<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2y3L1F_0lPiEtUs00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2y3L1F_0lPiEtUs00" width="1280" height="1280" ></figure>Vancouver police are looking for a 27-year-old mother and her 7-year-old-daughter who have been missing from the area since March 12.Meshay Melendez and daughter Layla Stewart were last seen in the 7700 block of Vancouver Mall Drive, police said. A car police believe belonged to Melendez was found nearby a week later, on March 19.Julie Ballou, a sergeant who works in the Vancouver Police Department’s missing persons unit, said in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive that investigators believe the disappearance has a “criminal nexus” but declined to elaborate.“It doesn’t appear Meshay and Layla just left on their own or are choosing to be away,” Ballou said. “Often people leave on their own and that doesn’t seem to be what’s happened here.”Vancouver police are looking into “persons of interest” who may be involved in their disappearance, Ballou said.The two were reported missing by Melendez’s mother when she learned that friends of her daughter and granddaughter hadn’t seen them for a week.Vancouver police released photos of the mother and daughter, asking the public’s help in locating them.Melendez is 5-foot-9, about 185 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. Layla is about 4 feet tall, 50 pounds and has brown hair and hazel eyes.Police asked anyone with information about their whereabouts to contact Vancouver police detectives Robert Givens <a href="mailto:robert.givens@cityofvancouver.us">robert.givens@cityofvancouver.us</a> or Chadd Nolan <a href="mailto:chadd.nolan@cityofvancouver.us">chadd.nolan@cityofvancouver.us</a> or call 911.-- Savannah Eadens; seadens@oregonian.com; 503-221-6651; @savannaheadensCORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated Layla Stewart’s age because the Vancouver Police Department initially reported her as eight years old.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

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Vancouver police searching for woman and her 7-year-old daughter, missing for more than a week

Vancouver police are looking for a 27-year-old mother and her 7-year-old-daughter who have been missing from the area since March 12. Meshay Melendez and daughter Layla Stewart were last seen in the 7700 block of Vancouver Mall Drive, police said. A car police believe belonged to Melendez was found nearby a week later, on March 19.