A young couple reportedly partied at a bar after allegedly murdering a 19-year-old girl, then argued about how to dispose of her corpse in text and Facebook messages!
The parents of missing 6-year-old Isabel Celis sat down for an extended interview with several Tucson media outlets on Friday afternoon, addressing some of the questions left unanswered by their “Today Show” appearance Thursday but still holding back certain crucial details.
Citing the integrity of the investigation, Sergio and Becky Celis would not discuss the results of their polygraph tests or say much about what actually happened on the night Isabel disappeared, but they did strongly defend their handling of the media so far. They said they are private people who are not comfortable in front of the camera, and they do not know how others expect them to act.
“I’m sorry if we did this wrong,” Becky said. “…What I want is her here home having a normal life. This is not what I want.”
Sergio said it is “extremely frustrating” that Isabel is still missing two weeks later and police share that frustration. Becky said they cannot figure out why anyone would have targeted their daughter. They have some family members in Mexico, but none that would have any reason to threaten them or Isabel.
“I don’t know what to say other than that you are wrong,” Sergio said in response to the suggestion that he may have been involved in Isabel’s disappearance.
“We don’t have anything to hide,” Becky said. “Say what you want to say. We are confident we had nothing to do with it.”
The couple said they do not have an attorney and see no reason why they would need one. Sergio told the reporters that he “absolutely” thinks he and his wife should have been eliminated as suspects by now, but they understand that police have to consider everything.
Sergio initially believed Isabel’s bedroom window—which was open with the screen removed when they reported her missing on the morning of April 21—was her abductor’s point of entry, but without going into detail about why, he said he is no longer sure about that.
They denied a rumor that there was a party at the house on the night Isabel disappeared, and they laughed at the suggestion that NBC News paid them for home video used in the “Today Show” segment. That video was released to other news stations later in the day Thursday.
The parents talked a lot about the power of prayer and how the “worldwide chain of prayer” supporting them is helping them through their ordeal. They also thanked the volunteers who are out assisting with the search for Isabel.
Asked whether they have a message for their daughter if she is watching, Sergio said, “We miss you so much, Isabel…We will not stop looking for you.”
“We will always love you too much. Just come home,” Becky said.
CALEIGH HARRISON
Police are returning to Long Beach in Rockport Friday to conduct a new search in connection with missing 2-year-old Caleigh Harrison. Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio said the search is focused on a specific area where a private citizen’s dog had a “strong reaction to some type of stimuli.”
Procopio said authorities responded to the area late Thursday, but the incoming tide prevented them from searching more extensively. They plan to resume the search around 3 pm. Although Caleigh’s father told HLN’s Nancy Grace that the girl’s 4-year-old sister claimed she saw a man take Caleigh from the beach on April 19, police say they have found no evidence suggesting an abduction.
GABRIEL JOHNSON
HLNtv.com has the latest on the trial of Tammi Smith in connection with the December 2009 disappearance of baby Gabriel Johnson. Smith is facing charges of forgery and custodial interference for allegedly helping Gabriel’s mother, Elizabeth Johnson, falsify documents to set up an illegal adoption of the then-7-month-old boy.
Johnson’s trial is set for later this year, but prosecutors played a police interview in court Wednesday where she claimed Smith helped her arrange to give Gabriel away to an unidentified couple in a San Antonio park. The boy has never been found, and Johnson told his father at one point that she had killed him and thrown his body away in a diaper bag.
Gabriel would have turned three Thursday. See a composite image of what he might look like now here, and check out full coverage of the trial at HLNtv.com.
LAUREN SPIERER
Bloomington, Indiana police say a detective is looking into any possible links between the disappearance of an Indiana University student last year and a suspect in the murders of three other women over the last decade. Lauren Spierer, 20, was reportedly last seen walking away from a friend’s apartment building around 4:30 am on June 3, 2011, drunk and barefoot. The male friends who were with her that night have told police they do not know what happened to her from there, but she never made it to her building just a few blocks away.
William Clyde Gibson of New Albany was arrested and charged with two murders last week, and police found the body of a third woman buried in his backyard, according to the Indianapolis Star. Capt. Joe Qualters of the Bloomington Police Dept. said in a news release that authorities are not aware of any connection to Spierer’s disappearance, but “we are certainly interested in anyone who comes to the attention of law enforcement for targeting women as victims.”
In a recent interview with the Journal News, Spierer’s parents begged for anyone with information about her to come forward. “We don’t know how else to say it. But we need your help and, whatever you need, whatever you want, we’ll do to get our daughter back,” father Robert Spierer said.
ALEXIS PATTERSON
On May 3, 2002, 7-year-old Alexis Patterson disappeared. Her stepfather told police he dropped her off across the street from her school, but that was the last time anyone saw her. 10 years later, her mother told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she remains hopeful that the missing girl is still alive somewhere. “I never stop hurting,” Ayanna Patterson said. Police questioned Alexis’ mother and stepfather extensively, but neither of them was ever implicated in her disappearance.
Milwaukee Police Dept. Lt. Keith Balash told reporters Wednesday that 5,000 interviews have been conducted in connection with the case and thousands of criminal records have been reviewed. The cold case unit has interviewed and re-interviewed 65 people since taking over the investigation in 2009. “This case is still actively being investigated,” Balash said. Anyone with information is asked to call the Milwaukee Police Cold Case hotline at 414-935-1212.
STEPHANIE LOW
The mother of a Wisconsin woman missing for over a year is holding a rummage sale Saturday to call attention to the case and raise money for the reward fund. 22-year-old Stephanie Low was reported missing on October 10, 2010 after a phone call with a friend ended abruptly. When friends went to her Wausau apartment to check on her, she was gone, and police said they had reason to believe she was taken against her will.
Low’s mother has organized “Rummage-O-Rama For Stephanie” in Kennedy Park in Weston, Wisconsin Saturday. Police told the Wausau Daily Herald that they still consider the case active and the reward fund, currently around $10,000, has helped bring in tips.
“BABY KATE” PHILLIPS
Sean Phillips has been convicted of unlawful imprisonment in the disappearance of his 4-month-old daughter Katherine, a charge that could carry a maximum 15-year prison sentence, according to the Muskegon Chronicle. Baby Kate’s mother, Ariel Courtland, reported her missing on June 29, 2011, telling police that Phillips drove off with the girl in his car after the two argued over a paternity test that was scheduled for that day. Phillips reportedly wanted to put Kate up for adoption, a plan that Courtland had considered going along with but ultimately decided against.
The jury foreman told the Ludington Daily News that they focused on several pieces of evidence during deliberations, including the fact that Kate’s clothes were in Phillips’ pocket when he was arrested and a timeline that showed police could account for Courtland’s whereabouts all afternoon on June 29 but not for Phillips. Jurors were also influenced by a note found in Phillips’ shirt pocket in jail where he had apparently written “I gave her to a guy” that they considered “a confession.”
Prosecutor Paul Spaniola told the Muskegon Chronicle that the case will remain an open investigation until Kate is found.
For all the latest news, go to www.HLNtv.com.
The parents of missing 6-year-old Isabel Celis begged for her return in their first live television interview Thursday, and they said they fear police may be wasting time focusing the investigation on them.
Becky Celis said on NBC’s “Today Show” that Isabel is a “girly girl” who loves to put on makeup and paint her nails, but she also likes playing outside in the dirt with her brothers. Becky and Sergio Celis told police that Isabel vanished from her bedroom in their Tucson home after she was put to sleep around 11:00 p.m. on April 20. She was gone when Sergio went to wake her the next morning.
“I was asking her if she was hungry,” Sergio said, describing the last time he saw Isabel, “and she just had that little sleepy look as she was walking by, and she just said, ‘No, daddy. I’m tired.’ She was just walking by. She is so full of life and she is just so wonderful.”
Becky said the level of scrutiny the parents have faced is “nothing we can’t handle,” and they believe police are doing everything they can to solve the case. However, Sergio said it can still be difficult because detectives are only able to share limited information with them and “they keep us at bay.”
“We understand that they can’t bring false hope, but at the same time, you know, we’re desperate. We’re desperate in finding out information. We’re extremely frustrated that it’s taking so long,” Sergio said. “…We do feel sometimes that they’re wasting time with us even though we know we have to be under, you know, scrutiny, absolutely understandable.”
Isabel’s parents urged people to continue praying for their “beautiful baby girl” to be brought back home, which they called “her favorite place in the world.”
Tucson police confirmed to HLN Thursday that both parents have taken polygraph tests, but they would not comment on the results. “Nancy Grace” producer Greg Overzat was on the scene Wednesday afternoon when detectives brought the parents and Isabel’s older brother back into the house separately.
Lt. Fabian Pacheco said at a Wednesday press briefing that the walkthroughs with individual family members are just a method investigators use, they were done with the family’s consent and they do not indicate a focus on anyone in particular. According to Pacheco, police have received about 500 tips in the case so far and they are following up on all of them.
For the latest news on the Isabel Celis case, watch Nancy Grace Thursday at 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. ET on HLN or go to www.HLNtv.com.
Police say there is no evidence of abduction in the case of missing 2-year-old Caleigh Harrison, but in an exclusive interview with HLN’s Nancy Grace, Caleigh’s father revealed that the girl’s sister may have seen something suspicious.
Caleigh was last seen on a Rockport, Massachusetts beach on April 19, playing with her mother, her sister and their dog. Her mother told police she left her and her 4-year-old sister Elizabeth alone for about two minutes while she went to retrieve a ball that had gone over a wall, and when she returned, Caleigh was gone.
Police devoted a week to an extensive water search for the toddler utilizing divers and sonar equipment, but she was never found. Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio told HLN that while authorities cannot completely rule out abduction, they feel they have thoroughly investigated that possibility and found no signs of foul play.
The thoroughness of the search effort is exactly what makes Caleigh’s father, Anthony Harrison, suspect that his daughter was kidnapped. “It was a pretty big search and they had a lot of resources there, and I don’t think she’s in the water,” he said
Harrison told Nancy Grace Wednesday that, a few days after the disappearance, Elizabeth claimed that she had seen a mysterious man on the beach before Caleigh went missing. However, according to Harrison, the 4-year-old initially said she did not know what happened and she has since offered a couple of different versions of events.
“She mentions a man. It’s a little bit scattered because she is four years old, but she did after a while mention a man on the beach that took her sister,” Harrison said. “…It’s kind of hard to take a 4-year-old’s word for it, but we’re looking into it.”
According to Procopio, police have spoken to several witnesses who were on and around the beach that morning. None of them saw Caleigh go into the water, but they did not see anything indicating a kidnapping either.
Harrison said police are calling the case a “tragic accident,” but he and his family still think “there is a huge chance that Caleigh was abducted.”
While the search has been suspended at this point, Procopio said police are ready to put divers and boats back in the water or follow any leads if new information surfaces.
For Nancy’s full interview with Caleigh Harrison’s father, watch Nancy Grace Wednesday at 8 & 10 pm ET on HLN, and for all the latest news go to www.HLNtv.com.
On the eve of the five-year anniversary of their daughter’s disappearance, the parents of Madeleine McCann said Wednesday there is a “very good chance” that she will be found alive.
The three-year-old British girl went missing from her family’s rented apartment during a vacation in Portugal on May 3, 2007. Last week, Metropolitan Police in Londonreleased an age-progressed image of what Madeleine might look like now. Her ninth birthday would be May 12.
In new interviews, parents Kate and Gerry McCann have said they are optimistic now that the new image is out there and Metropolitan Police are reviewing the original investigation.
“We’re more hopeful now of finding Madeleine than we have been at any point since the early days after she was taken,” Gerry McCann said Wednesday, according to the Telegraph.
In an interview on ITV Wednesday, Kate McCann said there is a good chance that Madeleine is alive and there is “no evidence to the contrary,” adding that other cases have demonstrated that people missing for a long time are sometimes found.
She cited recent reports about Steve Carter, a Philadelphia man who saw an age-progressed photo of himself on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website and discovered that his father reported him missing more than 30 years ago.
Reflecting on the family’s efforts to adjust to “a new normality” in the time that has passed since Madeleine disappeared, Gerry McCann told ITV. “In some ways it’s been the longest five years and the quickest five years of our lives.”
Though authorities in Portugal said last week that they did not plan to re-open the case at this time, the McCanns believe it will happen eventually.
According to BBC News, Gerry McCann said, “The only way everyone will be able to move on is for the case to be solved… Until then, it’s not going to go away. It can’t go away.”
For the latest crime and justice news, watch Nancy Grace weeknights at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m ET or go to www.HLNtv.com
An attack on three young girls has been reported at a Tucson-area home just 10 miles from the house where 6-year-old Isabel Celis may have been abducted from her bedroom.
Authorities are investigating whether the bedroom assault early Monday morning has anything to do with Isabel’s disappearance. Isabel was reported missing around 8 a.m. on April 21, and her parents told police she was last seen in her bedroom when they put her to sleep the night before.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Chris Nanos told HLN’s Nancy Grace that Monday’s incident occurred in a quiet neighborhood north of Tucson where three girls, ages 6, 8 and 10, were sleeping at their grandparents’ home. Nanos said around 1:48 a.m. the family reported that a white man believed to be in his 20s had come into the girls’ bedroom and molested one of them.
“All three reported an individual had walked into the bedroom, assaulted one of the little girls, left the bedroom, then returned to the bedroom and engaged in conversation with one of the little girls who challenged his story to her. He then fled the house,” Nanos explained.
According to Nanos, nobody heard the man enter the home and it was unclear if he came in through an open window or if the front door may have been unlocked. In the Celis case, a window was found open with its screen removed, but police have not said if they believe that was a point of entry for an intruder.
The sheriff’s department has released a composite sketch of the attacker in Monday’s case based on the girls’ descriptions, and Nanos said investigators are now following up on leads gathered during a canvass of the area. They are also checking with local businesses for surveillance video that might be relevant.
Nanos praised the young girls for providing valuable information about the suspect. “I can’t say enough of their courage. They are the heroes in this case,” he said.
Tucson police said Monday that they do not know if there is a connection between the two incidents, but they are reviewing the cases to determine if there are any similarities. The possibility that Isabel was kidnapped from her bedroom by a stranger is one of several that authorities are considering.
For the latest on the case, watch Nancy Grace tonight at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET on HLN or go to www.HLNtv.com.
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Tucson Police released surveillance video Friday of several potential witnesses who they want to speak to regarding the disappearance of six-year-old Isabel Celis.
The video shows a group of five people - two men and three women - walking through a parking lot headed in the general direction of the Celis house after Midnight on April 21, the morning Isabel was reported missing. As of Sunday afternoon, police said they had identified and interviewed three of those people.
There is a sixth person seen on the video, but Lt. Fabian Pacheco said investigators’ main focus is on the group of five and finding out what they may have seen.
Isabel’s parents reported her missing around 8 a.m. on April 21, telling police they had not seen her since putting her to bed around 11 p.m. Pacheco said the parents, Sergio and Becky Celis, have been cooperating and they speak to police daily but he did not know why they have refused to talk to the media, aside from delivering a brief statement last week. He added that the parents appearing on camera could be crucial to maintaining public interest in the case.
The couple attended a mass for Isabel Sunday night, along with about 300 supporters,according to the Arizona Daily Star, but they did not speak to reporters. Pacheco said the parents have not gone back into the home where Isabel was last seen, although they have been free to do so for several days.
According to Pacheco, investigators are looking into information provided by a next-door neighbor who claimed she heard two male voices outside on the morning of the disappearance.
Pacheco said police have been working with Mexican authorities and border control officials, but the possibility that Isabel has been taken into Mexico is just one of many they are considering. Police have received more than 350 tips so far, and detectives spent much of the weekend reviewing the information that they gathered over the last week, Pacheco added.
He told reporters Saturday that police are still holding out hope that Isabel will be found alive, but he warned that the investigation is going to take time.
“This isn’t CSI: Tucson where we’re going to solve this in an hour,” he said.
For the latest on this case, watch Nancy Grace Monday at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET on HLN or go to www.HLNtv.com for the latest news.
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