The retrial of a convicted child-killer accused of kidnapping and killing a Tucson girl in 2012 went to jurors Tuesday.
The 11 day trial in Pima County Superior Court is the second for Christopher Clements in the killing of Isabel Celis, who was taken from her midtown home about five years before her body was found in the desert northwest of Tucson.
Clements is a convicted sex offender with a long criminal record and is already serving a life sentence in the killing of 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez, who disappeared in June 2014 while walking to a friend’s house.
The first trial for Clements in the killing of Celis resulted in a mistrial last year after jurors were unable to reach a verdict.
In closing arguments Tuesday, prosecutors reminded jurors that Clements led police to Celis’ body.
“It’s not a coincidence that no one found her except (Clements) in the five years since she had been gone,” Deputy County Attorney Tracy Miller said Tuesday. She noted that this information was only brought forward by Clements when he knew there was something at stake for him. He told authorities where to find the body hoping for a break in an unrelated burglary case, the Star has previously reported.
“He doesn’t come forward unless there is something to gain,” Miller said, “There’s no other person it could be.”Clements’ attorney, Eric Kessler, implored the jury to “take a step back and see the forest through the trees.”
“Resist the temptation to get lost in all of the details and focus on a shadow of a doubt.”
He said there were no fingerprints or DNA evidence linking Clements to the crime. A broken bedroom window screen, which is how police believe Clements had entered the Celis home, could not be proven as the entry point, defense attorneys said.
In the years since Celis’ disappearance, Clements was found in possession of a digital folder containing thousands of images of young girls, one of whom was Isabel Celis,
He was also found to have searched “Isabel Celis Sexy” in 2014, and then the girl’s name alone in 2016.
