Jury Finds Christopher Clements Guilty of Murdering 13-Year-Old Maribel Gonzalez
HORRIFIC
An Arizona jury convicted Christopher Clements on Friday for the death and disappearance of 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez in June 2014. He was charged with first degree murder and kidnapping of a victim under 15 years of age, and faces another trial in February for charges related to the death and disappearance of another young girl in 2012—six-year-old Isabel Celis. Although prosecutors failed to produce any witnesses who actually saw Clements put Gonzalez in his car, they argued the number of photos of young girls on his iPad constituted an obsession. Clements is believed to have gotten into a fight with his girlfriend the night Gonzalez disappeared, returning around midnight demanding bleach, taking her car to the store to purchase more bleach, then returning and demanding to know if she had looked inside the trunk of his car. Court evidence showed that later that night, Clements’ phone connected to a cell tower in a remote region of Avra Valley, where Gonzalez’ body was discovered. Clements is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 12.