(NewsNation) — Ashlee Buzzard, the California woman accused of killing her missing 9-year-old daughter, Melodee, is facing felony murder charges, according to online court records.
Buzzard was arrested Tuesday in connection with the death of Melodee Buzzard. An FBI crime lab used familial DNA to link human remains that were discovered in rural Utah to the missing California girl.
Buzzard, 40, was arrested by the FBI and booked without bail into the Santa Barbara County Jail. Buzzard was arrested after bullet cartridges found near her daughter’s body were linked to a used cartridge case found in Buzzard’s home in California. Investigators also found a live round of similar ammunition inside a rental vehicle that Buzzard had used.
Melodee was reported missing Oct. 14 after school officials flagged her prolonged absence. Deputies later visited the family’s Lompoc home, where Buzzard declined to say where her daughter was, Sheriff Bill Brown said.
“This is an extraordinarily tragic case involving the murder of a child by the very person she relied upon and trusted the most,” Brown said in a news release announcing Ashlee Buzzard’s arrest on Tuesday.
Human remains were found in Utah on Dec. 8 and were determined to be those of a female who had died due to gunshot wounds to the head, the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office announced.
Brown said Tuesday that Ashlee Buzzard remains uncooperative with authorities in discussing the case. He expects the woman’s trial will take place in Santa Barbara County due to intent and likely premeditation that took place in California.
Ashlee Buzzard was arrested on unrelated charges in early November and charged with false imprisonment. Sheriff’s Office officials said at the time that the charges were not related to her daughter’s disappearance.
In that case, detectives learned that Ashlee Buzzard had prevented a victim from leaving a location against their will, which led to the false imprisonment charges being filed. Detectives said that although the incident occurred during the investigation into Melodee Buzzard’s disappearance, the two incidents were not directly connected.
Online court records show she is scheduled to be arraigned Friday morning.
NewsNation’s Nancy Loo contributed reporting to this story