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Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
OUTRAGEOUS: Ashlee Buzzard Walks Free While 9-Year-Old Melodee Buzzard Is Still Missing
00:17:41
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- [00:01]
A
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- [00:36]
B
Hey everyone. I'm Ashley Banfield and this is drop dead serious. In this episode, a big update to the case of missing nine year old Melody Buzzard. It has taken a turn that is frankly hard to wrap your head around. Because while we still don't know where Melody is, whether she ate dinner with or went to bed safely, whether she's even alive, her mother, Ashley Buzzard, is suddenly back home and in her own bed at night. She is not searching, she's not pleading for help, she's not standing in front of cameras begging for her daughter's safe return. No, she is back in her Lompoc, California home wearing an ankle monitor after being released from jail on a charge that is as bizarre as the rest of this story is. Certainly by the standards of this case. It's been a month and three days since her little nine year old girl was last seen. And I'm recording this on November 12th. But Ashley Buzzard hasn't given so much as a clue as to where little Melody might be. At least not to the police, she hasn't. You'll probably remember that just on Friday of last week, five days ago, she was jailed, but she was jailed on a false imprisonment charge. And it was mysterious, like incredibly mysterious at first. And then it just got incredibly weird. You know, she wasn't able to cobble together the $100,000 in bail money that would have sprung her. So she cooled her heels in jail for five days. But earlier today, and I'm recording this again, on November 12th, she was in court for that false imprisonment charge. And this time she was not wearing any of the bizarre wigs that she has been known to use and that she's been seen in. In fact, she was like unrecognizable. Here she is standing before the judge. That's her own hair, you know, it's curly and it's cropped fairly short. She pleaded not guilty to false imprisonment. And then remarkably, believing that she wasn't a flight risk, the judge sent her home with an ankle monitor. Don't even get me started here. Ashley Buzzard, not a flight risk. The same woman who went on a three day road trip with her little Girl, but then returned without little girl, all the while switching her wigs to look different and switching license plates on the rental car. Who does that? But people who want to stay under the radar. Not a flight risk. I don't get it either. I sure hope that judge doesn't regret it. So a few hours after court, we got this video. Ashley Buzzard leaving the courthouse. And lookie, lookie, the big giant wig was back, but now it was accompanied by an ankle monitor. And I am not making fun of wigs. I think they're great and they're a huge part of American culture. But her wearing a wig is a different animal. Given that on this mysterious and possibly criminal trip where she returned without her nine year old daughter who's been missing ever since, she's switching wigs. And so to people in true crime, that suggests she uses them to obscure her appearance, not necessarily for fashion. Okay, so let's be real clear about the issue of talking about her wigs in a to fashion commentary. It is a question about her mens rea. Her potential guilty conscience. Right. Her intentions. Ashley's release conditions from jail also prohibit her from having any weapons. And she also can't make contact with her alleged victim, who in this particular case is not Melody. It is a man named Tyler Brewer, a local paralegal whom she allegedly imprisoned in her own home. And I mentioned that he's a paralegal for a specific reason. I've spoken about this in the past many times, but there are certain people among us who have a duty to report crimes if they believe crimes are being committed or if they see them. Okay, not everybody has a duty to report. Most people do not. It's a little bizarre, you know, if you see a crime happening in front of you, you are not legally obligated to call the police and report it. Morally, yeah, you're obligated, but morals and the law aren't the same. And according to the law, you do not have a duty to report unless you belong to a certain category of people. And people in the legal profession, you know, officers of the court, they have a duty to report. And as a paralegal, you know, Mr. Brewer said, I had a duty to report. I'm a member of the court. Doctors, they have a duty to report. Right. So you might wonder if sometimes they're breaking HIPAA by telling the police about something they see, you know, in their practice. Nope. If they believe it's a crime being committed, they have a duty to report it. Teachers, they are government employees. They have a duty to report. Police officers, people in authority, they have.
- [05:53]
C
A duty to report.
- [05:54]
B
I don't. I'm a journalist. I don't know what you do, but unless you belong to one of these groups, you don't legally have a duty to report. So Mr. Brewer, as a paralegal, he said I have a duty to report. And he did. Mr. Brewer spoke to my team at News Nation, where I do a show weeknights at 10pm and he spoke to us in even before he went public on social media. He told my News Nation colleague Nancy Liu that he's an acquaintance of Ashley's and that he had been trying to help Ashley find Melody. He says he went to Ashley's home last Thursday and that she became visibly distressed after sharing some information with Tyler that she apparently wished she hadn't. Mr. Brewer says that Ashley told him her daughter Melody was dropped off in Utah and says that Ashley even identified the person with whom the child was supposedly left. Here's the problem. He won't share those details with us. He believes that it is right now an investigation. He believes that the police have this information. He's given it to them, but he is worried about sharing it further. He doesn't want to complicate the investigation. He also said this. He said given Ashley's mental health issues, he isn't even sure if she was telling the truth. So that's important. And he told that to the police as well. But here's what's curious. In his now deleted Facebook post, Mr. Brewer said in Ashley's rage, quote, a box cutter was produced and despite multiple requests to be allowed to exit the home, I was not immediately permitted to leave, end quote. He told my colleague Nancy Liu that Ashley kept shutting her eyes and making fists and engaged several locks on her door. Her mental health issues haven't been a secret, folks, especially to the extended family. Melody's paternal grandmother, that would be Melody's late father's mom, told our team today that she started trying to get custody of little Melody years ago. And earlier on my News Nation program, it's called Banfield again, 10pm Eastern Monday to Friday, I talked to Nancy Liu, who's been working the story nonstop. Here is my conversation with my News Nation colleague, Nancy Liu.
- [08:20]
C
So, Nancy, just about an hour ago, you've been keeping watch and there was activity at the home. Tell me what happened.
- [08:28]
D
Yeah, we saw Ashley Buzzard. When she returned here, she was dropped off in that minivan with two Santa Barbara County. She walked inside again. She had that long wig on and it's almost like. It's like a cloak for her or something. She's hiding behind all that hair. But she walked in, didn't say a word. Of course, we're yelling, you know, where's Melody? Do you have any comment? She had said absolutely nothing. We saw that ankle monitor on her left leg. So she walked inside, she locked the door. We've seen no activity inside. There is a light on in the living room area, but we've seen no activities inside. So she's definitely in hiding. And the neighbors are all on watch waiting to see if there's any activity at this home. And we have not seen anything. So we shall see if she ventures out in the days ahead. But for now, she is home and she seems to be in high shock.
- [09:35]
C
Yeah, I am shocked that she was allowed out even with that ankle monitor on her left. She's wearing the tight pants, but you can see the left ankle has that monitor because she was held since Friday on a hunt on, you know, no bond. They wouldn't even let her out on bond. She had to cool her heels in jail over the weekend. So do we know whether this home is supposed to be her house arrest location? Because she didn't go straight from court to her home. There have been many hours where no one knew where she was.
- [10:07]
D
Yeah, she was gone for about three hours. We saw her leaving the jail. It took a while to do the paperwork to get her outfitted with that GPS monitor. We don't know where they went for about three hours. We thought they'd be coming straight here to Lompoc. So we don't know if they went to do more procedural stuff for while she's out for this pretrial. Her pretrial hearing is coming up next week. So, yeah, we don't know where she went for three hours, but we do know she is now home. And she's going to be back in court, though, in Lompoc. She'll be in the superior court here instead of up in Santa Maria.
- [10:51]
C
Well, we're looking at KTLA's video and now you can really, really get, for the first time ever, a clear look at her face. We've not been able to see her face before this close up because it's always been grainy surveillance video or, you know, shots taken at a distance from neighbors who've watched her unusual behavior with moving boxes, et cetera, ripping down the missing person posters that were put on her front lawn about missing Melody, her daughter. But now we can definitely see what she looks like with and without that wig. So I am curious about the court argument today, how she's out with an ankle monitor because her, you know, prosecutor said that she's a flight risk. I mean, we don't know where her daughter is. Did they even bring that up in court today?
- [11:38]
D
Yes, they did bring that up. The prosecutors brought that up. But first off, in court, I think everyone in that courtroom, Ashley, we're all so taken aback by how she looked because we didn't know if she'd be coming out with her wig on or not. But we have to go to that video of her in court with her natural hair. It's short, it's very curly. For the most part, you know, she's walking out there. But for the most part, throughout the proceeding, she had her hands clasped in front of her. She looked down. Much of the time she only mumbled good morning to the judge. After a lot of prompting, the not guilty plea was entered on her behalf. And she's assigned a public defender. You see him next to her. He stressed that Ashley, she has no criminal history and that the complaint, this false imprisonment complaint, that it's a non violent complaint. But the prosecutor countered, saying the alleged crime involved a box cutter. Also noting that Ashley Buzzard has, you know, very questionable recent behavior. There's the road trip linked to the disappearance of Melody. Melody is still missing, but the judge did allow that supervised release with the GPS monitoring. And again we saw when she was released from the jail, she had that long hair wig back on. And she really seems to be hiding behind her head hair. And even as we're, I'll tell you.
- [13:17]
C
What, yelling that, that wig, that wig is not just a fashion statement. She was switching wigs on that trip. When she went back and forth on a three day road trip returning without that child, she was switching wigs. So it's not a fashion statement. We're not being catty. The wig matters in this story. It's evidence and it's an issue. Not only that she was switching license plates, which means she's trying to evade detection. I cannot believe the judge didn't feel that she was a flight risk. And I really hope that they don't regret this decision to let her out, you know, with an ankle monitor.
- [13:56]
D
And that's the consensus around here, Ashley, but she's going to be under a microscope in this neighborhood. Everyone is aware that she is back home. They're going to be watching the this house like hawks. And you know, she has that ankle monitor on and they will know her whereabouts. And you know, it will be, you know, pretty daring should she try anything. But, you know, there are plenty of relatives also with a vested interest in this, and they're also keeping tabs on her. Ashley.
- [14:33]
C
So talk to me about the relatives. Were there relatives who showed up for her court appearance today?
- [14:39]
D
Yeah, quite a few relatives on the paternal side of the family. Melody's paternal grandmother was there. Lily Dennis. I got a chance to chat with her at court, and, you know, she talked a bit about the history of knowing Ashley, always knowing that she's been, you know, a strange and different person who seemed unbalanced, but she was very angry, like you, that the judge allowed Ashley to leave and be under supervised release. And she said she didn't even recognize Ashley Buzzard in court. But take a listen to what Grandma had to say.
- [15:21]
E
They let her go. And they didn't even brought anything about the baby missing on the. That was that prosecutor.
- [15:28]
D
Yeah.
- [15:29]
E
So I'm really mad. Honest to God, I don't understand the lot. She's been like that this all her life. She has a record being in the. In the loony hospital in Camarillo twice. What else? What are they doing? I knew that she was an old lady. I knew ever since the first time I met her. I knew something was wrong with her.
- [15:52]
D
Okay, so Grandma's not only angry, she's worried. I mean, her primary focus is Melody. She wants to find Melody, like much of the country. Where is Melody? She has to be out there somewhere. And, you know, they're trying to keep hope and positivity alive.
- [16:16]
C
Boy, I'll say the primary focus is finding the little girl. At this point, let's all hope that she's okay and that this woman, you know, disappears from all of our lives. But I'll tell you what, if she does appear, there's going to be some issue with who's going to care for this little girl, because this woman has displayed some of the most bizarre intransigent behavior. But excellent work, Nancy.
- [16:39]
D
Great.
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C
Thank you so much for that.
- [16:40]
D
Custody battle has been underway. A custody battle has been underway with the paternal relatives. And that may factor in all of this and why, you know, Ashley has been trying to shield Melody and take her away to prevent the paternal relatives from taking Melody away.
- [17:00]
C
We will see, because that also is against the law. You know, you can't just secrete a child away.
- [17:06]
D
Oh, yeah.
- [17:06]
C
From those who are worried about her care, especially if you have the kind of mental health issues that it seems. Ashley Buzzer does excellent work. Nancy Liu, thank you for that this.
- [17:14]
B
Case just keeps getting more strange and more heartbreaking by the minute. And still, nobody knows where this little girl is. Well, no one, maybe, except Ashley Buzzard. And until she talks, the clock is ticking on this mystery. One thing we do know, she is due back in court next week, November 19th. So we will stay on this story every step of the way and we'll bring you every development the moment it breaks. Make sure, though, you're subscribed on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts, because I don't want you to miss what happens next in the search for nine year old Melody Buzzard and the prosecution of her mom, Ashley Buzzard. The big question being, will she be prosecuted for anything related to her missing daughter? I'm Ashley Banfield and remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious.