Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Who killed little Isabel Celis?

Episode Date: April 4, 2017

Tucson police confirmed a body found in a remote area last month was Isabel Celis, the girl snatched from her bed and missing for the past five years. The break in the case was not "happenstance," according to the police chief, but he wouldn't give details about how the child's remains were found. Nancy Grace and Alan Duke discuss the dramatic developments in the case, which Nancy has covered closely for years. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. She reported a missing child. I believe she was abducted from a house. The father, Sergio, who appeared so calm on his 911 call, told police that he fell asleep on the couch watching a pre-recorded baseball game. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Detectives write about a witness telling them that a guy who was staying with the family owed someone a lot of money, and that's why she was taken. Please, please, to the person or persons who have this event, tell us your demands. Tell us what you want. Law enforcement experts say it is statistically likely someone known to the family is involved.

I got the news in the last 72 hours that a little girl that I had helped search for days and days, weeks on end, sent my staff to investigate, prayed, covered, questioned. I got word that her body was found. Well, I'm sure it's skeletonized now. This is Crime Stories. I'm Nancy Grace, and it's now been 72 hours since I learned that Isabel Solis is dead, and I don't know what I had been thinking. I guess I didn't really want to think all the way to the end of the conclusion, to the end of my line of reasoning. I wanted there to be some fantastical excuse as to why she was missing from her own home. Maybe someone had seen her at the softball

game she attended the night before she disappeared, and they wanted to raise a child, and they took her. I did not want to think the obvious that someone had killed her, and she was never coming back home, but that is what I learned. It was like a kick in the stomach when I read the banner. Early, early, the remains of Isabel Solis had been found in a remote area. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. And even though I know now without a doubt

that Isabel is dead, it's not over. I want to know who took that child from her room and who killed her. First, I want to know who took that child from her room and who killed her. First, I want to thank Simply Safe for being with us today and sponsoring this podcast in our search for the truth about Isabel Salas. Simply Safe makes home security now available to everyone, to regular people. At $14.99 a month, you're covered. And the thing I like about it, among so many things, is that it's not reliant on your cell

phone line or your landline, both of which can be disrupted and or cut. They monitor you 24-7, 365. And if you log on to simplisafe.com slash Nancy, you get another 10% off. SimpliSafe, thank you for being our partner and sponsoring our podcast today about this little girl, Isabel. You know, Alan Duke is with me. Alan, you know, after my fiance was murdered, I did not ever think I would have a family. And I went on, as you know, to law school and to become a felony prosecutor. Each one of my cases became like my child. I would totally devote myself to it. I would cultivate it, work it. There were no number of hours that were too great, no painstaking detail too much to devote to that case. And the victim's families became like my family, like my friends. And I remember one day when the elected DA brought me in his office and said, Nancy,

you think you're getting a little too emotionally connected to your cases? And I went, yes. And he just looked at me when I answered like that. He said, well, okay. Okay, that was the end of it. But I remember covering this so well, Alan. And, you know, the scenario behind her disappearance, Alan, the family stays out late the night before at a softball game. They all come home. Isabel was there, of course, at the softball park and comes home, goes to bed late. The mom gets up

super early. As I recall, she's a nurse or in that health care business. She leaves super early, does not want to wake anybody up. She goes to work and then she gets the call. The husband, Sergio Solis, is the one that calls 911. Alan, please roll Sergio Solis 911 call. 911, what's your emergency? I want to report a missing person. My little girl is six years old. I believe she was abducted from our house. What's the address? Okay, stay on the line for Tucson Police. I will. Tucson Police Department. Deb Hart.

Hello, I need to report a missing child. I believe she was abducted from my house. Okay, how old? Six years old. Okay, is it your daughter? Yes. Why do you think she was abducted? I have no idea. We woke up this morning. I went to go get her up for her baseball game, and she's gone.

I woke up my sons. We looked everywhere in the house, and my oldest son noticed that her window was wide open and the screen was laying in the backyard. We've looked all around the house. My sons are running around. Okay, hang on. Yeah, my sons are running around the house looking for her. The screen was on the ground outside?

Yes. What's your address? What's your name, sir? My name is Sergio, S-E-R-G-I-O, middle initial D, last name is C-E-L-I-S. I-S as in Sam? Yes. Okay, what's your name? Isabel, I-S-B-E-L, I-S-A-B-E-L-M, as in man, is the middle initial.

Okay, same last name? Yes. Okay, what's her actual birth date? Okay, is mom there also? She had just left for work. I just called her, and I told her to get her back home. Okay, another answer. Okay, Alan, I'd like to hear your thoughts on that. Not judging, but what do you make of Sergio Solis' 911 call? It does

seem different that he is laughing. He's chuckling as he's reporting that his child is missing. However, he later explained that what he was trying to do was remain calm. He did not want to become hysterical. He wanted to simply convey the information to the police so that they could help find his daughter. A lot of people I know have criticized him and had suggested that it means he might have been involved. But I'm not so sure of that because later interviews, you can tell, at least I can tell, that he was very concerned. I've got a lot I want to add to your observations, Alan, but now I want you to hear Isabel's mother's phone call. Would you mind playing it, Alan? Hello? Hello, ma'am.

Are you the mom? Yes. Okay, what is your name? My name is Rebecca Sellis. Okay anything else you remember she was wearing and her hair? Her hair is in braids it's in little ponytails. I made little ponytails on her head last night before she went to bed. Okay and that was the old navy shirt with the flag and Navy shorts? Yes, and she's only five. She's only six. Can you please hurry and get somebody over here? The officer's already on the way, ma'am. We're just getting more information from you, okay?

Okay. So who noticed her gun? Your husband? My husband. I went to work this morning at 7, and I didn't even come and check on her. I should have come and checked on her. Okay. All right, just take a deep breath, okay? I know it's hard. I just, I didn't even come and check on her. I should have come and checked on her. Okay.

All right, just take a deep breath, okay? I know it's hard. Oh, I can't. I can't. She doesn't have any medical conditions? No, she has nothing. I'm sorry, she has what? She has nothing. There's no medical conditions. She's healthy. No allergies, no medical conditions. Okay, you didn't hear anything at all? No, I didn't hear anything at all like just stay with me on the phone they're almost there and have to rock those

underway okay okay you looked everywhere under the bed the process I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm is. I just need you to calm down a little bit, okay? I'm sorry. No, it's okay. And how tall is she?

She's, like, 44, 45 inches long. She's 44 pounds. And her hair color, you said brown? Brown. And she has two little braids going down. They're like, she put ponytails in her hair, so she's got like four ponytails on each side that go down her, and it's split in the middle. Four braided ponytails? It's a two, it's like two braids. Two braids, okay.

But it's made with ponytails instead of a braid. Any marks, scars? Other than the window out, I can't see anything else. And the doors locked to outside, so they had to have jumped over the fence. I don't know what they did, but oh, my God. The cops are here. Can I just hang up now, please? Thank you. The dichotomy between their two calls is so stark.

Let's just start with that. And, Alan, isn't it true immediately after Isabel goes missing, Mr. and Mrs. Salise split up, and he has actually denied full access to his other two boys, to seeing them. What do we know about that? Yes, Nancy, it is true. About three weeks after the disappearance of the child, the father was asked to leave the house by Child Protective Services. He was temporarily barred from contact with his two sons. However, they never really said why this happened. It was just

during part of the investigation, and they were later reunited. Well, here's one thing. You know, Alan, in every investigation, especially missing child or even a homicide, you look at the family first, okay? So naturally, men staggeringly, statistically, are more likely to commit a crime than women. You look at male family members and male friends of the family. So naturally, you'd look at the father. The fact that he had a custody or a visitation problem with his sons could be totally unrelated to Isabel's disappearance.

For instance, Alan, I was playing this out in my mind, you know, under the stress of a missing child, a lot of couples divorce. Okay, very common. So if there is a separation and he has some kind of outburst of temper, that alone could keep him from seeing his children. So we don't know what was behind that. And you're saying, Alan, that it was lifted, right? Yes, it was temporary. And in fact, the mother stood by her husband. Another thing that is really intriguing me, Alan, is what police said when they gave their first presser. They said that it was not by chance that they found Isabel Solis remains. Let's listen to exactly what the

police say. Here's the police presser. Chief, what led the tip to investigators that the remains were there? I'm afraid I can't go into that level of detail. Do you know what DNA you had to compare it to? Was it a family member or a cell? I don't know that information, but I do know there was DNA available and an accurate comparison was made. Do you feel finding these organics will bring you any closer to closing this case

and finding out who's responsible? Well, we are certainly hopeful of that. This is a very important step in the case and finding out the lead result? Well, we are certainly hopeful of that. This is a very important step in the case. So that's one of the reasons, of course, while we're still asking the public if they have any leads, we believe there may still be folks out there who perhaps know something or feel now that they're willing to come forward

with information that could be helpful so don't assume that we have necessarily all the information if people have tips they should absolutely contact either us or 88 crime rural Pima County I can't be more specific at this time I'm sorry I'm sorry I Pima County any idea how long she had been dead well this case has been actively pursued over the last five years. It has been continuously worked since the date of her disappearance. So we have investigators that are still very engaged in this,

and obviously their work continues now with this new information. Chief, any idea how long she had been dead? I'm sorry. Was it a member of the police department, law enforcement, who found the remains? Or was it someone else? And was it a tip that led to it? I'm sorry, I can't provide that level of specificity at this time. Chief, any idea how long she had been dead? I don't know that information. Any suspects now? I can't release any information about... Have you spoken to anyone in custody? No, I can't release information about the status of the investigation

beyond what I've shared with you so far. Obviously, I'm sure you can appreciate it's an extremely important case to us. I don't want to provide anything that would compromise our ability to successfully solve this case. Can you say whether this was the product of a focused search or just an happenstance that just happened? It was not a happenstance. So it was the product of a focused search?

There has been an ongoing process of many different searches and this was not happenstance but I can't get into any greater detail than that. The jurors say there was something that led investigators to that area. Yeah I can't I'm sorry I just can't get more detailed about how we how we ended up at that location but it is part of the larger investigation. So what does that mean Alan? Does that mean that someone tipped them off to where the remains were, that they know who did it, they saw somebody digging, whoever did it made a confession? I mean, it's not by chance, right? Not by chance, not happenstance, but part of a focused investigation, a focused search. You know, Alan, I told you this earlier, but

a couple of weeks ago, as you know, I took the twins on an RV trip for spring break. Now, listen, I did not see me being an RV person, okay? But they saw that movie RV with Robin Williams and Kristen Chenoweth, I believe that's who was in it. And they nutted up. They had to go on an RV trip. That was over a year ago. They begged. It finally, I'd had no excuse. I had to do it. So we first started in Tucson and it's the strangest thing being out there with children. I thought about Isabel so much. In fact, while we were in the RV, I actually Googled her while we were out in Tucson. We were hiking the Sonoran Desert and looking at the Saguaro, and I thought of Isabel so much. That was just a couple of weeks ago, Alan. Isabel's remains were found

somewhere in Pima County. That's all they're saying. They're not saying what part, east, west, north, or south. At this point, just somewhere in a rural area, which pretty much translates to desert. And in fact, you were in the Sonoran Desert, which is just to the west of the city of Tucson. You very well were very close to where they had just found her remains in March at the same time you were on that RV trip. So we now know that her remains were not found by chance. Something in particular led police there. Do they have a suspect? We don't know. Alan, what do you think? In the news conference, the police chief wouldn't give any indication if they had a suspect. He only allowed that finding her was not by happenstance.

But that means that they had to have some real information and real information from somebody who knew. And that to me sounds like somebody who might be a suspect. Now, Alan, wasn't there a family friend, a male friend that had been living with them? Why did he come under suspicion? Yes, Nancy, there was someone who had lived in the home, who was familiar with the family, and who was related, not naming this person, but they did lawyer up, and that raised suspicion. Another thing, they moved out of town. Well, there's nothing like lawyering up with a criminal defense lawyer to make people suspicious. I mean, if you walked up to me, arm in arm with Johnny Cochran, God rest his soul, Alan Deak, I know for sure you'd done something horrible, okay? So when you run out and hire a

criminal defense attorney, that makes everyone suspicious. But I mean, in reality, it doesn't mean anything in this investigation. No, it doesn't. You know what's odd about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, Alan? I have looked and looked and studied and studied. My staff went out. There is a tall fence surrounding their backyard, and her bedroom opened into the backyard, the window, the open window, as it were. That fence is taller than a man because my staff members could not jump over it. It was big, not that we would trespass, but we did look at it. And it goes

around three sides of the house and it adjoins the house in the front. So imagine on the front of the house, Alan, it goes, it attaches to the house on the right and left side as you're looking at the home. It goes as far east and west, let's just say, as it can go. Then it totally surrounds the backyard. And it's solid. You can't see through it, as I recall. So, and it's gated. So, with a lock. So who is going to jump that fence or use that gate to get in and then open her window and get her out through the window?

Let's just think about that scenario for a moment, Alan Duke. Think about that scenario. and get my mind around the fact that someone would grab a six-year-old child, take her off, murder her, and then leave her dead in the desert. This is what I know. Isabel may be dead. Isabel is dead. I know that. But this is not over. In fact, it's just beginning. We're going to find out who murdered Isabel Solis. We're going to find out. God be with little Isabel tonight, and God help whoever did this to her. Again, thank you, Simply Safe, for being with us and making this podcast possible and being our partner. Please go to simplysafe.com and get another 10% off. Nancy Grace,

signing off from Crime Stories. Thank you, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.