Nearly seven years after he was identified as the suspect in a 2017 homicide, Kirkland C. Warren has accepted an offer to plead guilty to first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in exchange for prosecutors agreeing not to seek the death penalty.
His plea and prison sentence will run concurrently with a sentence in Washington State where he pleaded guilty to the murder of a woman and her daughter.
In Arkansas, Kirkland was charged in the death of Curtis Urquhart, 57, whose body was found Nov. 27, 2017, near Stuttgart. Urquhart had been shot in the head and Warren told police he feared for his life.
In Washington state, Warren was accused in the deaths of Meshay Melendez and her daughter, Layla Stewart. There bodies were found 10 days after they had been reported missing and the medical examiners office said they died after being shot in the head.
Warren pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Melendez and aggravated first degree murder in the death of Stewart. He will be sentenced Oct. 8 and the sentences must run consecutively.
