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MISTRIAL: Jury reaches no decision in murder case of 6-year-old Isabel Celis

Eleven years after girl’s disappearance
Posted: 4:28 PM, Mar 03, 2023
Updated: 2023-03-03 18:28:50-05
Isabel Celis

TUCSON, Ariz (KGUN) — A jury cannot agree on whether Christopher Clements is guilty or not guilty in the kidnapping and murder of 6-year-old Isabel Celis.

The jurors considered the case for about seven hours over two days.

Judge James Marner accepted the jury's assertion it can not come to a unanimous verdict and declared a mistrial.

A mistrial does allow prosecutors to put on a new trial. The Pima County Attorney's Office released a statement saying they will pursue a new trial. That will include a new jury. But prosecutors say they do not yet know when the new jury selection will begin.

Read the Pima County Attorney's Office's full statement here:

"It is our understanding that the Jury in the Christopher Clements prosecution could not agree upon a verdict today after over two weeks of testimony, and that Judge Marner has declared a mistrial. At this point, a new trial date will be ordered, and a new jury will have to be chosen to decide the matter. Our thoughts tonight are with the Celis and Gonzalez families."

When Isabel Celis disappeared in 2012 the case drew national and international attention.

The mystery of how the little girl could be removed from an occupied home undetected made the mystery seem deeper.

Early suspicion fell on Sergio Celis, the girl’s father. People thought he seemed suspiciously calm as he called 911. For a time Tucson Police pursued Sergio Celis as a suspect but he was never charged and the case turned cold.

Then in 2017, Christopher Clements came forward, and told the FBI he knew where to find the remains of the girl—and he’d share that information in return for getting some unrelated charges dropped.

He led investigators to a remote site north of Tucson, where Avra Valley and Trico roads meet. There, detectives found scattered bones DNA matched to Isabel Celis.

Detectives took a closer look at Clements and found the day Isabel Celis disappeared, Clements cell phone had connected to a tower that covered the area where her remains were recovered.

A search of his ipad and computer showed he had searched for terms like, “body found in desert” “trace evidence on body” and “Isabel Celis sexy”.

A locked folder on his ipad also held a large collection of images of young girls in provocative poses.

In trial Clements defense called the photos character assassination unrelated to the case. They rapped the cell phone tracking as unreliable and said it does not make someone a criminal if they know information about a crime, like the location of Isabel Celis bones.

The Clements defense team worked to trigger doubts about Clements guilt, largely by raising again the idea that Sergio Celis had a role in the girl’s disappearance.

To try to defuse that effort Prosecutors called Sergio Celis as a witness and asked flat out if he had anything to do with his daughter’s death. He said “Absolutely not.”

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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.