MESHAY MELENDEZ & LAYLA STEWART: Washington vs. Kirkland Warren for 2023 murder of mother and daughter *GUILTY PLEA*

‘Criminal nexus’ likely in disappearance of Vancouver mom, daughter

Vancouver police investigators said they “do believe there is a criminal nexus to Meshay and Layla’s disappearance” but can’t provide any more details due to the ongoing investiga…

www.koin.com

by: Hailey Dunn
Posted: Mar 20, 2023 / 11:11 AM PDT
Updated: Mar 20, 2023 / 11:16 AM PDT

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN)– Officials are asking for the public’s help finding a mother and her 8-year-old daughter who were reported missing earlier this month.

According to Vancouver police, 27-year-old Meshay Melendez and her daughter Layla Stewart were last seen in the area of Vancouver Mall Drive and Northeast 77th Avenue on the morning of March 12. Melendez’s vehicle was discovered nearby on March 19.

Melendez is described as being 5’9” and having black hair and brown eyes. Stewart is said to be 4′ with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Anyone with information on the pair’s whereabouts is asked to contact Detective Givens robert.givens@cityofvancouver.us, Detective Nolan chadd.nolan@cityofvancouver.us or call 911.

MEDIA - MESHAY MELENDEZ AND LAYLA STEWART: Missing from Vancouver, WA - 12 March 2023 - Age 27 and 8

 

[Kimster]

Days before trial, Kirkland Warren pleads guilty to murders of Meshay Melendez and Layla Stewart

In an eleventh-hour decision, the man who fatally shot a Vancouver mother and her 7-year-old daughter and dumped their bodies along a rural road in Washougal pleaded guilty Thursday in their murders.

www.columbian.com

Days before trial, Kirkland Warren pleads guilty to murders of Meshay Melendez and Layla Stewart​

In an eleventh-hour decision, the man who fatally shot a Vancouver mother and her 7-year-old daughter and dumped their bodies along a rural road near Washougal pleaded guilty Thursday in their murders.

Kirkland Warren’s trial was scheduled to begin Monday in Clark County Superior Court. Instead, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated first-degree murder in the deaths of his former girlfriend, 27-year-old Meshay Melendez, and her 7-year-old daughter, Layla Stewart, respectively. The mother and daughter were killed between March 12 and 13, 2023. Warren also entered an Alford plea to first-degree child molestation — which allows a defendant to maintain his innocence but admit there’s enough evidence to convict him — for sexually assaulting Layla.

Aggravated murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Warren will be sentenced Oct. 8.

When I saw the heading that there was a plea deal I was afraid he was gonna get out early. It looks like they’ve got their aggravated murder charge in the bucket, so that’s good.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Kirkland Warren gets life in prison in murders of Meshay Melendez and daughter Layla Stewart

Although Kirkland Warren will serve a life sentence in prison, friends and family of the Vancouver mother and daughter he shot to death in March 2023 say they don’t feel justice was served.

www.columbian.com

Kirkland Warren gets life in prison in murders of Meshay Melendez and daughter Layla Stewart​

Although Kirkland Warren will serve a life sentence in prison, friends and family of the Vancouver mother and daughter he shot to death in March 2023 say they don’t feel justice was served.

No sentence, they told the judge, would bring back Meshay Melendez and 7-year-old Layla Stewart, nor match the pain and grief caused by their deaths.

“The day I lost them, I lost a part of myself,” Melendez’s mother, Nichole Norris, wrote in a statement to the court. “A part of me died with my girls. I am no longer a girl mom. I am no longer a grandmother.”

Judge David Gregerson sentenced Warren, 29, to a life in prison without the possibility of parole at a hearing Tuesday.

Warren pleaded guilty last month in Clark County Superior Court to second-degree murder and aggravated first-degree murder in the deaths of his former girlfriend, 27-year-old Melendez, and her daughter, Layla, respectively. The mother and daughter were killed between March 12 and 13, 2023. Warren also entered an Alford plea to first-degree child molestation — which allows a defendant to maintain his innocence but admit there’s enough evidence to convict him — for sexually assaulting Layla.

 

[GrandmaBear]

There is a reason for the DP. This family isn't happy with life. And most would not be with the DP either, but happier I imagine in many cases. Because yes, nothing undoes what was done.

AT least he got life, not so often the case nowadays either.

This "experiment" needs to be over. Of light sentences and b.s.

JUST my opinion.

 

[Mel70]

There is a reason for the DP. This family isn't happy with life. And most would not be with the DP either, but happier I imagine in many cases. Because yes, nothing undoes what was done.

AT least he got life, not so often the case nowadays either.

This "experiment" needs to be over. Of light sentences and b.s.

JUST my opinion.

I knew when I saw plead guilty there was something to it. "Alford Plea". IDK. But, It used to be, That in Canada. A life sentence was 30 years.

 

[Mel70]

When I saw the heading that there was a plea deal I was afraid he was gonna get out early. It looks like they’ve got their aggravated murder charge in the bucket, so that’s good.

Probably will. Wasn't without parole. And, It's Canada.