Isabel Celis' family testifies at trial of man accused in her death

For five years, Becky Celis says she never stopped believing her daughter Isabel would come home.

The Celis family painted Isabel’s bedroom — pink with purple polka dots — as they’d planned before her disappearance at age 6 on April 21, 2012. They bought her birthday and Christmas presents every year, leaving them in her room for when she returned.

They stayed in the house so they’d be there when their daughter finally came back, never believing it wasn’t a possibility, Becky Celis told jurors Thursday in the trial of the man accused of murdering Isabel.

“That was her house, that’s what she knew. That was her favorite place to be,” Becky Celis said. “I didn’t want to not be there and her to not know where we were.”

But in March 2017 she finally had to give up hope for her daughter’s return. The family was notified by police that Isabel’s remains had been found.

Christopher Matthew Clements, 41, is charged with kidnapping, first-degree murder and burglary in Isabel’s death. He was already convicted last year in the separate 2014 killing of a 13-year-old Tucson girl, Maribel Gonzalez.

Clements was identified as a suspect in both cases in 2017, after he led authorities to Isabel’s remains in exchange for the dropping of unrelated charges. The remains were found close to the desert area where Maribel’s body was discovered in 2014. He was indicted in both cases in September 2018.

During opening trial statements Tuesday, Clements’ lawyer told jurors he would introduce evidence that Isabel’s father, Sergio Celis, is the person responsible for her abduction.

‘She was all (about) dad’

Becky Celis’ testimony Thursday followed that of her husband’s and son’s, the family members all becoming emotional as they spoke about the hours, days and weeks after Isabel’s disappearance.

She told jurors how she braided Isabel’s hair and helped her get ready for softball the night before she went missing from her bedroom. Becky Celis was at work when her husband, Sergio, texted and then called to tell her Isabel was gone.

She told jurors that Isabel would never have walked away from the house or gone willingly with a stranger. She pointed out in photos that toys in Isabel’s room had been moved from a shelf just below her bedroom window. Isabel’s brother, Sergio Miguel, found her window open with the screen propped up against the wall the morning she was reported missing.

Deputy Pima County Attorney Tracy Miller played a recording of a 911 call during which Becky Celis frantically tried to provide the dispatcher with a description of Isabel.

The mother wept quietly on the witness stand as she listened to her sobs on the recording, imploring dispatchers for help.

“She’s only 6, can you please hurry?” Becky Celis said in the call.

Miller asked her if she remembered a person coming to the house several months before Isabel’s disappearance, inquiring about an inoperable Acura that the Celis family had parked alongside the house.

She described a man with black or dark-colored hair ringing the doorbell and Isabel standing next to her as she spoke briefly to him through the door.

Clements, who has dark-colored hair, looked down throughout Becky Celis’ testimony, appearing to write on a notepad.

Becky Celis also talked about her husband’s relationship with his children, saying he was close to all three and put special attention into making sure Isabel was included in activities with her brothers.

“He didn’t want to leave her behind,” she said. “When I was breastfeeding, she was mine. After that, she was all (about) dad.”

‘Couldn’t believe’ they were accusing father

Defense attorney Eric Kessler questioned Becky Celis about writing found inside Isabel’s closet, identified by the family as Isabel’s handwriting.

During interviews with police in the days following Isabel’s disappearance, Becky Celis was asked to help decipher the writing, indicating at one point that one of the scribbles said “Dad’s bad.”

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When shown photographs of the writings during court Thursday, Becky Celis said she did not believe it said “Dad’s bad” or that they referred to Sergio Celis.

Kessler asked Becky Celis if she remembered telling police she would have taken her children if she’d known about the writing, or refusing to participate in a phone call that police believed would implicate Sergio in Isabel’s disappearance, but she denied memory of either.

She cried again during Miller’s second set of questions, talking about how she felt when police initially focused the investigation on her husband.

“I couldn’t believe that they were accusing Sergio. They kept going back to that,” Becky Celis said. “I was thinking, ‘They’re not looking for my daughter, they’re not going to find her. They’re just stuck there and nothing else is being done.’”

She told the jury more than once that she didn’t believe her husband had anything to do with her daughter’s disappearance.

Isabel’s oldest brother, Sergio Miguel, testified Wednesday afternoon, telling the jury about his little sister. “She was a goof,” he said. “She just wanted to be doing whatever we were doing.”

Sergio Miguel called Isabel his father’s princess and talked about his father’s reaction when he told him he’d discovered Isabel’s window ajar and the screen popped out.

“I remember his face basically turning white,” he said.

Prosecutor Miller played Sergio Miguel’s 911 call for the jury, the then 14-year-old’s voice wavering on the recording as he spoke to dispatchers.

“My sister is gone. Someone broke in and grabbed her,” he said on the call.

Sergio Miguel cried softly on the stand as the recording played throughout the courtroom.

He described his mother as “frantic” when she arrived home, telling jurors that his father was “comforting to her.”

Sergio Miguel also talked about the writing found in Isabel’s closet, saying the phrase “bad day” referred to a popular song from the time. Contrary to Kessler’s claims about the writing, Sergio Miguel said he couldn’t identify any writing in the closet that said “bad dad” or “dad’s bad.”

Suspect ‘didn’t appear to have much emotion’

During his cross examination, Kessler tried to point out inconsistencies between Sergio Miguel’s current recollection of events and what he told police as a 14-year-old in 2012.

Sergio Miguel stood firm, telling Kessler multiple times he didn’t remember statements made to police in 2012 about the dogs’ barking habits when people came into the house, Isabel’s bedroom window, and whether the front door and back gate to the family’s home were kept locked or could be opened from outside.

“I relive what I went through a lot,” Sergio Miguel told Kessler. “I’m telling you, I don’t remember this.”

Isabel’s family walked out of the courtroom Thursday when FBI Agent David Som took the stand and the prosecution projected photos on several large TV screens of the site where Isabel’s remains were discovered.

Som told jurors he was part of the search party that Clements led out to the desert on March 3, 2017. He described the discovery of facial bones and other skull bones belonging to a child, which were later confirmed to belong to Isabel.

He described Clements’ demeanor during the search, saying he “didn’t appear to have much emotion or reaction when he was walking with us.”

The trial resumes Friday at 10:30 a.m. in Pima County Superior Court.