Kirkland C. Warren, 28, appears in Clark County Superior Court. His murder trial was called ready Friday to begin Sept. 9. He is accused of fatally shooting his former girlfriend, a Vancouver mother, and her 7-year-old daughter. (Becca Robbins/The Columbian files)
Kirkland Warren, 28, is accused of fatally shooting Meshay Melendez, his former girlfriend, and her daughter, Layla Stewart, sometime between March 12 and 15, 2023.
He is charged in Clark County Superior Court with two counts of first-degree aggravated murder, one count of first-degree rape of a child, two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and a slew of domestic violence charges with Melendez, 27, as the listed victim.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Toby Krauel said Friday he expects the trial will last two weeks and could go into a third week. He has also filed a motion to amend the charges against Warren, mostly consolidating or reducing some of the lesser charges, court records show.
The mother and daughter were last seen the morning of March 12, 2023, with Warren, who had been barred by court order from having contact with Melendez in connection with a prior domestic violence case, according to investigators.
Melendez’s mother reported the mother and daughter missing March 18, 2023, after she couldn’t reach them for their regular video chat session. Authorities found their bodies four days later in a rural area east of Washougal.
The medical examiner’s office determined both Melendez and Layla died from gunshot wounds to the head.
Melendez’s mother, Nichole Norris, told The Columbian she was not looking forward to the trial and the details of her daughter and granddaughter’s deaths being shown in the courtroom.
“I don’t want my girls’ bodies put on display,” Norris said in a June interview. “He already took their lives, did what he did to them, made them suffer and humiliated them by dumping them the way he did. I can tell you right now, when we go to trial and those things are shown, I can’t be in the room to see.”
If convicted, she hopes Warren spends the rest of his life in prison, she said.
She also called attention to how the judicial system failed Melendez and her daughter, in hopes of protecting other women.
“I understand that they were murdered and certain things happened to them, but I feel like everybody wants to talk about, like the gruesome murders, but not, how did we get here?” Norris said. “People are dying every day. I’m not acting like the girls are the only ones that’ve been through this. This is happening everywhere. But if things aren’t done, how are we supposed to save certain people? Some people can be saved.”
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