VANCOUVER, Wash. — In new court filings, investigators say that the man accused of abducting a Vancouver mother and her 7-year-old daughter also raped the young girl before killing them both earlier this year.
Family members filed missing person reports for Meshay Melendez, 27, and her daughter Layla Stewart in mid-March, prompting a frantic search. Police learned that they'd been last seen in a car with an ex-boyfriend, Kirkland Warren — a man with an alleged history of domestic violence and harassment against Melendez, as well as a pending murder charge in Arkansas.
After a call from a passerby, law enforcement found the bodies of Melendez and Stewart in a rural area near Washougal on March 22. Both had been shot in the head, police said.
Police had already arrested Warren a few days prior on a parole violation, a witness tampering charge and violation of a no contact order, all related to Melendez. Prosecutors later charged Warren with two counts of first-degree murder. He made an initial plea of not guilty on both counts.
Warning: The following describes evidence of sexual assault and may be disturbing for some readers.
Forensics yield new charge
According to a probable cause statement filed Friday, Warren now faces a new charge of first-degree child rape in addition to the two murder charges — arising from recently received results of analysis at the Washington State Patrol crime lab.
When investigators recovered the body of Layla Stewart, the affidavit says, she was nude from the waist down, wearing only a shirt and jacket. During a post-mortem exam, detectives found a clothing tag stuck to her skin that came from a shirt in the backseat of Warren's vehicle. Her underwear and leggings were also found in the backseat.
After collecting forensic evidence from Stewart's body, the Clark County Medical Center sent samples off to the WSP crime lab for testing.
Results of those tests didn't come back until Oct. 18, according to the affidavit. DNA found on Stewart's private parts matched that collected from Warren, the affidavit says.
Based on the results of the forensics report, the investigating detective wrote, it's 2.4 nonillion (a number with 30 zeroes) times more likely that the DNA came from Warren than from someone else.
Warren made his first court appearance Friday on the new charge. Prosecutors expect to add it to the existing murder case, something the judge will consider next Thursday.