Top inset: Meshay Melendez. Bottom inset: Layla Stewart (Vancouver Police Department). Background: Kirkland Warren in a cell during a virtual court hearing (KGW).
A Washington state man admitted to shooting his ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old daughter in the head and dumping their bodies down an embankment off a rural road days after he was released on bond on domestic violence charges and was ordered not to contact his ex.
Kirkland Warren, 28, pleaded guilty on Thursday in the deaths of his former girlfriend, Meshay Melendez, 27, and her daughter, Layla Stewart, online court records show. Warren also entered an Alford plea, in which a defendant pleads guilty to a charge but maintains his or her innocence — to first-degree child molestation in the sexual assault of Layla, The Columbian reported. Warren’s trial was scheduled to begin next week.
As Law&Crime reported, the investigation began when Vancouver police responded on March 18, 2023, to the Springfield Meadows apartments in the 4300 block of NE 66th Avenue regarding a welfare check for Melendez and Layla, the agency said in a news release.
Family members reported they had not heard from Melendez since March 11, and a friend told them she and her daughter had not been home for a few days, and their dog was inside the apartment barking.
Inside the apartment, police found the dog but did not find the mother or daughter.
Investigators learned that Melendez, Layla, and Warren had stayed at the home of an acquaintance on March 11. Layla remained there while Melendez and Warren went out. When Warren returned about 8 a.m., the acquaintance saw Melendez in the passenger seat of his vehicle “passed out.”
Warren went inside the residence, got Layla, put her in the vehicle and drove off, police said.
On March 19, Melendez’s mother found her daughter’s vehicle — a 2000 Chrysler 200. Police seized it and took Warren into custody on charges of tampering with a witness, violation of domestic violence orders that barred him from contacting Melendez, assault, drive-by shooting and unlawful possession of a firearm.
A search of the Dodge Charger that Melendez and Layla were last seen leaving in with Warren revealed blood evidence in both the front and back seat of the vehicle, .22 caliber shell casings, children’s clothing that matched clothing Layla was believed to be wearing on March 12, and a purse containing Melendez’s identification, police said in another news release.
Days later, on March 22, a passerby reported what appeared to be two “life-sized mannequins” off a roadway down an embankment in thick brush in Washougal, a small city bordering Oregon. Deputies responded and discovered the victims. They had been shot in the head.
The Columbian, reporting on court documents released in October, said that Layla had been found naked from the waist down. DNA swabs taken from her matched Warren’s DNA, the newspaper reported.
As the case has progressed, more has been revealed about Warren’s actions in the days after he and the victims were last seen.
Text messages showed Warren texted a woman on March 13 and March 15 asking about places he could bury a gun and questioning her about secluded areas, according to The Columbian, which cited evidence from prosecutors.
On March 18, Warren reportedly texted the friend about needing to get rid of Melendez’s car, saying, “I need to get rid of this stolo.”
Investigators also said he transferred $4,200 from Melendez’s account to his using her phone.
When Warren’s phone was searched, police found Google searches that included “how to get blood out of a car seat,” “how to beat murder,” and “killing the only witness,” the newspaper reported.
At the time of the killings, Warren was free on bond on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of a man in Arkansas in 2017. He’d also been shot in the head and his body was found in a ditch.
In December 2022, Warren was arrested in Washington state for the assault of Melendez and firing a gun into her apartment, charges for which he posted bail and had been barred from contacting her.
He was released from custody four days before Melendez and her daughter went missing, The Associated Press reported.
Warren faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole in the murders of Melendez and Layla when he is set to be sentenced on Oct. 8.
In the Arkansas case, he has agreed to plead guilty to the murder of Curtis Urquhart. His sentence from Washington state will run concurrently with the one he receives for the murders of Melendez and Layla, prosecutors said, according to The Columbian.
YWCA Clark County’s CEO Brittini Lasseigne paid tribute to Melendez and Layla in an online post, sharing anger and frustration over the unanswered questions surrounding Warren’s arrest and release after his earlier attempt to harm Melendez.
“To our loyal supporters and the public — Deadly violence is not happening to others, it is happening to us,” Lasseigne wrote. “Everyone in a community is affected when parts of it are harmed. We must use our collective voices to make lasting change.”
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