On Saturday, an Arizona man was indicted in the deaths of two young girls who disappeared within a two-year time span from each other.
KOLD reports that Christopher Matthew Clements, 36, was indicted by a grand jury on 22 felony charges, which include the murders of 6-year-old Isabel Celis and 13-year-old Maribel Gonzales.
Isabel’s remains were found in 2017, five years after she vanished, when a tipster contacted the FBI, which led them to the suspect. After authorities detained and questioned Clements, they located Isabel’s remains in a remote desert area in Pima County, Arizona.
Investigators discovered Maribel’s remains three years prior within close proximity to Isabel’s remains. Both deaths were later connected to the same suspect. Authorities also discovered Clements’ long history of criminal activity that spanned cross-country.
JUST IN: This is Christopher Clements, the man accused of kidnapping and killing Isabel Celis and Maribel Victoria Gonzales in #Tuson years ago >> https://t.co/YnWPhqNWi2 pic.twitter.com/5fjX98Mvs5
— TucsonNewsNow (@TucsonNewsNow) September 15, 2018
Court records indicate that Clements has been committing crimes since at least the age of 16, when in 1998, he sexually penetrated a victim with a foreign object while in Oregon. In 2002, he received a felony assault charge in King’s County, Washington. During the same year he was arrested and charged with identity theft. In 2006, he was charged with felony theft and making harassing calls.
Later in 2006, Clements was arrested twice in Florida for failing to register as a sex offender. In 2007, he moved to Tucson where he once again faced charges for failing to register as a sex offender.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Isabel was last seen by her family members in her bedroom inside her family’s Tucson home on April 20, 2012. Her father later found her window open and the screen pushed to the side. A neighbor told police that she heard a male’s voice outside of the home at around 6:30 a.m on the morning the little girl vanished.
For five years, authorities searched for the little girl while combing through thousands of tips. On March 31, 2017, detectives found Isabel’s remains close to North Trico and West Avra Valley. DNA testing later confirmed the remains as Isabel.
Maribel disappeared while walking to a friend’s house on June 4, 2014, in Pimas County. On June 6, authorities discovered her nude body lying under a mesquite tree, covered by two tires. She was nude and lying face-down. On June 20, 2014, results from DNA testing confirmed the remains as Maribel.
Christopher Clements Indict… by on Scribd
In addition to murder charges, Clements faces charges of kidnapping, burglary, theft, trafficking stolen property, and sexual exploitation of a minor.
Clements is currently being held on unrelated charges at the Maricopa County jail, but is scheduled to be extradited to Tucson. He’s being held on a $2 million bond.
[Feature Photo: Isabel Ceris; Maribel Gonzales/Handout]
