She disappeared with no trace. Years later, a convicted murderer is on trial for her death

TUCSON -- The 6-year-old's disappearance made headlines for days in April 2012, after her family reported she had disappeared from her bedroom overnight.

Almost 11 years later, the man accused of kidnapping and killing Isabel Celis went to trial.

Opening statements began Tuesday for Christopher Clements, 41, who is facing one count of first-degree murder, one count of kidnapping a minor under 15 and a count of burglary in the second degree in the disappearance and death of Isabel.

Her remains were found in 2017, five years after her disappearance, when Clements led investigators to a spot in a rural part of Pima County.

On Tuesday, Deputy County Attorney Tracy Miller laid out the scene the night Isabel, called Isa, disappeared on April 20, 2012. Isabel’s mother had gone to bed early, while her father had fallen asleep on the couch after bringing the children home from one of their sons' baseball games.

Detectives never found fingerprints, DNA or witnesses, Miller said.

Several later in 2017, Clements was in police custody on unrelated charges in Maricopa County. He called his partner, Melissa Stark, asking her to tell the FBI that he knew where Isabel was buried.

He made a deal with the FBI: If they dropped his charges and released his impounded vehicle, he would tell agents where the remains were located.

In March 2017, Clements led agents to a remote area in Marana near West Avra Valley and Trico roads, where they found bones later proven to be Isabel’s remains.

Miller said Clements had been in that remote area just hours after Isabel disappeared from her bedroom, according to data from cellphone towers nearby. Detectives also found photos of scantily clad young girls, some taken from the internet and others taken around Tucson, on his electronic devices.

Eric Kessler, one of the two attorneys representing Clements, said during his opening statement that no one at the house had heard anything that night: not the screech of the window that opened loudly to her ground floor room; nor the sound of the Celis dogs barking, which he said was typical when they sensed strangers; nor any noise from Isabel.

Kessler sought to raise questions about people other than Clements, including Isabel's father. He said Sergio Celis' voice when he called 911 was calm compared with that of his wife and one of his sons, who also called 911.

Kessler also noted detectives found Isabel’s handwriting on the wall of the child’s closet. The writing on the wall had words like, “I don’t like dad" and “dad is bad.”

Kessler reiterated that the jury will not hear evidence of a confession by Clements or any physical or forensic evidence connecting him to the crime scene during the trial.

The trial is slated to run several weeks, into early March.

After opening statements, Celis’ father was called to the stand. He explained his experience working as a trauma tech in the Tucson Medical Center’s emergency room, noting he 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 that picture.

“Isabel,” Celis said, his voice breaking up as he spoke. She would be 17 this year, he added.

Miller asked him if he had anything to do with her disappearance.

“Absolutely not,” he said.

He told the court after he woke up the next morning he realized his daughter was gone. He went into her room and her covers were pulled back, and she wasn’t there.

While he was looking through the house for her, one of his sons ran to him, telling him her window was wide open and the screen was lying on the ground outside and bent.

When he made “the most important call of his life,” as he referred to that 911 call, he recalled thinking there had to be an explanation for her disappearance.

On the stand, Celis explained his state of mind on that day in 2012. “There has to be a reasonable explanation for this. I cannot believe that she is not here. This is preposterous. Where is she at, where is she at?” he said.

In a previous trial that ended Sept. 30, Clements was convicted of first-degree murder and kidnapping of 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez who disappeared when walking to a friend’s house one evening in June 2014 in Tucson.

Her body was also found near West Avra and Trico roads. Clements was sentenced to natural life in prison plus a 17-year prison term for kidnapping a teenage victim, to be served consecutively with the life sentence.

According to the Associated Press, Clements already was serving a prison sentence of up to 35 years for a Maricopa County burglary in 2017.

Coverage of southern Arizona on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is funded by the nonprofit Report for America in association with The Republic.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Murderer on trial in 2012 death of 6-year-old Isabel Celis of Tucson