the officials say that this could be
                                         
                                        one of the worst captivity and torture cases that France has seen in recent years. Just appalling and
                                         
                                        awful and so sad. And you know what it really does illustrate? This woman,
                                         
                                        was in her 40s, and it's been five years that she's been held captive. This can happen to anyone.
                                         
    
                                        It doesn't discriminate on age, gender, race, any sort of thing. Things like this can happen to
                                         
                                        anyone, which means you just have to really always be extra cautious, who your roommates are,
                                         
                                        who your partner is, who you're getting involved with, because we're seeing more and more of
                                         
                                        weird shit like this surface, you know? Now, let's get into this next case, because it's about a 25-year-old
                                         
                                        young woman who goes missing and unfortunately it just ends in heartbreak but also a lot of questions.
                                         
                                        So this week, a small New York town is completely reeling after a 25-year-old Chloe Henry was found
                                         
                                        murdered. Allegedly, she had been murdered by her husband. Now let me back up a little bit because
                                         
                                        Chloe was first reported as missing a couple of weeks ago by her family. It was after they hadn't
                                         
    
                                        heard from her in over 36 hours, something that they described as being, quote, highly unusual.
                                         
                                        And the last time that anyone saw her, she was with her 33-year-old husband, Keith Henry.
                                         
                                        They were together in Plattsburgh, New York.
                                         
                                        So her family was worried, they reported her as missing, and they also took to Facebook,
                                         
                                        and they created a post which read,
                                         
                                        My niece Chloe is missing.
                                         
                                        Please help us find her.
                                         
                                        She was last seen with her husband Keith Henry in downtown Platsville.
                                         
    
                                        If anybody has any information or think that they may have seen her, please contact us or the NYSP.
                                         
                                        She is approximately 5'2.
                                         
                                        she has brown eyes, long brown hair, she was wearing blue jeans and a hoodie, and a pair of
                                         
                                        cheetah printed crocks on her feet. Please help us find her. We just want her home safe.
                                         
                                        Police can't officially classify her as missing until 10.10 p.m. tonight. She hasn't been heard
                                         
                                        from in over 36 hours. She hasn't checked in on her babies. This is highly unusual for her.
                                         
                                        Now, unfortunately, just two days later, her body was discovered along Ridge Road in Chazzy. It hit her body
                                         
                                        been dumped in a ditch near the Lake Alice Wildlife Management area, which was just 10 miles from
                                         
    
                                        her hometown. An autopsy later revealed that Chloe had been shot in the head and in the back,
                                         
                                        and the medical examiner, of course with that, ruled her death as a homicide. Now, according to the
                                         
                                        police, they believe that Keith allegedly shot Chloe while the two of them were inside his car
                                         
                                        in Peru, New York, which is about 25 miles away from where her body was found. They then
                                         
                                        alleged that he drove off, discarded her body, and headed home. So he's now being charged with second
                                         
                                        degree murder and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He's also being held without bail.
                                         
                                        Why he has the two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, it's a little unclear. I have heard
                                         
                                        reports that the children were in the car with him when this happened. I have heard reports of
                                         
    
                                        neglect. All alleged at this point, information is still starting to surface because this is a new
                                         
                                        breaking case. Meanwhile, Chloe's coworkers at the nursing center described her as beloved by
                                         
                                        residents and staff alike, saying that she was taken far too soon. Now, what's interesting in all of this
                                         
                                        is although it seems very clear cut from the arrest, what the police are alleging, the evidence of
                                         
                                        where the gunshot wounds were, it looks on the surface to be a domestic dispute, the police
                                         
                                        haven't shared any sort of motive. They haven't shared why Keith would want to kill his wife, Chloe,
                                         
                                        why he would then dump her body, what sparked this in the car. So I think a lot more to come,
                                         
                                        and we will certainly keep our eyes on it.
                                         
    
                                        Scams are everywhere. On your phone, in your inbox, even on your television screen. I mean,
                                         
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                                        Like the recent episode of Natalie Cochran, the pharmacist Fem Fetal, it seemed like she had it all.
                                         
                                        A good job, a loving husband, and two kids.
                                         
                                        But behind the scenes, Natalie was scamming friends and family using fake contracts, fake government
                                         
    
                                        emails. She even faked cancer. But when the walls start closing in, she'll do anything to keep the
                                         
                                        lie alive until someone ends up dead. Listen to scam fluencers now wherever you get your podcasts.
                                         
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                                        Okay, now this next case comes out of Pasadena, Texas.
                                         
                                        On Monday, October 20th, at around 3.30 in the morning, police in Pasadena got a call
                                         
                                        about a man who was lying unresponsive on the sidewalk after being hit by a car.
                                         
                                        And when they arrived, they found 42-year-old Leonardo Mendoza suffering from very serious injuries,
                                         
                                        injuries that were consistent with being hit by a car like that call indicated.
                                         
                                        Now, first responders did what they could at the scene, and they took Leonardo to a nearby
                                         
    
                                        hospital, but unfortunately he died shortly after.
                                         
                                        Now, when the police were trying to figure out what happened, they realized that there had been
                                         
                                        no car at the scene, even though that's what the person who called 911 said that they saw.
                                         
                                        They saw him being hit by a car.
                                         
                                        So when the police started questioning this witness, they said that they had seen a black
                                         
                                        Chevy Tahoe driving behind him. Then it jumped the curb, it hit him as he was walking through a
                                         
                                        parking lot, and it took off. The person just completely sped off and wasn't seen again. So of course
                                         
                                        the next question was, okay, well, who was driving this vehicle? Well, the only way to find out
                                         
    
                                        was to ask his family, and family members were very quick to identify the vehicle based on the
                                         
                                        description. And sure enough, it belonged to his wife, 37-year-old Alina Gonzalez Morales.
                                         
                                        Now, when the investigators first contacted Alina, she told them she had just gotten home
                                         
                                        from a party. But when they let her know what had happened to her husband, suddenly her story
                                         
                                        started to change. Alina said that the two of them had been arguing that night after she got
                                         
                                        home at around 2 a.m. The argument started in the house, and then it eventually moved outside.
                                         
                                        He apparently had walked away on foot, trying to just cool off, have some time to cool down,
                                         
                                        and he was going to go get his car from the nearby Kroger. Now, I'm assuming, I'm just going to
                                         
    
                                        read between the lines here. I'm guessing they went to the party together. They were drunk. Maybe they
                                         
                                        took an Uber home. Maybe they walked home but left the car behind at the local Krober. I don't know.
                                         
                                        Maybe his car was there for a different reason. I'm just speculating here. But for whatever reason,
                                         
                                        she decided to follow him in the Tahoe. And that's when she drove up over the sidewalk and hit him.
                                         
                                        Which I want to just pause here for a second because that is a huge escalation, right? It's not said
                                         
                                        anywhere what this argument was about, but for her to follow him.
                                         
                                        and then just decide to jump the curb and hit her husband with her car,
                                         
                                        seems very extreme and, of course, very intentional, right?
                                         
    
                                        I don't know, it just seems a little over the top.
                                         
                                        But mind you, this was all caught on surveillance footage,
                                         
                                        which I'm going to play that for you here,
                                         
                                        for those of you watching on YouTube,
                                         
                                        but for those of you who are not, I'll describe it as it's going.
                                         
                                        Now, in this footage, it appears to be the early morning hours
                                         
                                        because the sun definitely is out.
                                         
                                        And you can see that she is driving,
                                         
    
                                        and it's kind of like this sidewalked area.
                                         
                                        You can see, like, things are chained off.
                                         
                                        The crime scene tape is still hanging.
                                         
                                        But you basically see him almost running, not just walking.
                                         
                                        And this is 3.25 a.m.
                                         
                                        And then she's speeding after him, like, going fast.
                                         
                                        And he's running away from her, which is, like, obviously, he must have known that she was
                                         
                                        going to do something and that he was fearful, right?
                                         
    
                                        The actual collision itself is not caught on surveillance or it at least hasn't been
                                         
                                        aired yet.
                                         
                                        So part of me is wondering, I mean, I don't think that she was.
                                         
                                        was just driving after him to, like, talk to him, to cool down, to talk about the argument,
                                         
                                        and she was so drunk that she, like, hopped the curb and hit him.
                                         
                                        Because, again, in this footage, you see him running away on foot, and her headlights going
                                         
                                        full speed toward him.
                                         
                                        So I think he knew that he was being chased down by her and hunted by her.
                                         
    
                                        According to the arrest affidavit, Alina was taken into custody, and the police say that
                                         
                                        she did show signs of intoxication.
                                         
                                        She reportedly told the investigators that she, quote, meant to hit him.
                                         
                                        but didn't mean to kill him.
                                         
                                        Like, I'm sorry, hello, as if that's any better.
                                         
                                        Like, oh, yeah, I did mean to hit him with my car, but I didn't mean to kill him.
                                         
                                        Like, are you out of your freaking mind?
                                         
                                        So that statement, if confirmed in court, it could play a major role in how this case unfolds legally.
                                         
    
                                        Alina was booked into the Pasadena Police Department jail and then later transferred
                                         
                                        to the Harris County Jail for processing.
                                         
                                        She's facing murder charges and she's being held without bond.
                                         
                                        The investigators are reviewing whether intoxication or intent will be key factors in this case,
                                         
                                        and of course, this is all still alleged, but tax reports and official court filings that are still being worked on
                                         
                                        will actually tell us what led up to this fatal confrontation.
                                         
                                        Obviously, it appears on the surface that it was a drunken rage and that this argument just escalated,
                                         
                                        but could her defense team argue that it was accidental, that she was drunk and accidentally jumped to the curb and hit him?
                                         
    
                                        I don't think so, because if they can get that statement into court record that she meant to hit him but didn't mean to kill him, that would take accident completely off the table.
                                         
                                        Not to mention, again, in that footage, you can see he is clearly running from her.
                                         
                                        So we will see what happens, and it's just another reminder, don't drink and drive, don't drink and fight, don't drink in huge copious amounts, and I don't know, just don't do it.
                                         
                                        Now, this next case I want to talk about has been all over the internet. Everybody is talking about it. There are so many rumors and so many allegations that I'm really going to try to keep this to just the facts. Even though some updates have come out over the last few days, it hasn't officially been verified. Once it is, I will certainly let you know. And if for some reason there is a fact that is verified that was not here at the time of this recording, I will put it in the show notes below.
                                         
                                        But it's the case of Melody Buzzard.
                                         
                                        She's a nine-year-old girl who went missing, and it is really unsettling because now her mom is just refusing to cooperate.
                                         
                                        So it's a case out of California that has left everybody asking the exact same haunting question.
                                         
                                        Where is nine-year-old Melody Buzzard?
                                         
    
                                        This little girl from Lompoc hasn't been seen in more than two weeks.
                                         
                                        And what's even more troubling is that her own mother refuses to say where she is.
                                         
                                        Sounds a lot like Lori Valo, right?
                                         
                                        Circa 2020 with Hawaii and she refused to turn over the children.
                                         
                                        Now, here's what we know.
                                         
                                        The investigation began when a school administrator realized that Melody hadn't picked up her assignments in nearly two months.
                                         
                                        So that triggered a welfare check, and by October 14th, police officially opened a missing person's case.
                                         
                                        During their investigation, detectives quickly discovered that Melody's mom, 40-year-old Ashley Buzzard,
                                         
    
                                        had recently taken a 1,500-mile road trip to Nebraska.
                                         
                                        She had rented a car to do so as well, a Chevy Malibu, a white Chevy, Chevy Malibu.
                                         
                                        Let me just be clear.
                                         
                                        And surveillance cameras confirmed that Melody was with her mother on October 7th during this road trip.
                                         
                                        But when Ashley returned to California, she was alone.
                                         
                                        Melody wasn't with her.
                                         
                                        And that was the last verified sighting of Melody, October 7th.
                                         
                                        Since then, her mom Ashley has refused.
                                         
    
                                        used to answer any questions about her daughter's whereabouts.
                                         
                                        And the investigators describe her as, quote, completely uncooperative.
                                         
                                        She's ignored visits from child protective services.
                                         
                                        She's dodged questions from family.
                                         
                                        And according to neighbors, she has barely left her house in days.
                                         
                                        However, just last week, she finally did emerge.
                                         
                                        And what she did next when she emerged, it has everybody even more alarmed.
                                         
                                        Exclusive photos that were obtained from the Daily Mail show,
                                         
    
                                        Ashley walking out of her home and walking directly past her daughter's missing person poster.
                                         
                                        Then she gets into a black Lincoln sedan that was being driven by a friend and she takes off.
                                         
                                        After that, she was then spotted at two different rental car offices in nearby Santa Maria,
                                         
                                        trying to rent yet another car.
                                         
                                        Now, she was denied both times, reportedly due to unpaid credit card debts and court cases
                                         
                                        over thousands of dollars in defaulted accounts.
                                         
                                        But just moments after returning home from trying to rent that car, social workers pulled up.
                                         
                                        And Ashley refused to open the door.
                                         
    
                                        Neighbors say that she was handed a 72-hour notice ordering her to either produce melody or disclose where she is.
                                         
                                        Otherwise, she would face arrest, which, again, that is very reminiscent of Lori Valo.
                                         
                                        If you guys followed that at the very beginning, you know that she and Dumbel Chad fled to Hawaii.
                                         
                                        They were given a court order to disclose the children.
                                         
                                        to deliver the children, whatever it is, otherwise they would be arrested, which ultimately
                                         
                                        Lori Vallow was. Meanwhile, as this is unfolding, police cars have been circling the neighborhood
                                         
                                        and unmarked units are reportedly parked near her home. The FBI has also now joined the surge,
                                         
                                        calling the case, quote, perplexing and clearly suspicious. Authorities say that their primary goal right now
                                         
    
                                        is simply to verify that Melody is alive and safe. Family members are of course desperate for
                                         
                                        answers, and Melody's aunt, Elizabeth Mesa, told reporters that she hasn't seen this little
                                         
                                        girl in over four years, because apparently her mom, Ashley, cut off everyone. She said that
                                         
                                        Melody had been homeschooled, isolated, raised mostly in seclusion, and she also described her
                                         
                                        sister, who is Melody's mother, Ashley, as mentally unstable and financially struggling.
                                         
                                        Now, this whole homeschooled thing and isolation, I want to talk about that for a moment, because it is
                                         
                                        secret, and I've talked about this before, especially since 2020 and the pandemic, it has given
                                         
                                        parents, guardians, caretakers, new excuses to homeschool their children. Some homeschool for
                                         
    
                                        the right reasons, 100% to each their own. That's totally fine. But it has given certain caretakers,
                                         
                                        dangerous caretakers, an excuse to isolate them so that nobody can see what's going on behind
                                         
                                        closed doors. So that if there is,
                                         
                                        any sort of physical harm, malnourishment, certain types of behavior that they withdraw them from
                                         
                                        school. Nobody will be able to see any markings or anything like that, any indicators of anything
                                         
                                        happening inside the home. And they just isolate them and nobody questions it. And we have
                                         
                                        seen a huge uptick in that, especially since 2020. And it is awful. It is absolutely awful.
                                         
                                        So speaking too to her financial struggles, Ashley apparently has previously filed for bankruptcy.
                                         
    
                                        She lives on social security income and she's currently being sued by creditors over several
                                         
                                        unpaid accounts. Yet despite all of that, she somehow has kept up with paying the rent on her home,
                                         
                                        which is a pretty nice three-bedroom house that is, you know, right there in the city,
                                         
                                        but now is surrounded by posters from all of her neighbors who are demanding, where is Melody?
                                         
                                        Former FBI agent Brad Garrett told ABC News that this case is clearly suspicious, noting that the last thing that any parent would do if their child were missing is refused to cooperate.
                                         
                                        He also pointed out that the investigators will likely be analyzing Ashley's entire route to Nebraska, that road trip, looking at gas station receipts, hotel charges, toll data from taking the toll roads, to analyze all of that and see if Melody can definitively be placed along that.
                                         
                                        trip? Or when was she last seen? Are there any other markers? But for now, there are more questions
                                         
                                        and answers, and the sheriff has publicly pleaded for anyone who might have seen Melody or her
                                         
    
                                        mother between California and Nebraska to come forward. Because right now, nobody knows if this little
                                         
                                        girl is safe, if she is with someone safe, or if something far worse has happened. So please
                                         
                                        share this episode, the link to this episode, the link to this video, share it wherever you can,
                                         
                                        because there needs to be answers. We need answers. What happened to Melody? And you know what it's
                                         
                                        giving? It's giving Madalina Kojikari. I don't know if you guys remember that case. I covered it a while
                                         
                                        back. It still is unsolved. Unknown. She essentially vanished and her mom didn't report her
                                         
                                        missing for months. And it was kind of the same thing. The school started asking like what the hell's
                                         
                                        going on. And that's what prompted the investigation. Her mom then went on like a spiral saying
                                         
    
                                        that she was hiding her, that she's safe,
                                         
                                        that I think she had said she sent her to Romania,
                                         
                                        but then there was some really weird stuff with the stepdad.
                                         
                                        They were both arrested.
                                         
                                        There were allegations of drug cartelling and drug muleing.
                                         
                                        I mean, all sorts of things,
                                         
                                        which I actually will link that episode in the show notes for you
                                         
                                        so that you can get fully caught up with that case,
                                         
    
                                        but that is what this case is giving right here.
                                         
                                        Anytime a parent won't serve up where their child is,
                                         
                                        that is a massive red flag, even if you're putting them with a family member or they're staying
                                         
                                        somewhere else, the fact that you are refusing to cooperate with this investigation and you will not
                                         
                                        just verbally say where your daughter is, red flag, red freaking flag. So I'm going to be all over
                                         
                                        this case. I will probably do a deep dive in the near future. Let me know in the comment section if you want
                                         
                                        that deep dive because I'm going to be all over this. This is not sitting right with me. Something is weird here
                                         
                                        and we got to figure out what's going on.
                                         
    
                                        Thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of headline highlights with me.
                                         
                                        As a reminder, if you need more true crime content to binge, a brand new episode just
                                         
                                        released on Tuesday on the new 10 to Life podcast.
                                         
                                        It's also available on YouTube, but we did a full deep dive into the John Wayne Gacy
                                         
                                        case, which I have never covered that case before because quite honestly I've been very
                                         
                                        scared too.
                                         
                                        It's one of those cases that freaks me out.
                                         
                                        But not only do we do a deep dive into that case, but there is a new series called Devil in Disguise on Peacock, and it's all about John Wayne Gacy, and we spoke directly with the lead actor who played Gacy. We interviewed him. You also probably will recognize him from Severance. He's the brother Rickin. He was also the brother in Orange's The New Black. I can't remember his name in that. But you would recognize him. So we sat down and interviewed him and the showrunner of the series to just try to understand what it was like getting into that mind.
                                         
    
                                        of Gacy to play that role, how the series came to life. And so we share that interview with you
                                         
                                        as well. So anyway, you can get that either here on your podcast app, whichever app you're using,
                                         
                                        Apple, Spotify, IHeart, whatever. We released it on Tuesday, but it won't be in this feed.
                                         
                                        You'll have to search 10 to Life. And while you do that, make sure you're following that
                                         
                                        podcast because we do drop new episodes every single Tuesday. So you'll have a new episode
                                         
                                        between these two podcasts every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and every other Friday as the bonus
                                         
                                        episodes, which you can get access to those directly through Apple Podcasts or through
                                         
                                        Patreon. Patreon.com slash Annie Elis. That was a mouthful. That was a freaking mouthful.
                                         
    
                                        All right, guys, so go binge all of that content, listen to those episodes, and I will be back
                                         
                                        on the mic with you very, very, very soon. But until then, be nice. Don't kill people. Don't join
                                         
                                        any cults, and don't refuse to cooperate if your child goes missing, which, God forbid,
                                         
                                        hopefully they don't go missing, but if they do, don't refuse to cooperate. Just be a good
                                         
                                        parent. And get Brian Coburger out of my freaking face. That's what I'm going to like end this on.
                                         
                                        Okay, bye guys.
                                         
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                                        No speculation or commentary.
                                         
                                        You make up your own mind.
                                         
                                        I'm Kevin, the host of Just Thought Lounge,
                                         
                                        the true crime podcast based on unbiased storytelling.
                                         
                                        Each week, I take viewers step by step through the evidence of a recent case,
                                         
    
                                        placing you in the shoes of the investigator through to a seat in the jury box.
                                         
                                        At JTL, there is no hidden agenda.
                                         
                                        Don't get me wrong, we are all about opinions, not mine, but yours.
                                         
                                        Join us in the lounge where you can sit back, put your feet up,
                                         
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