Hundreds gather to mourn, honor Meshay Melendez and daughter LaylaFree

Slain mother and daughter Meshay “Karmen” Melendez and Layla Stewart will be remembered for being “so full of energy and life.” No matter how bad of a day, they would wipe away a loved one’s tears and bring a smile to their face.

“Meshay loved Layla with all her life. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for her,” said Michelle Bart, president and founder of the National Women’s Coalition Against Violence & Exploitation. “In one conversation, she shared with her mom, Nichole, that she understood Layla was the one person who would always be by her side.”

About 300 people gathered Sunday morning in Esther Short Park’s Propstra Square to honor the mother and daughter. The vigil was hosted by NWCAVE and YWCA Clark County, in conjunction with the family.

Many wore red, for Melendez, 27, and pink, for Layla, 7. Some wore purple shirts with a photo. Family, friends and community members left flowers, balloons, cards, stuffed animals and other trinkets on a table.

Investigators say the two were last seen the morning of March 12 with Melendez’s former boyfriend, Kirkland C. Warren, who was barred by court order from having contact with her. Melendez’s mother reported the pair missing March 18 after she couldn’t reach them for their regular video chat session. Their bodies were found Wednesday in a rural area east of Washougal.

Warren, whom Vancouver police had named a person of interest in their disappearances, has not yet been charged in their deaths.

“This tragic death of this young mother and her daughter is a stark reminder to all of us that each time fatal violence is committed, someone’s loved one will not come home. And that someone will no longer be kissed, hugged, held — whether they are a child, a family member or a friend,” Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle told the crowd.

McEnerny-Ogle said the Vancouver Police Department is “working with its law enforcement partners to ensure a thorough and resolute outcome in the ongoing investigation.”

Standing side by side with Clark County Sheriff John Horch, Vancouver Police Chief Jeff Mori said there is nothing he can say “to bring these two beautiful people back.” But he said he will do everything he can to make sure they are never forgotten.

Horch echoed the sentiment, adding that his agency and Vancouver police are committed to asking the questions of what happened in this case.

“How can we do better?” he said.

Systemic flaws

Those questions were at the forefront of Sunday’s vigil.

“I want to clear the air as the spokesperson of this family. We applaud Vancouver Police Department and Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Clark County Search and Rescue and Washington State Patrol. They did what your tax dollars pay them to do — find missing people and bring them home. We have Meshay and Layla home, not the way that we hoped, but they are home,” Bart told the crowd.

She laid blame on the courts and prosecutor’s office.

“At the end of this case, we need to … gather and work together to amend our constitution so it benefits our victims, so the criminals that do the perpetration are held to the fullest extent of the law, and all of us, our families, our friends, this community, and the victims get justice,” Bart said.

Her words were met with applause and cheers.

Rep. Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, said lawmakers will look at every step of the investigation to see what they can do going forward.

“A few years ago, we did a lot of good work at recognizing that it’s wrong to have high bail for trivial crimes and to especially levy those laws and that bail on Black and brown people — good move,” Wylie said. “But we need to have no bail for people that are obviously dangerous, and somehow, we’ve got to get there. And I will do everything I can to move in that direction.”

Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, who sponsored the Tiffany Hill Act, which strengthened protections for domestic violence victims with protection orders, said she plans to expand on it. The act — named for a mother who was murdered in 2019 by her estranged husband in Hazel Dell — allows for the electronic monitoring of domestic violence offenders.

“We have to quit waiting for someone else to die to name a bill after them,” Wilson said through tears and applause.

Vancouver police Sgt. Tanya Wollstein who has worked on hundreds of domestic violence cases, including Hill’s, said she never wanted to see another domestic violence victim killed in Clark County.

“We need statewide lethality assessments like the one used by VPD to inform prosecutors and judges of the lethality risk in these cases,” she told the crowd.

“As an additional measure, we need to make sure that our law mandates that offenders that reach the extreme risk threshold are ordered to participate in offender monitoring with victim notification,” she said. “And finally, we need a constitutional amendment to allow judges to withhold bail for domestic violence offenders who represent this extreme risk to their victims.”

One of those assessments had found Warren posed an “extreme risk” to Melendez with a score of 31 on a scale of 1 to 18. Still, his bail was set at $100,000, which he posted, and he was released without electronic monitoring.

Honoring memories

Following a moment of silence and performance of “Amazing Grace,” Bart and Wollstein shared a bit about Melendez and Layla on behalf of their family.

Melendez was always caring and had a huge heart. She was determined and courageous, Bart said.

“Meshay and her mother could share each other’s company as two close friends. As a little girl, she was so shy and soft-spoken with a goofy giggle. As Meshay grew up, so did her personality. … She became more and more outgoing and became a confident woman. But that goofy giggle never changed,” Bart said.

Layla had “a spirit that people were naturally drawn to, with big hazel eyes, a smile that would light up a room and the cutest dimples,” Wollstein said. “She was a fearless little lady ready to conquer the biggest rides at the carnival.”

She loved nature walks and playing outside. She walked around the house singing.

“She loved her friends, her puppy, Honey, and her new, little kitten, Rocky,” Wollstein said. “She adored and loved her mom. She was definitely a grandma’s girl and an auntie’s girl. She was a papa’s girl and definitely an uncle’s girl. She was deeply loved.

“One thing is for sure, she wasn’t going to miss a chance to tell you that she loved you.”