A few hours after 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez disappeared on the way to a friend's house in June 2014, the man now accused in her death returned to his own home, a few blocks away, looking for bleach, jurors were told…
When Christopher Matthew Clements learned there wasn't enough bleach at his house, the new father borrowed his girlfriend's car to go purchase more, even though he'd just been driving his own vehicle. When he returned from the errand, Clements asked his girlfriend if she had looked in his trunk.
Clements, 40, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Isabel Celis, 6, and Maribel. His trial in Maribel's death is scheduled to last through the end of this month, while his trial in connection with Isabel's killing is slated for February. Feeling as if something wasn't right, the woman got out of her car to investigate, and as she got closer, saw a human body underneath a discarded tire.
Miller spoke about how Maribel's case more than once went cold, with police first looking into a man in his 20s who had been involved with the teen. He provided police with a DNA sample and investigators found no evidence to connect him to her disappearance. She also told jurors that GPS records from Clements' phone are consistent with it being in the area where Maribel's body was dumped.
"There will not be a witness who comes in and says, 'I saw Christopher Clements with Maribel in a car,' but all of the testimony you will hear over the next two weeks will include evidence that will leave you firmly convinced that Christopher Clements kidnapped and murdered Maribel Gonzalez," Miller said.
"There's no evidence she went anywhere with a person or a group.... or was held against her will," DiRoberto said. DiRoberto reminded jurors that the medical examiner's office had been unable to determine a cause of death, and said the defense will have another medical examiner testify that it's not best practice to determine a manner of death via homicide without first examining a person's medical records.
DiRoberto urged jurors to wait to hear both sides' version of the evidence before forming any beliefs.
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