Vancouver vigil set for Meshay, Layla on Sunday

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) – A vigil to help bring awareness to domestic violence will be held in Vancouver's Esther Short Park beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday.

The vigil in honor of Meshay Melendez and her daughter Layla Stewart is being organized by the National Women's Coalition Against Violence and YWCA Clark County "in conjunction with the family" of the slain mother and daughter. Those attending are asked to wear pink and red.

Meshay Melendez was 28. Layla was 8. Their bodies were found in Washougal earlier this week.

Michelle Bart with NWCAVE told KOIN 6 News she commends the Vancouver police. "Every case should be able to get somebody locked up immediately. But if we can't keep them locked up, then the system is failing the victims. There's no excuse for it."

Vancouver police originally named Kirkland Warren a “person of interest” in the pair’s disappearance on March 22, before two bodies assumed to be Melendez and Stewart were found on Wednesday.

As of Friday evening, Warren was not facing any charges for their disappearance or death. Authorities said Warren had once been in a relationship with Melendez.

Warren is also wanted in Arkansas in connection to the 2017 murder of Curtis Urquhart. Court documents show Warren admitted to shooting the man in the head and dumping him in a ditch.

YWCA provides a 24-hour SafeChoice Domestic and Sexual Violence hotline (1.800.695.0167) and a national 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline (1.800.799.7233). The organization also has a Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence Friends & Family Guide.

KOIN 6 News will continue to follow this story.