Pima County seeks murder charge in retrial of man accused of kidnapping 6-year-old Tucson girl

Pima County is seeking a murder conviction in the retrial of a man accused of the kidnapping and killing of six-year-old Isabel Celis, who disappeared in 2012.

For a second time, Christopher Clements, 42, is facing first-degree murder and a host of other charges after a trial last year ended with a hung jury.

He is already facing a natural life sentence plus a 17-year prison term for the murder and kidnapping of 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez, who disappeared in 2014.

Celis disappeared on the night of April 20, 2012 after “shuffling” to bed after the family had returned from a baseball game, said Tracy Miller, an attorney with the Pima County Attorney’s Office.

Her body was not found until five years later, when Clements led FBI agents to her skeletal remains located in a remote desert area in Avra Valley, just north of Tucson.

Clements had struck a deal with FBI agents: He would lead them to her body if his burglary charges, unrelated to Isabel’s disappearance, were dropped and his car released.

‘Unbelievable nightmare’

“Unbelievable nightmare,” Miller said during her opening statements on Wednesday. She echoed the words Isabel’s father, Sergio Celis, used to describe the aftermath of his daughter’s disappearance.

She was “abducted from her home in the middle of the night, gone without a trace,” Miller said.

Some of the evidence Miller will present during the weeks-long trial includes photos of little girls on Clements’ computer, Isabel's full name written on a piece of paper and buried under a rock in his yard, and his cell phone location in the area where her body was found on the night she disappeared.

Miller said investigators found search history on Clements’ computer made over the years with words like “Isabel Celis sexy” and “trace evidence found on body.”

But the only evidence found in her room were drops of her blood between her bed and her window, where the window’s screen had been bent and found leaning against the house. Miller said no fingerprints or other DNA evidence were found on the screen.

Defense says no forensic evidence of intruder in Isabel’s room

The defense, led by attorney Eric Kessler, also highlighted the lack of forensic evidence. Kessler said it showed no intruder or stranger had been in the Celis house the night Isabel disappeared.

What the jury was not going to hear, Kessler said, was eyewitness testimony, confession, or forensic evidence that suggests Clements was involved.

Between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m., when it is believed that Isabel disappeared, her brother had been awake and her father was asleep on the couch.

Kessler said testimony from the family showed no one heard a sound — not Isabel screaming, or their dogs barking, or the lound screeching Isabel’s window made when opened.

He also noted that during the investigation into her disappearance, detectives doubted the theory that Isabel was taken out of her window. They thought it was more likely somebody walked her out of the front door, passing by the couch where the father slept.

Kessler noted that the six-foot wall around the house made it challenging for anyone to leave the backyard with a child over the wall.

“Detectives didn’t find any evidence of a struggle … so investigation focused on Sergio,” he said.

Father takes the stand, maintains innocence

Sergio Celis maintains that he had nothing to do with his daughter's disappearance.

"Absolutely not," he said loudly after the prosecution asked him if he was involved in her abduction.

He recalled frantically looking for her in the house along with her brothers, calling his parents to see if Isabel was at their house and calling his wife to tell her to come home.

"There had to be a reasonable explanation why she was not there," he said.

After realizing she was truly gone, he called 911, and remembered thinking: “This is the most important phone call you have to make your life. And you better get all the information you need and get it right."

Celis described his daughter as outgoing and “a bit fearless” as well as having a loving personality.

"She had two big brothers she wanted to keep up with," he said.

He noted she had never left with a stranger before.

Reach the reporter at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com. The Republic’s coverage of southern Arizona is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America. Support Arizona news coverage with a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Man accused of kidnapping, killing 6-year-old Tucson girl faces retrial