XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.atheism   
   From: stds@rottencrotch.harris   
      
   As the December sun set over central Utah’s sandstone peaks, a couple   
   ventured down a nondescript dirt road to snap photos against the   
   backdrop of a red rock vista. Instead, they stumbled across a grisly   
   discovery among smattered shrubs and parched soil: the decomposed   
   remains of a little girl.   
      
   When sheriff’s deputies arrived in the sparsely populated stretch of   
   Caineville, it was clear they would be investigating a homicide. The   
   unidentifiable girl had died from gunshot wounds to her head,   
   authorities later said.   
      
   Unbeknownst to investigators at the time, they had before them the   
   remains of 9-year-old California girl Melodee Buzzard, whose confounding   
   disappearance during a road trip with her mother had mobilized a vast   
   network of local, state and federal investigators who searched for two   
   months across eight states. An image of her cheeky smile and cascade of   
   ringlet curls had been projected across the nation by media, law   
   enforcement and the concerned public.   
      
   Ultimately, it would take two more weeks before they determined all   
   signs pointed to a suspect whom Melodee “trusted the most in this   
   world,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown said.   
      
   Melodee’s mother, Ashlee Buzzard, was arrested Tuesday and charged with   
   first-degree murder in her daughter’s killing, which a criminal   
   complaint said was carried out with exceptional “cruelty” and   
   “viciousness.”   
      
   Murmurs rose in a courtroom Friday as Buzzard pleaded not guilty.   
   Prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty if she is   
   convicted, but would instead ask for life in prison without parole.   
      
   Investigators said they were stymied by “deliberate efforts” to hide the   
   truth – clumsy disguises, swapped license plates and suspicious driving   
   – and an uncooperative mother who could never provide a reasonable   
   explanation for Melodee’s whereabouts. CNN has reached out to Buzzard’s   
   attorney for comment.   
      
   Here’s how investigators say they finally pieced together DNA,   
   ballistics and a multi-state web of leads to connect Melodee’s mother to   
   her killing.   
      
   https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/26/us/melodee-ashlee-buzzard-investigation   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)