LOMPOC, Calif. (Court TV) — A woman charged with murdering her 9-year-old daughter while on a cross-country road trip was granted access to an accommodation for upcoming hearings: a stress ball.
Ashlee Buzzard appears in court for a hearing on Jan. 7, 2026. (Scripps News San Luis Obispo)
Ashlee Buzzard, 40, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder by lying in wait and discharge of a firearm causing death. Her daughter, Melodee Buzzard, was first reported missing by school administrators in October 2025 after the child had been absent from school without explanation.
Buzzard has not appeared in court for her last several court dates, allegedly due to illness, though no further details have been revealed about her health or condition.
Buzzard’s defense filed a request for accommodations, which was sealed at her team’s request. The redacted version of the document reveals no clues about the reasoning for the requested accommodation, but indicates that Judge Stephen Dunkle approved Buzzard’s use of a stress ball while she’s in court.
Dunkle’s order, reviewed by Court TV, requires that the stress ball remain in the bailiff’s possession before and after any court proceedings, and that the ball not be removed from the courtroom or courthouse at any time. While using the stress ball, Buzzard must keep her hands visible to the bailiff at all times, but may keep them either on the table in front of her or on her lap.
Prosecutors say Buzzard had taken Melodee on a road trip before her death; the mother and daughter left California on Oct. 7, 2025, in a rented 2024 Chevrolet Malibu. While on the trip, investigators said, Buzzard attempted to disguise their appearances with wigs and illegally swapped out their car’s license plate at least once. The two are believed to have gone through Kansas and into Nebraska on their trip before turning around. Buzzard returned home without her daughter on Oct. 10.
Melodee’s body was found months later, in December, by two people taking photos in Wayne County, Utah. Investigators said the child was killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head. No motive has been offered in the case; prosecutors have previously said they do not intend to seek the death penalty in the case.
Buzzard is scheduled to return to court for her preliminary hearing in September.
