A Pine Bluff man accused of murder in 2017 has been identified as the suspect in the death of two people in Washington State.
Kirkland Warren is listed as the “person of interest” in the deaths of Meshay Melendez, 27, Warren’s former girlfriend, and her eight-year-old daughter, Layla Stewart. Their bodies were found in a rural area of Washougal, Washington which is near Vancouver, Washington.
According to a report from a Vancouver television station, the two were last seen alive on March 12 when a friend told police they saw them getting into Warren’s car. Warren is currently being held in the Clark County jail on $1 million bond on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and violating an order of protection.
A probable cause affidavit from the Vancouver Police Department dated March 2 said Melendez reported that she had been assaulted and shot at by Warren on Dec. 13 at her apartment in Vancouver. Police reported finding a bullet hole in the ceiling of the deck of the apartment. She also showed police threatening text messages from Warren.
In that incident, Warren was charged with Assault in the second-degree (domestic violence felony), harassment (domestic violence felony), possession of a stolen firearm (felony) and false swearing (misdemeanor).
He was ordered to have no contact with Melendez and according to a petition filed by Jefferson County prosecutors, Warren violated conditions of that order, and talked about leaving the state of Washington which would also be a violation of the conditions of his release.
At the time of the incident in Washington, Warren was out on a $250,000 bond after being charged with first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse stemming from the death of 57-yer-old Curtis Urquhart, whose body was found in a ditch in Arkansas County on Dec. 11, 2017.
When Warren was questioned, he said he shot Urquhart in the head while the two were in a vehicle together, then dumped the body in ditch near Stuttgart. He had been scheduled for trial in December but that trial was continued at the request of the defense.
Prosecutors are seeking to revoke Warren’s bond on the murder allegation and have him held without bond.
