A Washington state man, out on bond on domestic violence charges and instructed not to contact his former partner, confessed to killing his ex-girlfriend and her 7-year-old daughter in the head and disposing of their bodies down an embankment along a rural road.
According to online court records, Kirkland Warren, 28, entered a guilty plea on Thursday in connection with the murders of Meshay Melendez, 27, and her daughter Layla Stewart. Warren also submitted an Alford plea, according to The Columbian, to first-degree child molestation in the sexual assault of Layla.
In an Alford plea, a defendant enters a guilty plea to a charge while maintaining their innocence. The start of Warren’s trial was set for the following week.
According to a news statement from the agency, the investigation got underway on March 18, 2023, when Vancouver police responded to a welfare check for Melendez and Layla at the Springfield Meadows apartments in the 4300 block of NE 66th Avenue.
In addition to hearing from friends that Melendez and her daughter had not been home for several days and that their dog was howling inside the apartment, family members said they had not spoken to Melendez since March 11.
Police located the dog inside the apartment, but they were unable to locate the mother or daughter.
On March 11, investigators discovered that Melendez, Layla, and Warren had spent the night at a friend’s house. Melendez and Warren left, leaving Layla behind.
About eight in the morning, when Warren came back, the friend noticed Melendez “passed out” in the passenger seat of his car.
Warren entered the house, took Layla, placed her in the car, and departed, according to the police.
Melendez’s mother discovered her daughter’s car, a 2000 Chrysler 200, on March 19. After the police confiscated it, Warren was arrested on suspicion of assault, drive-by shooting, unauthorized firearm possession, tampering with a witness, and violating domestic violence orders that prohibited him from contacting Melendez.
Blood evidence was found in both the front and rear seats of the Dodge Charger that Melendez, Layla, and Warren were last seen driving.According to another press release from the police, the evidence included 22 caliber shell casings, children’s clothes that matched the clothes Layla was reportedly wearing on March 12, and a pocketbook with Melendez’s identity.
A few days later, on March 22, a bystander in Washougal, a tiny city bordering Oregon, reported seeing what looked to be two “life-sized mannequins” off a roadway down an embankment in dense vegetation. When deputies arrived, they found the victims. They had sustained a head wound.
Further information on Warren’s activities in the days following his and the victims’ last sighting has come to light as the case has developed.
Text communications revealed that, according to prosecution evidence, Warren texted a woman on March 13 and March 15 to inquire about locations where he may bury a gun and to query her about remote areas.
According to reports, on March 18, Warren texted the friend, “I need to get rid of this stolo,” indicating that he needed to part with Melendez’s car.
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Additionally, according to investigators, he used Melendez’s phone to transfer $4,200 from her account to his.
According to the publication, Google searches like “how to beat murder,” “how to get blood out of a car seat,” and “killing the only witness” were discovered by police when they searched Warren’s phone.
Warren was out on bond at the time of the killings, facing a first-degree murder allegation related to the 2017 death of a man in Arkansas. In addition, he had been shot in the head, and a ditch contained his remains.
Warren was taken into custody in Washington state in December 2022 on suspicion of assaulting Melendez and shooting her in her residence. He was unable to get in touch with her after posting bail.
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Four days prior to Melendez and her kid going missing, he was freed from detention, according to an Associated Press article.
When Warren is sentenced on October 8, he will be facing a mandatory life term without the possibility of parole for the killings of Melendez and Layla.
He has consented to enter a guilty plea in the Arkansas case for Curtis Urquhart’s murder. Prosecutors stated that his sentence from Washington state will run concurrently with the one he receives for Melendez and Layla’s murders, as reported by The Columbian.
In an online article, Brittini Lasseigne, CEO of YWCA Clark County, honored Melendez and Layla and expressed her annoyance and dissatisfaction with the unresolved issues surrounding Warren’s apprehension and subsequent release following his prior attempt to cause damage to Melendez.
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