Investigators believe the rental car a missing California girl was in while on a road trip with her mother had its license plate swapped to avoid detection, police said Monday, as they zero in on that October trip to Nebraska.

Investigators looking for 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard said previously that security video from Oct. 7, the day they say mother Ashlee Buzzard rented a white Chevrolet Malibu for the three-day road trip, showed Melodee wearing a wig in an apparent effort to disguise her appearance. The mother is also known to wear wigs, authorities said.

The following day, the car was seen with a New York state license plate in an apparent effort to make it more difficult to track, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said in an update Monday .

“The New York plate seen on t

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