Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Who killed little Isabel Celis?

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

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It was Saturday morning when the family says they discovered
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the six year old missing from her bedroom. A window
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: opened and screened detached. Hello, I need to record a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: meeting Kyle Atolic. She was adopted from a house. The father, Sergio,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: who appeared so calm on his call, told police that
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: he fell asleep on the couch watching a pre recorded
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: baseball game. This is crimes towards Nancy Grace. Detectives right
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: about a witness telling them that a guy who was
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: staying with the family owes someone a lot of money
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and that's why she was taken. Please please to the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: person or persons who have these others, tell us your demands,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: tell us what you want. Law enforcement experts say it
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: is statistically likely someone known to the family is involved.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I got the knees in the last seven in two
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: hours that a little girl that I had helped search
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: for days and days weeks on end. Sent my staff
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: to investigate, prayed, covered, questioned. I got word that her
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: body was found. Well, I'm sure it's skeletonized. Now, this
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: is crime stories. I'm Nancy Grace, and it's now been
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: seventy two hours since I learned that He's said Bell
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Slice is dead, and I don't know what I had
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: been thinking. I guess I didn't really want to think
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: all the way to the end of the conclusion, to
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the end of my line of reasoning. I wanted there
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: to be some fantastical excuse as to why she was
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: missing from her own home. Maybe someone had seen her
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: at the softball games she attended the night before she disappeared,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: and they wanted to raise a child, and that they
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: took her. I did not want to thank the obvious
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: that someone had killed her and she was never coming
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: back home. But that's what I learned. It was like
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: a kick in the stomach when I read the banner
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: early early the remains of Isabel Selsa been found in
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: a remote area. I'm Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. And even though I
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: know now without a doubt that Isabel is dead, it's
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: not over. I want to know who took that child
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: from her room and who killed her. First. I want
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: to thank Simply Safe for being with us today and
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: sponsoring this podcast in our search for the truth about
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Isabel Sellis Simply Safe makes home security now available to
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: every one two regular people at four a month you're covered.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: And the thing I like about it, among so many things,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: is that it's not reliant on your cell phone line
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: or your landline, both of which can be disrupted and
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: or cut. They monitor you twenty four seven three sixty
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: and if you log on to simply Safe dot com
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: slash Nancy, you get another temper sent off simply say
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: thank you for being our partner and sponsoring our podcast
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: today about this little girl is a belle. You know,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Alan Duke is with me, Alan um. You know, after
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: my fiancee was murdered, I did not ever think I
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: would have a family, and I went on, as you know,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: to law school and to become a proces felony prosecutor.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Each one of my cases became like my child. I
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: would totally devote myself to it. I would cultivate at
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: work it. There were no number of hours that were
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: too great, no painstaking detail too much to devote to
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: that case. And the victims families became like my family,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: like my friends. And I remember one day when the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: elected d A brought me in his office and said, Nancy,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: are you think you're getting a little too emotionally connected
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: to your cases? And I went yes, and he just
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: looked at me When I answered it like that. He said, well, okay, okay,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: that was at the end of it. But I remember
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: covering this so well, Alan, And you know the scenario
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: behind her disappearance. Alan. She's at the family, stays out
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: late the night before at a softball game. They all
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: come home. Isabel was there, of course, at the softball park,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and comes home, goes to bed late. The mom gets
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: up super early, as Laura calls. She's a nurse or
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: in that health care business. She leaves super early, does
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: not want to wake anybody up. She goes to work
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: and then she gets the call. The husband, Sergia Sillys,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: is the one that calls nine one one. Alan plays role.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Sergia Sillye nine one one calls your emergency. I want
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: to report a missing person. My little girls was six
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: years old. I believe she was affected from our house.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: The address Okay, on the line search to some police.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I will hello, I need to record a missing child.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: I believe she was adopted from my house six years
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: old because that your daughter. Yes, why do you think
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: she was adopted? I have no idea. We woke up
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: this morning, I went to go get her for her
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: baseball game, and she's gone. I woke up my my
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: son's We looked everywhere in the house, and my oldest
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: unnoticed that her window was wide open and the screen
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: was laying in the backyard. We've looked all around the house.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: My sons are baking. Yeah, my friends are running around
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: the house looking for her. The screen went on the
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: ground outside. What's your address? What's your name? Sure? My
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: name is Sergio F R G I O middle initial D.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Last name is C E L I S. I asked
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: as and Sam. Okay, what's her name? He said that
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: I M B I S A B E L M
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: as A man is the middle initial? Okay, same last name? Okay,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: but your actual birtiate okay? Is mom? There also is
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: she just let's work. I just called her and I
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: told her to get her butt homework. Okay another okay, Alan,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I'd like to hear your thoughts on that. Not judging,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: but what do you make of Sergius Silas nine one
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: one call? It does seem different that he is laughing.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: He's chuckling as he's reporting that his child is missing. However,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: he later explained that what he was trying to do
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: was remain calm. He did not want to become hysterical.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: He wanted to simply convey the information to the police
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: so that they could help find his daughter. A lot
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: of people I know have criticized him and had suggested
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: that it means he might have been involved, But I'm
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: not so sure of that, because later interviews you can tell.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: At least I can tell that he was very concerned.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: I've got a lot I want to add to your observations, Alan,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: but now I want you to hear Isabel's mother's fund call.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Would you mind playing at Alan? Hello? Hello, mama? You
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: the mom? Yes? Okay? What is your name? Callus ce
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: l I s Okay? Anything else? Do you remember what
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: she was wearing and her hair. Her hair is embraced,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: it's in little ponytails. But maybe the little pony tails
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: on her head last night before she went to bed, okay,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and that was the only bee share with the flag
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: and maybe short yes, And she's always five and she's
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: always thick. Can you please her and get somebody over
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: here else he's already on the way. Man. We're just
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: getting more information from you. Okay, okay? So who noticed
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: her gone? Your husband my husband. I went to work
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: this morning at seven, and um, I just and I
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: didn't even Okay, all right, just take good breath. Okay,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: she doesn't have any medical conditions. I thought she has
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: what she has se there's no medical conditions. She's helped you.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: No allergy to medical conditions. You're right here at all. No,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: I didn't hear anything at all. Just shows me on
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: the phone. They're almost there and have the rosses on
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the way. Okay. And then he looked everywhere under the
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: bed to stop this. Let me took them out of
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: my house almost them. Okay, where's where's your husband and
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: your kids waiting for the car? Okay, take a deep breath. Okay,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: I can understand how hard that is. I just need
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: to calm down a little bit. Okay, I'm sorry, okay.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: And she's up like for you, for you, four forty
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: five inches long, she's um forty four pounds and hey,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Carly said, brown browns he has. And she has two
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: little um phrase going down there like could plenty tails
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: in her hair. So she's got like four point tails
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: on each side. They go down her and it's before
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: four braid of ponytails. It's it's a two. It's like
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: two braids, two braids, okay, but it's made with plentytails
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: instead of a braid. Any mark scars other than the
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: window out. It can't see anything else, and the doors
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: like to outside. Since they had to have jumped over
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the fencer, I don't know what they did. But oh
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: my god, it's the couple here. Okay, thank you. The
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: dichotomy between their two calls is so start. Let's just
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: start with that, and Alan, isn't it true immediately after
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: um Isabel goes missing, Mr and Mrs Sley split up
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: and he is actually denied full access to his other
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: two boys, to seeing them. But what do we know
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: about that? Yes, Nancy, it is true. About three weeks
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: after the disappearance of the child, the father was asked
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: to leave the house by Child Protective Services. He was
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: temporarily barred from contact with his two sons. However, they
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: never really said why this happened. It was just during
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: part of the investor and they were later reunited. Well,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: here's one thing, you know, Alan, in every investigation, especially missing,
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: missing child or even a homicide, you look at the
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: family first. Okay, So naturally, men staggeringly, statistically or more
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: likely to commit a crime than women. You look at
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: male family members and male friends of the family, so
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: naturally you look at the father. The fact that he
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: had a custody or a visitation problem with his sons
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: could be totally unrelated to Isabel's disappearance. For instance, Alan,
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: I was playing this out in my mind. You know,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: under the stress of a missing child, a lot of
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: couples divorce, Okay, very very common. So if there is
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: a separation and he has some kind of outburst of temper,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: that alone could keep him from seeing his children. So
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: we don't know what was behind that. And you're saying, Alan,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: that it was lifted, right, Yes, it was temporary, and
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: in fact the mother stood by her husband. Another thing
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: that is really intriguing me, Alan, is uh, what police
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: said when they gave their first pressor. They said that
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: it was not by chance that they found Isabel selice remains.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Let's listen to exactly what the police say. Here's the
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: police pressor chief would let the tip to investigators that
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: the remains were there. I'm afraid I can't go into
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: that level of detail. I don't know that information, but
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: I do know there was DNA available and inaccurate comparison
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: was made. Well, we're we are certainly hope full of that. UM.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: This is a very important step in the case. UM.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: So that's one of the reasons, of course, while we're
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: still asking the public if they have any leads, we
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: believe there may still be folks out there who perhaps
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: know something or feel now that they're willing to come
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: forward with information that could be helpful. So don't assume
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: that we have necessarily all the information. If people have tips,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: they should absolutely contact either us or eight Crime UM
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Rural Pima County. I can't be more specific at this time.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Pima County. Any idea how long
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: she had been dead? Or you reficial contacts the people
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: over again? Right, Well, the case has been actively pursued
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: over the last five years. UM. It has been continuously
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: worked since the date of her disappearance. So we have
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: investigators that are still very engaged in this and obviously
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: their work continues now with this new information. Chief, any
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: idea how long she had been dead? I'm sorry, someone
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: else and I'm sorry I can't provide that level of
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: specificity at this time. Chief, Any idea how long she
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: had been dead. I don't know that information any suspects now,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: um I can't release any information about as um No,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I can't release information about the status of the investigation
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: beyond what I've shared with you so far. Obviously, I'm
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: sure you can appreciate this extremely important case to us.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: I don't want to provide anything that would compromise our
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: ability to successfully solve this case. You see, what this
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: was product focused just happened. It was not a happenstance.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: So it was the product of focused search. There has
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: been an ongoing process of many different searches, and this
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: was not happenstance. But I can't get into any greater
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: detail than that there was something that had investigators. Yeah,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: I can't. I'm sorry. I just can't get more detailed
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: about how we how we ended up at that location.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: But it is part of the larger investigation. So what
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: does that mean, Alan, Does that mean that someone tipped
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: them off to where the remains were, that they know
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: you did it, they saw somebody digging. Whoever did it
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: make a confession? I mean it's not by chance, right,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: not by chance, not happenstance, but part of a focused
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: investigation of focused search. You know, Alan, I told you
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: this earlier, but a couple of weeks ago, as you know,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: I took the twins on an RV trip for spring break. Now, listen,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: I did not see me being an RV person. Okay,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: but they saw that movie r V with Robby Williams
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: and Christin Chenerworth. I believe that's who was in it,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: and they nodded up. They had to go on an
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: r V trip that was over a year ago, they
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: begged I. Finally, I had had no excuse. I had
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: to do it. So um. We first started in Tucson,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: and it's the strangest thing being out there with the children.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: I thought about Isabel so much. In fact, while we
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: were in the r V, I actually googled her. While
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: we were out in Tucson, we were hiking the Sonaran
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Desert and looking at the sorrow, and I thought of
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Isabel so much. That was just a couple of weeks ago.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: One Isabel's remains were found somewhere in Pima County. That's
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: all they're saying. They're not saying what part east, west,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: north or south at this point, just somewhere in a
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: rural area which pretty much translates to desert, and in fact,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: you were in the Sonoran Desert, which is just to
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: the west of the city of Tucson. You very well
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: were very close to where they had just found her
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: remains in March at the same time you were on
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: that RV trip. So we now know that her remains
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: were not found by chance. Something in particular lead police there.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Do they have a suspect? We don't know, Alan, What
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: do you think? In the news conference, the police chief
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: wouldn't give any indication if they had a suspect. He
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: only allowed that finding her was not by happenstance. But
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: that means that they had to have some real information,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: and real information from somebody who knew and that to
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: me sounds like somebody who might be a suspect. Alan,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: wasn't there a family friend, a male friend that had
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: been living with them? Why did he come under suspicion? Yes, Nancy,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: there was someone who had lived in the home who
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: was familiar with the family and who was related. Not
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: naming this person, but they did lawyer up in that
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: race suspicion. Another thing, they moved out of town. Well,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: there's nothing like lawyering up with a criminal. Defense lawyer
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: to make people suspicious. I mean, if you walked up
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: to me arm in arm with Johnny Cochrane, God rests,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Alan Dee, I know for sure you've done something horrible. Okay,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: So when you run out and hire a criminal defense attorney,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: that makes everyone suspicious. But I mean, in reality, it
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean anything in this investigation, No, it doesn't. You
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: know what's odd about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, Alan,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I have looked and looked and studied and studied. Uh,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: my staff went out. There is a law a tall
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: fence surrounding their backyard and her bedroom opened into the backyard.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: The window, the open window as it were. That fence
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: is taller than a man. Because my staff members could
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: not jump over it. It was big. Not that we
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: would trespass, but we did look at it. And it
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: goes around three sides of the house and it adjoins
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: the house in the front. So imagine on the front
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: of the house, Alan, it goes, it attaches to the
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: house on the right and left side. As you're looking
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: at the home, it goes as far east and west.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Let's just say as it can go, then it totally
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: surrounds the backyard, and it's solid. You can't see through it,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: as I recall so, and it's gated, so we were
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: a lock. So who it is going to jump that
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: fence or use that gate to get in and then
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: open her window and get her out through the window.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Let's just think about that scenario for a moment, Alan Duke,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: think about that scenario. I can't even get my mind
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: around the fact that someone would grab a six year
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: old child, take her off, murder her, and then leave
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: her dead in the desert. This is what I know.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Isabel maybe dead. Isabel is dead, I know that, But
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: this is not over. In fact, it's just beginning. We're
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: going to find out he murdered Isabel Silice. We're going
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: to find out. God be with little Isabel tonight, and
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: God help whoever did this to her. Again, thank you
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Simply Safe for being with us and making this podcast
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: possible and being our partner. Please get to simply safe
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: dot com and get another ten per sent off Nancy
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Grace signing off from Crime Stories. Thank you, friend,