The man charged with the murders of ex-girlfriend Meshay Melendez and her 7-year-old daughter, Layla Stewart, pleaded guilty on Thursday — days ahead of the murder trial.
On September 5, 2024, Clark County courts confirmed Kirkland Warren pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated murder, second-degree murder and first-degree child molestation. Police accused Warren of raping the young girl before killing her and her mother.
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Warren was set to appear in court Monday morning in what would have likely been a trial lasting between two and three weeks after previously pleading not guilty.
In 2023, Melendez and Stewart were reported missing after they were last seen traveling with Warren on March 12. Ten days later, law enforcement found the bodies of Melendez and Stewart in a rural area near Washougal after a call from a passerby. Both had been shot in the head, police said.
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Police had arrested Warren days earlier on a parole violation, a witness tampering charge and violation of a no-contact order, all related to Melendez.
Warren was previously arrested for murder in Arkansas in 2017 but posted bond a day after. The bond was later revoked in March 2023 when he was arrested in Vancouver for shooting at and threatening Melendez in a separate incident before her disappearance.
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The sentencing trial is scheduled for October 2024.
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