An Arizona father faces second-degree murder charges following the tragic death of his 2-year-old daughter, who was discovered last week inside a hot SUV amid soaring temperatures.
Police said 37-year-old Christopher Scholtes came home from running errands in his Acura SUV and allegedly forgot about the sleeping child after he went indoors and started playing video games.
Scholtes also faces one count of felony child abuse, according to the Arizona Republic.
Three days after the girl’s death at the family’s home in Marana, Scholtes’ wife appeared by his side at a pretrial hearing, where she pleaded with the judge to allow her spouse to come home to help the family heal from a devastating loss.
“This was a big mistake, and I think that this doesn’t represent him,” she said, according to video obtained by KVOA. “And I just want that the girls to see their father so that I don’t have to tell them tonight that they’re going to endure another loss.”
There’s no indication that the judge granted bond, even though prosecutors described Scholtes as a low flight risk due to his community ties and lack of a criminal record.
The judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for Aug. 1.
According to the man’s wife, the deadly incident on July 9 marked at least the second time this summer that Scholtes left one or more of the children behind in triple-digit heat, although police have not responded to any other incidents at the residence.
Scholtes allegedly admitted that he left his daughter sleeping in the car with the engine running and the air conditioning on, claiming he didn’t want to disrupt her nap.
However, Scholtes also acknowledged his awareness of a safety feature that turns the SUV off automatically if left running idle for about 30 minutes, according to court papers.
The man’s wife called 911 after coming home and discovering the lifeless child around 4:15 p.m.
The toddler was still strapped to a booster seat inside the vehicle, which was parked in the driveway.
The outdoor temperature at the time was recorded at 109 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the arrest warrant.
The girl was rushed to the hospital, but she never regained consciousness, and she was pronounced dead at 4:58 p.m.
Scholtes later told investigators he arrived home around 2:30 p.m. and acknowledged that his daughter fell asleep in the car.
However, footage from a neighbor’s security camera captured Scholtes arriving home at 12:53 p.m. and walking into the house by himself.
Three hours later, Scholtes’ wife came home and panicked when she didn’t see the girl right away.
Hearing his wife’s cries, Scholtes scrambled through the house room by room before finally going outside, where his daughter was inside the vehicle, sweltering with the engine off, police said.
Security camera footage from next door never showed Scholtes going back outside to check on the girl until more than three hours after he parked in the driveway.
Scholtes and his wife exchanged several text messages as she rushed the child to the hospital, which police later obtained and found that Scholtes had done this before.
“I told you to stop leaving them in the car, how many times have I told you?” Scholtes’s wife said in the texts, according to the court documents obtained by the Arizona Republic. “We’ve lost her, she was perfect.”
“Babe our family. How could I do this. I killed our baby, this can’t be real,” Scholtes responded, according to police.
When police arrived, they seized the SUV and Scholtes’ PlayStation gaming console.
The Scholtes have two older children, ages 5 and 9, who arrived home shortly before their father got there with the 2-year-old.
In an interview with police, the children said their father often left them unattended in the vehicle while he got “distracted by playing his game and putting away his food,” according to court papers.
