In this episode of Crime Watch Daily Updates: On April 20, 2012, Sergio and Becky Celis tucked their 6-year-old daughter, Isabel, into bed in their Tucson, Arizona, home and kissed her goodnight. That’s the last time they’d see her alive.
The next morning, Sergio went to wake up his little girl but found she was nowhere in sight. Her window had been smashed and the window screen was on the ground. Becky called 911 as the family searched up and down for Isabel.
Police leads led nowhere. Detectives were stuck.
However, in March 2017, Tucson Police announced they found human remains in a remote area of the county, and they were positively identified as Isabel. Three years before Isabel’s remains were found, investigators discovered the body of missing 13-year-old Maribel Gonzales in the same area.
Detectives pinpointed the location thanks to a tip from someone saying they knew a man who knew where Isabel Celis was buried. That man was identified as Christopher Clements, and it turns out his girlfriend at the time called in the tip.
In September 2018, he was indicted on 22 charges, including two counts of first-degree murder and kidnapping in connection with both Isabel and Maribel’s deaths. In September 2022, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping. His trial for Isabel’s death is scheduled for February.
Let’s take a look back at the case of the kidnapping and murder of a 6-year-old who would be inextricably linked to another innocent girl’s demise.
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