Christopher Clements is a killer from Arizona who was convicted of the murder of six year old Isabel Celis
According to court documents six year old Isabel Celis was taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night and the little girls body would be found years later
Around the same time period thirteen year old Maribel Gonzalez would disappear as she was walking to a friends home. Her body would be found days later in the desert
Christopher Clements would become a suspect in both murders when he offered to tell Officers where to find the body of Isabel Celis if they dropped a burglary charge that was pending against him.
Officers would get enough evidence to charge Christopher Clements in both the murder of Isabel Celis and Maribel Gonzalez
Christopher Clements would be convicted of the murder of Maribel Gonzalez and sentenced to life in prison
Christopher Clements would then be convicted of the murder of Isabel Celis and again he would be sentenced to life in prison ensuring this monster will never be free
Christopher Clements Case
A man convicted of killing a 6-year-old Tucson girl, whose body was found years later in a remote desert area, was sentenced Wednesday to a natural life prison term.
Before sentencing, Christopher Clements read a rambling statement in court and said he didn’t feel he was given a fair trial.
“I still maintain my innocence,” said Clements, who declined to testify in his own defense during his trial.
Two months ago, the 42-year-old was found guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and burglary in the death of Isabel Celis, who vanished from her parents’ home in 2012.
“Until the day I die, I will feel responsible for not doing my job and protecting my little girl from the evil that lurked outside her window,” her father, Sergio Celis, told the court Wednesday.
Clements became a suspect in Isabel Celis’ death in 2017 when he told FBI agents that he could lead them to the girl’s remains in exchange for having charges in an unrelated burglary case dropped, according to Tucson police. He had said he had nothing to do with her death.
“He took her childhood away from her,” Becky Celis, the girl’s mother, said about Clements. “In my opinion, Christopher has no remorse… His punishment should be natural life in prison with no parole.”
Clements’ Feb. 29 conviction came in a retrial of the Celis case after a different Pima County Superior Court jury failed to reach a verdict in 2023.
Judge James Marner also sentenced Clements on Wednesday to a 17-year prison term for kidnapping and 3 ½ years for burglary, all to be served consecutively to previous convictions.
Clements already is serving a natural life prison sentence for the 2014 killing of 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez, who disappeared while walking to a friend’s house. Her body was found days later, also in a desert area.
Clements was arrested in 2018 in the deaths of the two girls. He was sentenced in 2022 for kidnapping and killing Gonzalez.
Christopher Clements News
For some people the kidnapping and killing of 6-year-old Isabel Celis is burned into their memory. It happened 12 years ago, but just imagine the terror of a girl who disappears from the family house and is never seen alive again.
Now we know the punishment for the man convicted in that murder.
There was no sign of Isabel Celis until five years after she disappeared, when Christopher Clements offered to take investigators to her in return for getting unrelated charges dropped. He said he didn’t kill her, but simply knew what he knew.
He took them to a small collection of bones in a remote part of Pima County. He became a suspect in two child deaths when a partial DNA match tied him to the remains of another girl found nearby: 13-year-old Maribel Gonzales.
Isabel’s parents, Becky and Sergio, did not want to appear on camera as they spoke in court but their voices carry a grief that will not go away.
“The Bible speaks of God's wrath, and it has been shown to be great. He has hurt many many little ones, including my baby girl Isabel. Punishment in this world will never be enough for the amount of pain and suffering he has caused. God, Karma, Mother Earth, whatever you believe in. All of this has a way of making things right that no one can escape.”
~Becky Celis
“Myself, until the day I die, I will feel responsible for not doing my job and protecting my little girl from the evil that lurked outside her window.”
~Sergio CelisThe law allows Clements to speak. The Celis family had stepped out of the courtroom by the time he did. He claimed his innocence, complained Judge James Marner ran an unfair trial and compared him to dictators from history.
“I’ve read a lot of books about village hangings carried out by the Crown in the Middle Ages, Hitler’s fascist government, Pol Pot and his ruthless Khmer Rouge regime. And yes, Joseph Stalin’s purges and show trials.”
Judge Marner gave Clements a sentence doubly sure to keep him behind bars: life without parole. That sentence does not begin until after the life without parole Clements got for killing Maribel Gonzalez.
Clements’ lawyers are already planning an appeal.
https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/life-without-parole-in-isabel-celis-murder
