Kirkland Warren, the 27-year-old Vancouver man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and her young daughter last month, pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder charges Monday morning during his arraignment in Clark County Superior Court.
Warren appeared by video from Clark County Jail and spoke only to confirm his plea.
The courtroom was filled with friends and family of Meshay Melendez, the 27-year-old Vancouver woman whose body was found March 22 next to a creek in Washougal, along with that of her 7-year-old daughter Layla Stewart. They’d been missing since March 12. The medical examiner determined both died from gunshot wounds to the head.
Judge Suzan L. Clark denied the defense’s request to set a bail amount and ordered Warren to continue to be held in custody.
Warren faces one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm in addition to the two counts of aggravated murder. The latter charges carry a sentence of life without the possibility of parole upon conviction.
A trial readiness hearing is scheduled for June 2 and the criminal trial is slated to begin June 5.
When Melendez and Stewart went missing, Warren was named a person of interest because he was the last person seen with them, and also because, at that time, he was out on bail – without GPS monitoring – for a domestic-violence case in which he was accused of shooting at Melendez’ apartment and threatening her.
In phone calls Warren made to Melendez from jail a little more than a week before she disappeared, Warren blamed Melendez for his arrest and urged her to “figure out” how to get the domestic-violence charges dropped, according to court documents.
Court records also show that Vancouver detectives used Warren’s cellphone to piece together his movements in the days after Melendez and her daughter disappeared.
Investigators tracked Warren’s cellphone location the night of March 13 to an area along Southeast Wooding Road, east of Sunset View Road, where Melendez and Stewart’s bodies were discovered by a passerby nine days later, according to a probable cause affidavit.
On March 23, investigators interviewing Warren at the Clark County Jail asked him if he thought authorities had found Melendez and Stewart.
Warren responded, “I don’t know,” Det. Goudschaal wrote in the affidavit.
Warren then added: “I hope not.”
When detectives showed Warren an aerial photograph of the location where Melendez and Stewart had been discovered, Warren ended the interview and asked for an attorney.
The gunshot wound Melendez sustained had evidence of “stippling,” or unburned powder and debris, meaning she was shot at close range, which is consistent with blood police found in the passenger seat of Warren’s Dodge Charger, Goudschaal wrote in the affidavit.
Warren also faces a first-degree murder charge in Arkansas in the homicide of 57-year-old Curtis Urquhart, who was shot in the head and found in a ditch on Dec. 11, 2017. An Arkansas judge has issued a fugitive warrant for his arrest.
– Savannah Eadens; seadens@oregonian.com; 503-221-6651; @savannaheadens