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Speaker 1: Crime Lord hourly update, breaking crime news Now. Authorities discovered

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Speaker 1: the body of nine year old Melody Buzzard two months

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Speaker 1: after she disappeared and her mother, Ashley, is taken into custody.

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Speaker 1: Melody's decomposing body was discovered on the side of a

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Speaker 1: road on December sixth and Wayne County, Utah by a

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Speaker 1: man and woman taking photos. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Corner

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Speaker 1: Bill Brown.

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Speaker 2: Today, I am deeply saddened to report to you that

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Speaker 2: the body of Melody Alani Buzzard, the nine year old

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Speaker 2: child who went missing from the Lompoc area in October

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Speaker 2: of this year, has been found in a rural area

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Speaker 2: outside of Canesville in Wayne County, Utah.

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Speaker 1: Melody Buzzard had sustained gunshot wounds to her head. Was

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Speaker 1: identified only on December twenty second, when the FBI notified

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Speaker 1: Santa Barbara County Sheriff that the remains DNA matched Melody's mother,

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Speaker 1: Ashley Buzzard.

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Speaker 2: December sixth, twenty twenty five, members of the Wayne County

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Speaker 2: Sheriff's Office in Utah responded to a call from a

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Speaker 2: man and a woman who were taking photos. This couple

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Speaker 2: had discovered the decomposed body of a deceased person off

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Speaker 2: of the side adjacent to West Caineville Road. Although immediate

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Speaker 2: identification of the deceased person was not possible, it was

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Speaker 2: apparent that the decedent was a female who had died

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Speaker 2: from gunshot wounds to the head.

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Speaker 1: Actually, Buzzard was then arrested on murder charges.

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Speaker 2: Members of our Sheriff's office and the FBI arrested her mother,

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Speaker 2: Ashley Lynn Buzzard, for her murder. We have recovered a

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Speaker 2: significant amount of evidence that clearly indicates that this Kenes's

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Speaker 2: crime was committed by Ashley Buzzard, Melody's mother, and the

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Speaker 2: very person upon whom she relied upon and trusted the

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Speaker 2: most host in this world.

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Speaker 1: Brown went on to say that investigators matched an expended

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Speaker 1: cartridge found in Ashley's home with casings found at the

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Speaker 1: crime scene in Utah. Melody was seen on video surveillance

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Speaker 1: with her mother October ninth at a rest stop near

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Speaker 1: the Utah Colorado border. Brown said that she was believed

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Speaker 1: to have been killed shortly after that. Melody was reported

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Speaker 1: missing on October fourteenth by a school official who flagged

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Speaker 1: her for prolonged absence. According to the Santa Barbara County

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Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office. Authorities at the time said Ashley was refusing

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Speaker 1: to co operate with investigators. She was arrested Friday, November

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Speaker 1: seventh on false imprisonment in a different case, the Sheriff's

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Speaker 1: office announced in November. The Sheriff's apartment released security camera

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Speaker 1: footage showing Melody with Ashley on October seventh, around the

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Speaker 1: time the girl vanished. A woman who was abducted when

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Speaker 1: she was just three years old is found alive and

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Speaker 1: well more than four decades after her disappearance, with no

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Speaker 1: knowledge she'd ever been a victim in the first place.

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Speaker 1: Michelle Marie Newton was first reported missing on April second,

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three. Her mother, Deborah Newton, allegedly moved the

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Speaker 1: pair from Louisville, Kentucky, to Georgia to quote begin a

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Speaker 1: new job and prepare a new home for the family. Unquote.

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Speaker 1: That is what she said when she left. The reality

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Speaker 1: is much different, as Deborah Newton changed their names forty

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Speaker 1: two years ago and created a new backstory. Michelle had

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Speaker 1: no idea she was even missing after Deborah allegedly took

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Speaker 1: off with their child, Joseph Newton tried to track them down.

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Speaker 1: Newton says he talked to his wife sometime between nineteen

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Speaker 1: eighty four and nineteen eighty five before she totally vanished.

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Speaker 1: The case remained open and working until two thousand, when

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Speaker 1: the case was dismissed because prosecutors said they could not

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Speaker 1: reach Joseph Newton anymore. In two thousand and five, Michelle

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Speaker 1: was removed from the National Missing Children Database. She would

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Speaker 1: have been twenty five at that time. In twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 1: the case was reopened at the request of a family member,

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Speaker 1: but nothing happened until police received what is called a

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Speaker 1: bullseye Crime Stoppers tip earlier this year. Four weeks ago

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Speaker 1: on November twenty fourth, The tip leads authorities to Deborah

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Speaker 1: Newton's home in the Villages, Florida. She's been living in

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Speaker 1: the retirement community as Sharon Neely. She even has a boyfriend.

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Speaker 1: After arresting Sharon Neely slash Deborah Newton, investigators then reach

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Speaker 1: out to the victim of the custodio kidnapping, telling the

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Speaker 1: now forty six year old woman her life has been

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Speaker 1: a lie. Deputies tell her quote, You're not who you

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Speaker 1: think you are. You're a missing person you are. Michelle

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Speaker 1: Marie Newton Deborah was arraigned on a felony charge of

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Speaker 1: custodial interference, according to the Commonwealth's Attorney Office in Jefferson County.

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Speaker 1: She was released on bond posted by a family member.

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Speaker 1: Now Michelle has been reunited with her father, and she

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Speaker 1: and Joseph were present at the arraignment. Michelle didn't appear

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Speaker 1: to immediately take side, saying my intention is to support

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Speaker 1: them both through this and try to navigate and help

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Speaker 1: them both. Just wrap it up so that we can

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Speaker 1: all heal. For the latest crime and justice breaking news,

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Speaker 1: be sure to follow the Crime Alert hourly update on

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Speaker 1: your favorite podcast app with this crime Alert, I'm Dave

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Speaker 1: Matt