Suspect in Celis killing accused of taking sharp pencil into jail

The man accused of kidnapping and killing 6-year-old Isabel Celis has now been charged with promoting prison contraband, a felony, while his murder trial continues.

On Feb. 7, days before his trial in Isabel’s death began, Christopher M. Clements was found to have a sharpened pencil “while being confined in a correctional facility or while being lawfully transported or moved incident to correctional facility,” according to court documents. His arraignment was scheduled to take place after trial proceedings Tuesday.

Clements was previously being held in Maricopa County on unrelated charges, but was taken to the Pima County jail for trial. Jury selection began Feb. 9.

Isabel was reported missing from her bedroom the morning of April 21, 2012. Her case went unsolved and Clements was not identified as a suspect until March 2017, when he led investigators to her remains in exchange for the dropping of unrelated charges. He was convicted in September of the kidnapping and killing of another Tucson girl, Maribel Gonzalez.

Earlier Tuesday, before Clements’ arraignment on the new charge, his attorney, Eric Kessler, called the first defense witness in the murder trial.

He questioned retired Tucson police detective Bill Hanson, who became involved in the investigation two days after Isabel’s disappearance.

Hanson said that when he interviewed Isabel’s father, Sergio Celis, weeks after she went missing, he “seemed like he wanted to get this done and was concerned about it.” He said Becky Celis, Isabel’s mother, was very upset during her interview.

Isabel’s father was ‘sweating profusely’

Kessler also asked Hanson about his report, in which he said Sergio was “sweating profusely” and he wasn’t sure why. Hanson said he documented it simply because “it was something I noticed.”

Kessler showed the jury a minute-long video with Hanson attempting to recreate Isabel’s abduction through her bedroom window. Hanson struggled to get into the bedroom easily, but was able to crawl out of the house while carrying a 40-pound doll. He told the jury it was difficult to enter the room without knowing what was on the other side of the window.

Deputy Pima County Attorney Tracy Miller asked Hanson if he could have put his hands on the windowsill and looked inside prior to entering Isabel’s bedroom. Hanson said yes and that it probably would have been a good idea, but that the shelf he stepped on when he entered the bedroom ended up holding his weight.

Hanson, who is 5’8” tall, also told jurors he believed a taller person probably would have had an easier time entering and exiting Isabel’s bedroom. Clements is 6’1” tall.

Hanson said it was possible his note about Sergio Celis’ sweating was during the portion of his interview where he recreated the events after Isabel’s disappearance, recalling that Sergio had said at the time, “just taking me back there is bringing it all up.”

Hanson said his questioning of Becky Celis about whether her husband was possibly involved in Isabel’s disappearance was “pressing to get to the truth,” but that there was never a formal investigation into Sergio Celis as a suspect.

State rests after calling final witness

Earlier in the day, Clements’ lawyers continued their questioning of the state’s 25th and final witness, cell phone tracking expert Sy Ray. Ray testified Friday about the location of Clements’ phone before and after Isabel’s disappearance.

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Ray told jurors that Clements’ phone had been in the area of the Celis house twice on April 13, 2012. Sergio Celis previously testified he had arrived home that afternoon to find his dogs running loose in the street, after the door leading to their backyard was presumably opened.

The morning Isabel was discovered missing from her bedroom, Clements’ phone was again in the area of her home, then later traveled to a desert area in Marana where Isabel’s remains were later discovered, according to data provided by AT&T, Ray said.

Clements previously told police he was sleeping in on the morning of April 21, 2012 and didn’t start his day until around 11 a.m., but Ray testified that Clements’ phone was in the recovery area from 9:20 to 10:17 a.m.

Kessler questioned Ray about the coverage area of the cell phone tower near the recovery site, off Avra Valley and Trico Roads, that picked up Clements’ phone the morning Isabel went missing. Ray said it covers an area of 178 square miles and that he couldn’t determine within a reasonable degree of scientific certainty where within that area a device might actually be located.

Kessler showed Ray several slides from a 52-page document, showing maps with bubbles in cell phone tower coverage areas, that were created in 2018 by another analyst using a program called TraX.

TraX — which was created by Ray and has since been sold to more than 650 law enforcement agencies across the country — allows investigators to visualize and analyze call detail records and third-party device location information.

A handful of images shown to Ray and the jury placed the area where Isabel’s remains were found right outside of the tower’s coverage area. Ray said he first saw the slides a few weeks ago, after being contacted by the defense. He said he first mapped Clements’ phone movements in early 2020, shortly after being contacted by the prosecution and after a major update had been performed on the TraX network.

Ray told the jury the old slides weren’t accurate, since TraX had undergone the update in 2019 to try to address gaps in coverage points. Ray said that at the time of the update, his company contacted customers to tell them that if they had a pending case, they would need to re-run the records.

Judge rules against defense motion

Clements’ defense team filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss the charges against him, arguing there is no physical evidence tying Clements to Isabel’s disappearance.

The defense team referred to Isabel’s missing clothes, items family members had told police were her favorites, as a reason to suspect a family member was involved, most likely, the defense contends, her father.

“It’s very unlikely that an intruder or a stranger, someone not a family member, could have picked out (Isabel’s) favorite clothes or have her pick them out before taking her,” said Clements’ attorney Joseph DiRoberto. “Isabel Celis could not have been taken from her bedroom without Mr. Celis being complicit.”

Deputy Pima County Attorney Chris Ward told the judge there was no evidence Sergio Celis was involved in his daughter’s disappearance, nor did he have any motive. He also noted testimony from Isabel’s mother indicating she did not believe her husband was involved.

“The defendant was the person who revealed Isa’s remains to the FBI,” Ward said in his response to the motion. “The person that knows where a dead 6-year-old girl is is the person who is going to have put her there.”

Superior Court Judge James Marner denied the defense motion, saying he found substantial circumstantial and direct evidence to support the charges against Clements.

The trial is set to resume Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. in Pima County Superior Court.