Ashlee Buzzard, the mother of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, who has been the subject of a missing person investigation, was taken into custody on Friday.
Melodee was last seen in October along the Utah border.
Buzzard was seen handcuffed and being led by Santa Barbara County Sheriff's officials from her California home into a waiting sheriff's vehicle.
Sheriff's officials say her arrest on a felony charge of false imprisonment is unrelated to their missing person investigation. Officials say detectives recently learned that Ashlee had prevented a victim from leaving a location against their will. They say no other information about that incident is being released at this time.
The road in front of Ashlee's house was briefly closed to traffic starting at around 11:15 a.m. while authorities were at the scene on Friday. Multiple law enforcement officers were also seen leaving the home, at least one carrying a couple of paper bags.
Sheriff's officials say Ashlee was being booked into the Northern Branch Jail with bail set at $100,000.
Meanwhile, officials say investigators remain focused on locating Melodee.
Detectives have been investigating the little girl's disappearance since Oct. 14, when the Lompoc Unified School District reported her prolonged absence.
Sheriff's officials recently announced that they'd narrowed their investigation to the period between Oct. 9 and Oct. 10, when Ashlee and Melodee were on a multi-state road trip to Nebraska. On Oct. 9, Melodee was reportedly captured on surveillance video near the Colorado-Utah border. When Ashlee returned home the next day, Melodee was no longer with her.
Investigators say Ashlee has not been cooperative with detectives, and they believe the license plate on the car Ashlee rented in Lompoc at the start of the road trip was later changed to a New York plate to avoid detection. They also believe she wore different wigs during that trip.
On Thursday, the sheriff's office released a 10-second snippet of surveillance video showing Ashlee and Melodee at the Lompoc car rental business on Oct. 7.
According to the sheriff's office, the car Ashlee rented for that trip was a white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu with a California license plate of 9MNG101. The same vehicle was also seen with a New York license plate of HCG9677.
Sheriff's officials believe Ashlee took the following route on or around Oct. 9:
Melodee is described as approximately 4’6” tall and weighing 60 pounds with curly brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information about Melodee’s whereabouts is urged to call the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Detectives line at (805) 681-4150. Anonymous tips can be made by calling (805) 681-4171 or on the sheriff's website.
