You're listening to an Ono Media podcast.

Good morning, and thanks for joining me for Rise in Crime.

Your morning caffeine hit, all about crime.

I'm Mama Jules, and we've got three crime stories to cover today.

We have a bizarre missing persons case out of California that includes

wigs and rental cars and swapped license plates. Then there's a pseudo-celebrity murder trial out of

Arizona that has a completion, finally, and another update to a toddler death in Arizona.

Also, I've got a bonus video at the end

about the arrest of Jesse Mac Butler. So let's get to it. Nine-year-old Melody Buzzard

has had a lifetime of tragedy and loneliness before she even reached double digits in age.

Melody was born on February 10th of 2016 to Ashley Buzzard and Panoi Mesa.

The dark-eyed and full head of hair baby lost her father Panoi to a tragic motorcycle accident

when Melody was just six months old. The next four years of Melody's life seemed simpler until 2021 rolled around, and Ashley

was hospitalized with an illness, leaving Melody with no one to care for her. Panoi's brother

stepped in and began caring for the five-year-old. The illness took weeks to resolve, and during

that time, Panoi's mother, Lily,

contacted authorities to initiate the process of adoption for Melody. That's her granddaughter.

Now, Lily was ready to care for that granddaughter, and on the paperwork, Lily cited concerns

over Ashley's mental health and also her ability to just care for the beautiful

young girl with long black curly hair. But before those legal proceedings could fully bloom,

Ashley was discharged from the hospital. Then she drove straight to Melody's school,

informed the school they were moving, and the mother and daughter left Santa Maria, California.

...