SALT LAKE CITY — After not hearing from 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard for months, school administrators raised the alarm to authorities in California. Deputies paid a visit to Melodee’s home, where they found her mother, alone.

It was believed that Melodee’s disappearance might have occurred when she and her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, took a road trip together from California to Nebraska on Oct. 7. Detectives believed Melodee could have been located in several cities where a 2024 Chevrolet Malibu rental was seen traveling through, including Green River and Panguitch.

A few oddities existed in the case, including the fact that the Malibu had its plates switched from the California ones it was issued with, to a second plate number that was observed on surveillance footage. Investigators believ

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