The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said its investigation into the disappearance of Melodee Buzzard began on Oct. 14, after a school administrator reported her extended absence. Deputies then responded to her home in Lompoc and encountered her 35-year-old mother, Ashlee Buzzard, although “Melodee was not at the home, and no verifiable explanation for her whereabouts was provided.”

“As part of this update, detectives are sharing surveillance images of Melodee captured at a local car rental business on October 7. In the photo, Melodee is wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and what appears to be a wig that is darker and straighter than her natural hair,” the sheriff’s office said in Friday’s update. “Investigators believe the wig may have been used to alter her appearance. Detectives also note that Ashlee is known to wear wigs.”

“Through their ongoing investigation, detectives have narrowed the critical timeline to between October 7 and October 10, 2025. Investigators have confirmed that Ashlee was seen returning to her Lompoc residence on October 10, driving the same rental vehicle she departed with on October 7 — but Melodee was not in the car,” the sheriff’s office continued.

POLICE RELEASE MAJOR UPDATE AFTER VIRAL VIDEO SHOWS SCREAMING WOMAN BEING PULLED FROM DOORWAY

Melodee Buzzard is shown here in a photo that the FBI says was taken in 2023. (FBI)

“Investigators understand that this three-day road trip went from Lompoc to the Nebraska area, with the return trip including the state of Kansas. Detectives are now focused on determining where Melodee was during those three days and where she may be now,” it also said.

Melodee Buzzard is described by police as being around 4 feet, 6 inches tall and weighing approximately 60 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

MISSING MOM FOUND ALIVE IN FOREST AS OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE ‘SUSPICIOUS’ HOUSE FIRE

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said Melodee Buzzard was wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and “what appears to be a wig that is darker and straighter than her natural hair.” (Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office)

“Our detectives are following every lead in this case. We continue to seek information from the public that could help us find Melodee,” Santa Barbara Sheriff Bill Brown said in a statement. “We remain determined to bring her home safely.”

The FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office is assisting in the search.

“The investigation indicates that Melodee was with her mother as recently as October 7, 2025. It has also been determined that Ashlee may have driven with Melodee in a White Chevrolet Malibu (Lic #9MNG101) to locations outside of Santa Barbara County, California, to include as far as the state of Nebraska,” the agency said. “The vehicle was determined to be a rental car and is no longer in Ashlee’s possession.”

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office released a new image of Melodee Buzzard “captured at a local car rental business” on Oct. 7, 2025. (Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office )

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The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said Melodee remains an “at risk-missing person,” while her mother has been “uncooperative with investigators.”

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

The post Melodee Buzzard disappearance: New surveillance photos show missing California girl, 9, in possible disguise appeared first on My Blog.

The Wood County Sheriff’s Office announced that Christopher Revak was behind the death of Deidre Harm, officially closing a case that had gone unsolved for nearly two decades.

On Oct. 20, the Wood County Sheriff’s Office shared a letter from District Attorney Jonathan Barnett on Facebook stating that he would have filed charges against Revak if he were still alive.

“I consider this case closed,” Barnett wrote. “I believe I had enough to charge and, if Mr. Revak were still alive, win at trial.”

FBI SEARCHES AREA AROUND CAMPGROUND WHERE TRAVIS DECKER’S 3 DAUGHTERS WERE FOUND DEAD

Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase spoke to Fox News Digital about his experience investigating the case of Christopher Revak. (Wood County Sheriff’s Department)

Harm, a 21-year-old single mother, disappeared after a night out at a downtown Wisconsin Rapids bar June 10, 2006. Her remains were discovered five months later by hunters in a wooded area near Seneca, about 5 miles from downtown, according to WSAW.

“This may provide some closure for many but won’t bring Deidre back,” the Wood County Sheriff’s Office and Wisconsin Rapids Police said in a joint statement. “Our thoughts and prayers will always be with Deidre’s family.”

Revak, a Wisconsin native and former EMT, died by suicide in a Missouri jail cell in July 2009, just one day after being charged with second-degree murder in the death of Rene Williams, 36, a mother of three from Mansfield, Missouri.

Williams was last seen March 13, 2007, at the Eagle Lodge bar in Ava, Missouri, where she worked. Revak was also at the bar that night, according to FOX 9.

In 2024, KCCI Des Moines reported that Iowa and Wisconsin investigators were taking a fresh look at Revak, who had long been suspected of multiple violent crimes before his death.

NOTORIOUS ‘SCORECARD KILLER’ LINKED TO DECADES-OLD MURDER NEARLY 45 YEARS LATER

Investigators have never found Jodi Huisentruit, who was declared legally dead in 2001, The Associated Press reported. (ABC News Studios)

According to a recent documentary, police have examined whether Revak may have been connected to as many as five different homicides over a 14-year span, including the disappearance of Huisentruit.

Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase, who investigated Williams’ case, previously told Fox News Digital that Revak’s confirmed link to Harm’s killing deepened his concerns about the former EMT’s violent history.

“When I started working on the Christopher Revak case, he was my suspect in the murder of Rene Williams,” Degase said. “I didn’t think it was his first go-around at it.”

Degase told KY3 that forensic evidence linked Revak to Williams’ disappearance.

“We had his DNA at the scene. We had her DNA inside his truck,” he said. “I think the biggest thing was that they weren’t able to find a body. They had no witnesses to come forward to say that she was dead.”

Despite the lack of a body, investigators charged Revak with Williams’ murder based on DNA results. Degase said his curiosity about similar crimes led him to uncover chilling parallels.

“It wasn’t the first time Revak tried to abduct a woman in Ava,” he said. “Actually, shortly after his arrest, I Google searched ‘women abducted from bars’ in all the towns that he had lived in. And when I Google searched from Wisconsin Rapids, Deidre Harm came up.”

NEW CRIME SCENE DETAILS EMERGE IN MANHUNT FOR FUGITIVE DAD ACCUSED OF KILLING 3 DAUGHTERS

Video

That discovery prompted Degase to reach out to Wisconsin investigators, sharing his findings and helping connect the dots between cases.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” he said. “I called the authorities out there and gave them the information I had.”

Degase, who is featured in the documentary discussing the case, said Williams and Huisentruit remain missing, a detail that still haunts him. He didn’t rule out the possibility Revak could have traveled to Iowa.

“Obviously, [Jodi] wasn’t abducted from a bar, but I just thought it was odd,” Degase said.

He added that Revak “had a dark side.”

“We’re dealing with what’s possibly a serial killer,” Degase told KY3. “During his day, he’s doing his deed to society and helping people and saving people, but there was a dark side to Chris Revak.”

Revak had also been a person of interest in the 1995 disappearance of Huisentruit, a 27-year-old morning anchor for KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa.

Huisentruit vanished around 4 a.m. on June 27, 1995, after calling a colleague to say she was on her way to work but never arriving. Police found signs of a struggle outside her apartment, including a pair of high heels and a bent car key near her car.

She was declared legally dead in 2001, though her body has never been found.

ALLEGED DEVIL’S DEN KILLER INVESTIGATED IN MULTIPLE UNSOLVED MURDERS ACROSS US THAT HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON

Jodi Huisentruit was a TV anchor before she disappeared in 1995. (Findjodi.com)

At the time, Mason City Police said there was no evidence linking Revak to the case. However, in 2024, investigators from Wisconsin and Iowa reconnected to compare notes about him, according to FindJodi.com.

Authorities had also looked into whether Revak’s ex-wife once lived in the same house as one of the last people to see Huisentruit alive but determined she moved out six months before the anchor’s disappearance.

Despite three decades of dead ends, then-Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley said in June the department continues to receive and pursue leads year-round.

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Flyers publicizing Jodi Huisentruit’s disappearance outside of her workplace, KIMT-TV, July 3, 1995. (Steve Kagan/Getty Images)

“We haven’t put this down. We haven’t stopped working. We have not stopped pursuing leads and information,” Brinkley told FOX 9 at the time.

In 2024, officers searched a property in Winsted, Minnesota, following a tip, though no new evidence was found. Earlier this year, part of a 2017 search warrant was also unsealed.

“We’re still hopeful the case will be solved and justice served — no matter how long it takes,” Brinkley said.

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Huisentruit’s family continues to hold out hope for closure.

“The pain and anguish felt by us and all who loved Jodi are immeasurable,” her family wrote in a statement on the Jodi’s Hope Facebook page. “True peace will only come when Jodi is found and justice is served. We still choose to hope that one day soon it will happen.”

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A $50,000 reward remains in place for information leading to answers in Huisentruit’s disappearance. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Mason City Police Department or the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.

Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.

Stepheny Price is a Writer at Fox News with a focus on West Coast and Midwest news, missing persons, national and international crime stories, homicide cases, and border security.

The post Investigators uncover possible serial killer linked to women’s murders, missing TV anchor appeared first on My Blog.

“We have been in touch with the student’s family and friends to offer support and learn all we can about the student’s recent activities and whereabouts,” Middlebury Vice President for Student Affairs Smita Ruzicka and Associate Vice President of Safety Demitria Kirby said in a Facebook post Sunday.

Smith, a trans woman from California, is a senior double majoring in computer science and statistics and a former Middlebury women’s swimming and diving team athlete.

Lia Smith, 21, was reported missing on Sunday after she was last spotted on campus on Friday around 9 p.m. (Middlebury Police Department)

COLLEGE STUDENT’S UNSOLVED MURDER SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON SERIAL KILLER AS NEW THEORIES EMERGE

Middlebury Police Department Sgt. Nathan Hayes encouraged students to share what they know with authorities about Smith’s last known moments on campus.

“If anybody knows anything, even if it’s a friend that’s just afraid that maybe the information they may have might not be useful, please share it with the police,” he told the student newspaper Monday.

The Middlebury Police Department said that the college senior is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs about 160 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.

Old Chapel on the campus of Middlebury College in Vermont.  (John Greim/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

AMY BRADLEY CASE HINGES ON ‘SOMEBODY REMEMBERING’ AS INVESTIGATORS HUNT FOR NEW LEADS 27 YEARS LATER: EXPERT

The investigation is ongoing, with police using drones to identify possible search areas to find the 21-year-old. Police said that Smith was last seen in a building on campus at approximately 9 p.m. on Friday.

The department is asking anyone with information on Smith’s whereabouts to call 802-388-3191 or submit a tip online through the department’s website.

Sign of Middlebury College in Vermont. (Toby Talbot / AP)

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Middlebury College is a prestigious private liberal arts college, known as a “Little Ivy,” in Addison County, Vermont, located in the state’s Champlain Valley. According to the college, the campus population is about 2,800 undergraduate students.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Middlebury Police Department and Middlebury College for comment.

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a U.S. Writer at Fox News Digital. 

You can follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

The post Vermont police search for student who vanished from Middlebury College appeared first on My Blog.

Lia Smith, 21, was last seen on Middlebury College’s campus on the night of Oct. 17 and was reported missing that Sunday, the school announced. Smith, a trans woman from California, is a senior double majoring in computer science and statistics and a former Middlebury women’s swimming and diving team athlete.

On Thursday afternoon, around 1:30 p.m., Vermont State Police said they located an unidentified body in a field west of the Middlebury College campus. The location where the body was found is in the town of Cornwall near The Knoll, the college’s organic farm, the agency said.

Lia Smith, 21, was reported missing on Sunday, after she was last spotted on campus on Friday around 9 p.m. (Middlebury Police Department)

VERMONT POLICE SEARCH FOR STUDENT WHO VANISHED FROM MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE

Police said they secured the area and began a death investigation. At this time, officials are awaiting an autopsy to confirm the identity of the victim and to determine the cause and manner of death.

That autopsy is scheduled to take place on Friday in Burlington, Vermont. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Vermont Department of Health for comment.

At this time, investigators said they do not believe the death is suspicious.

Sign of Middlebury College in Vermont. (Toby Talbot / AP)

COLLEGE STUDENT’S UNSOLVED MURDER SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON SERIAL KILLER AS NEW THEORIES EMERGE

Police initially said they would hold a live press update on Thursday afternoon, but canceled it shortly before it was set to begin. The Middlebury Police Department called in additional agencies, including the Vermont State Police, New York State Police and the FBI, to help after trying to find Smith using ground searches and drones for several days.

Middlebury College President Ian Baucom said in a statement on Instagram Thursday that the college is “doing all we can to support our community right now.”

“I know that this is extraordinarily difficult news to receive as we continue to hold Lia and all her family and friends tight in our hearts,” he wrote. “As ever, please care for yourselves and one another.”

Old Chapel on the campus of Middlebury College in Vermont. Middlebury College is considered a “Little Ivy”, a term for small, elite liberal arts colleges with academic reputations comparable to the Ivy League. (John Greim/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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Middlebury College is a prestigious private liberal arts college, known as a “Little Ivy,” in Addison County, Vermont, located in the state’s Champlain Valley. According to the college, the campus population is about 2,800 undergraduate students.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Middlebury Police Department and Middlebury College for comment.

Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a U.S. Writer at Fox News Digital. 

You can follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

The post Body found during search for missing Vermont college student Lia Smith near Middlebury campus appeared first on My Blog.