Man charged with killing 2 Arizona girls who went missing

TUCSON, Ariz. — A man who is in jail has been charged in the kidnapping and killing of two Arizona girls who went missing in 2012 and 2014, authorities announced Saturday.

Christopher Matthew Clements, 36, was indicted on Friday by a grand jury on 21 criminal counts, including murder and kidnapping charges in the deaths of 6-year-old Isabel Celis and 13-year-old Maribel Gonzalez, said Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus.

Celis went missing from her Tucson home in April 2012 and her body was discovered in what was described as a rural area in March 2017.

Gonzalez’ body was discovered in June 2014 in the Avra Valley community near Tucson, not far from where Celis’ remains would be found three years later.

At a news conference announcing the indictment, Magnus said the FBI in 2017 learned Clements had information about the death of Celis.

Clements had been in a Phoenix-area jail for more than a year facing other charges when the indictment was issued.