TUCSON, AZ — A suspect still awaiting trial for the murders of two Tucson girls has been sentenced to 65 years in prison in a separate case. Clements’ trials both are scheduled to start later this year in Pima County Superior Court, but have been rescheduled at least three times already.
Prosecutors said 40-year-old Christopher Matthew Clements was credited with nearly 1,900 days served at Tuesday’s sentencing in a 2017 burglary case out of Maricopa County.
He was convicted in April on charges of theft, fraud and two counts of second-degree burglary.
The sentences for the burglary counts are set to run concurrently with fraud and theft, meaning Clements may wind up serving 35 years minus time served.
Clements is facing 22 felony charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, in the deaths of 6-year-old Isabel Celis and 13-year-old Maribel Gonzales.
He’s accused of kidnapping the girls separately before dumping their bodies in the Pima County desert.
Celis vanished from her parents’ east-side Tucson home in April 2012 while Gonzales disappeared while walking to a friend’s house in 2014.
Gonzales’ body was recovered days after her disappearance while Celis’ remains were found in early 2017 when Clements led federal agents to it, according to authorities.
