Surveillance image showed the missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard last month. Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office

Nine-year-old Melodee Buzzard has been missing for over a month after she was last seen with her mother wearing wigs on a cross-country road trip.

The mother, Ashlee Buzzard, returned to their California home without Melodee, did not report her daughter missing and has declined to cooperate with law enforcement, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.

The FBI has joined in the search for Melodee, and the case has drawn widespread attention well outside of southern California. In all, the set of circumstances has raised serious red flags about Melodee’s well-being and about potential criminal wrongdoing for Buzzard.

Still, investigators have not charged

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