Accused of murdering Latina girl Isabel Celis in 2012 found guilty; remains of the minor were found in the Arizona desert

Tucson – Christopher Clements was found guilty this Thursday of the kidnapping and murder of the girl Isabel Celis, who disappeared from her home in 2012 on the Arizona border and sparked a search that extended to Mexico for five years.

A jury in Tucson, Arizona, reached its verdict after hearing testimony for two weeks in the case that shocked the Hispanic community on both sides of the border.

This was the second trial against Clements, 42, in the case of the disappearance of the 6-year-old girl. The first ended without a verdict after jurors failed to agree last year.

This time the Prosecutor’s Office presented as evidence the signal from Clements’ cell phone, which was tracked to the same place where the minor’s remains were found.

The girl disappeared on the night of April 20, 2012 when she was in her home with her father and brother. Her mother, a nurse by profession, was working.

The City of Tucson Police Department (TPD) found, in 2017, the remains of the little girl in a secluded region of the desert.

The authorities indicated that it was Clements himself who asked his girlfriend to contact the Police to tell her that he had information about the minor’s whereabouts in exchange for reducing charges related to another case.

However, the accused was never able to explain how he knew where the minor’s body was nor did he accept his guilt in her kidnapping and murder.

Defense arguments in favor of Clements

For its part, the defense told the jury that there is no genetic evidence linking Clements to Celis’ disappearance.

He also assured that the program used by the Police to track the accused’s phone signal was not reliable.

Furthermore, the defense tried to raise the jury’s doubts by pointing out the minor’s father, Sergio Celis, as a suspect because, he claims, he never showed “pain” for his daughter’s disappearance.

Clements could face a maximum sentence of life in prison, which would be added to the life sentence he is already serving for the death of Maribel Gonzales, a 13-year-old minor who disappeared in Tucson in 2014 while on her way to a friend’s house. .

Gonzales’ body was found near the area where Celis’ remains were found.