PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Court documents newly obtained by KOIN 6 News shed more details on the killings of Meshay Melendez and her 7-year-old daughter Layla Stewart in what appears to be a case of domestic violence.
Kirkland Warren faces 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the deaths of Melendez and Stewart, whose bodies were found in a Washougal ditch. The medical examiner said they had been shot in the head “from a near to intermediate range,” court documents show.
A cell phone police seized from Warren showed someone searched the area where the bodies were found, took a trip from that location to Warren’s address on March 13 — the day after they were last seen alive.
When investigators later asked Warren if he thought law enforcement had found the bodies, he first said, “I don’t know,” then paused and said, “I hope not.”
The probable cause document said Warren “is married to another person” but that he and Melendez were in “a sexual and/or dating relationship.”
At the time of the murders, Warren was under a no-contact order issued to protect Melendez after allegedly firing at her residence about 10 days before she and her daughter disappeared.
Search warrants found blood evidence on the front seat of a Dodge Charger along with casings from a .22 caliber weapon, children’s pants and underwear.
He is being held without bail in Clark County.