Cries of anger and wailing erupted from a California courtroom Friday as deranged mom Ashlee Buzzard pleaded not guilty to killing her own daughter and leaving the girl’s body to rot in another state.
The slippery mom walked into the courtroom calmly — wearing a floral white blouse — before her attorney entered the not guilty plea, which prompted gasps and tears from the shocked gallery.
Some women who started a Facebook page with the goal of finding 9-year-old Melodee when she was initially reported missing broke down sobbing.
The judge asked for quiet before moving forward.
Buzzard was arrested for the murder of her child on Tuesday after the young girl was first reported missing in October when a teacher told authorities she hadn’t been in school for an extended period, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
Her decomposed remains were found in Utah in early December, and forensics determined she was killed from gunshot wounds to the head around October while she and her mother were on a last-minute multistate road trip.
The single mom used disguises like wigs, rented a car and changed license plates during the fatal trip with her daughter in a bid to cover up the alleged killing, the sheriff’s office said.
When the probe initially focused on Melodee’s disappearance, Buzzard was uncooperative with law enforcement and had no “verifiable explanation” of where her daughter was, authorities alleged.
A motive for the heartless slaying was not clear, Melodee’s aunt, Lizabeth Meza, previously claimed Buzzard was “extremely mentally unstable.”
Meza also claimed to a local outlet that her family hadn’t seen their young relative in four years because Buzzard wouldn’t allow it.
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