LOMPOC, Calif. (Scripps News San Luis Obispo) — A permanent gag order will remain in effect during the remainder of criminal proceedings against the Vandenberg Village mother charged with murdering her 9-year-old daughter last fall.
Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Stephen Dunkle approved the order during a hearing for Ashlee Buzzard, 40, on Wednesday morning in a Lompoc courtroom. The ruling came after county counsel, representing the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, and the prosecution told the judge they were taking no position on the request.
Ashlee Buzzard appears in court on Jan. 21, 2026. (Scripps News San Luis Obispo)
The defense requested the gag order be placed on the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office in an effort to prevent authorities from releasing additional details about the murder investigation involving Buzzard.
Buzzard is charged with shooting her daughter, Melodee, in the head multiple times and leaving her body in a rural area of Wayne County, Utah, while the two took a three-day road trip last October.
The sheriff’s office said Buzzard was uncooperative with the months-long missing person investigation involving Melodee ever since it was launched on Oct. 14, 2025, after school administrators notified authorities about the girl’s prolonged absence.
Buzzard was arrested on Dec. 23 after her daughter’s remains were discovered and DNA results confirmed. In court on Wednesday, Judge Dunkle also approved a defense motion for access to sealed search warrants and affidavits in the case. The request will also apply to any future warrants filed under seal.
At the defense’s request, Buzzard waived her time for another month, now extending through April.
This means her preliminary hearing will not take place before then, as her public defender Erica Sutherland told the court she is missing a “significant amount of discovery,” which she described as essentially all forensic evidence.
FILE – 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard. (Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office)
Sutherland asked that Buzzard’s case be put on the calendar for Feb. 11 so an update can be provided then on when the defense can expect the requested documents from the prosecution.
Buzzard appeared in court dressed in black slacks and an orange top. Her short, blonde, curly hair was partially pulled back into a ponytail during the brief hearing, where she sat alongside her public defender and said only “yes” when confirming to the judge that she was waiving time.
Buzzard has pleaded not guilty and is being held in the Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria without bail.
This story was originally published by Scripps News San Luis Obispo, an E.W. Scripps Company.
