A man who was facing imprisonment for the death of his two-year-old daughter, whom he left in a hot car for hours while he watched adult content, has passed away. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office in Arizona confirmed the death of Christopher Scholtes on Wednesday, with the cause of death not yet determined.
Scholtes was absent from a court hearing in Pima County Superior Court on the same day, preceding his sentencing scheduled for November 21. A Pima County Medical Examiner stated that the temperature inside the car had reached approximately 43°C when emergency responders arrived, confirming that the child died due to heat exposure.
The 38-year-old father had previously reached an agreement with prosecutors in October, admitting guilt to the second-degree murder of his daughter, Parker, which occurred in July 2024.
Although he was to face a 20 to 30-year prison sentence, Scholtes had been out on bail until the day he was supposed to be taken into custody. On July 9, 2024, he was arrested after leaving his youngest child in the car while he played video games.
During this time, Scholtes also accessed adult material on his PlayStation and informed investigators that he left his daughter in the car outside their home in Marana, approximately 100 miles south of Phoenix, so she could sleep.
He parked his 2023 Acura MDX in direct sunlight with the car seat on the driver’s side, facing a west window. Initially, he claimed to have left his daughter in the car with the air conditioning running for 30 minutes, but later admitted that the car’s engine automatically shuts off after half an hour.
The child’s mother discovered her several hours later, with the air conditioning turned off and outside temperatures soaring to 43°C. Surveillance footage obtained by the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson revealed that Scholtes had shoplifted beer earlier that day and consumed several while the child was left unattended in the car.
Although Scholtes initially stated his daughter was in the car for around 30 minutes, surveillance footage showed him returning home around 1 pm, with his wife arriving at 4 pm and inquiring about their daughter’s whereabouts three hours later.
Upon discovering the child unresponsive in the car seat, emergency services were called, but unfortunately, Parker did not survive. The autopsy indicated the girl’s body temperature was 108.9°F (42.72°C), with the cause of death attributed to environmental heat exposure, ruled as accidental.
Investigators learned from Scholtes’ two other children, aged nine and five, that their father regularly left them alone in the car for extended periods. One of the daughters mentioned to the police that her father often drank excessively and left them unattended in the vehicle against their mother’s instructions.
The wife of Scholtes, an anesthesiologist, defended him after the incident, describing him as a respected member of the community who had made a grave error. She pleaded for his release at a court hearing shortly after the tragedy.
Allegations surfaced that Scholtes had a history of leaving one of his daughters locked in the car for years, leading to a lawsuit by his 17-year-old daughter from a previous marriage. She accused him of subjecting her to physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, resulting in depression and PTSD.
The lawsuit also claimed that Scholtes engaged in fraudulent activities by maintaining a false conservatorship while the daughter lived with her now-deceased mother, all for financial gain.
Despite facing public backlash, Scholtes was permitted by the court to travel to Hawaii for a family vacation in May, against the objections of prosecutors. The trip occurred ten months after the tragic death of his two-year-old daughter.
Scholtes and his wife had recently relocated to a $1 million four-bedroom residence in the outskirts of Phoenix, an hour away from the property in Marana where the unfortunate incident took place.