TUCSON — In April 2012, the disappearance of a 6-year-old girl made headlines for days after her family reported her disappearance from her bedroom overnight.
Nearly 11 years later, a man accused of kidnapping and murdering Isabel Celis is on trial.
Christopher Clements, 41, began his opening statement on Tuesday, facing counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping of a minor under the age of 15 and second-degree robbery in Isabel’s disappearance and death.
Her body was discovered in 2017, five years after her disappearance, when Clements took investigators to a location in rural Pima County.
Deputy County Attorney Tracy Miller on Tuesday described scenes from the night Isabel, nicknamed Isa, went missing on April 20, 2012. my sons baseball game.
Detectives never found fingerprints, DNA, or witnesses, Miller said.
In late 2017, Clements was taken into police custody on a separate charge in Maricopa County. He called his partner, Melissa Stark, and asked her to tell the FBI that he knew where Isabel was buried.
He signed a contract with the FBI. If the FBI drops the charges and releases the seized vehicle, he will tell investigators where the remains are.
In March 2017, Clements took agents to a remote area near the Avra ​​Valley west of Marana and the Trico road, where bones later turned out to be Isabel’s remains.
Miller said data from a nearby cell phone base station showed Clements was in the backcountry just hours after Isabel disappeared from her bedroom. Detectives also found photos of a scantily dressed young girl on his electronic device, some taken from the Internet and some taken around Tucson.
Eric Kessler, one of two attorneys representing Clements, said in his opening statement that no one in the house heard anything that night. Nor did he have the barking of the Celis dog, which he said was typical when he sensed a stranger. No noise from Isabelle either.
Kessler tried to question people other than Clements, including Isabel’s father. He said Sergio Celis’ voice when calling 911 was softer than that of one of his wife and sons, who also called 911.
Kessler also noted that detectives found Isabel’s handwriting on the wall of the child’s closet. Written on the wall were things like “I hate daddy” and “I hate daddy”.
Kessler reiterated that jurors will not hear evidence of a confession by Clements or physical or forensic evidence linking him to the crime scene during the trial.
The trial will run for several weeks until early March.
After opening statements, Celis’ father was called to the stands. He describes his experience working as a trauma technician in the Tucson Medical Center emergency room and is used to staying calm in stressful situations.
Miller showed him a picture of a young girl and a puppy. She asked Sergio Celis who was in the photo.
“Isabel,” Celis said, raising her voice. He added that she would turn 17 this year.
Miller asked him if he had anything to do with her disappearance.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
He told the court he woke up the next morning to find his daughter gone. He entered her room, her cover was pulled back, and she was not there.
As he searched for her from inside the house, one of his sons ran up to him and told him that her window was wide open and the screen was bent lying on the ground outside.
When he made “the most important call of his life,” he recalled thinking her disappearance needed an explanation when referring to the 911 call.
On the stand, Celis explained his state of mind on that day in 2012. I can’t believe she’s not here. This is ridiculous. where is she where is she He said.
In an earlier trial that ended on September 30, Clements was found guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping of 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez. Maribel Gonzalez disappeared one evening in June 2014 while walking to her friend’s house in Tucson.
Her body was also found near West Avra ​​Road and Toriko Road. In addition to her life sentence, Clements received her 17-year prison sentence for kidnapping a teenage victim and was sentenced to life in prison.
Clements was serving a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison for a Maricopa County robbery in 2017, according to the Associated Press.
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