An Arizona father has been charged with second-degree murder after his two-year-old daughter was found lifeless inside a hot car while he was allegedly “distracted” playing video games.
Christopher Scholtes, 37, was arrested last Friday after his daughter died in the driveway of the family’s Marana home.
He is also facing felony charges of domestic violence and domestic violence-child abuse.
The victim was identified as Parker Scholtes.
According to a Marana Police Department report obtained by NBC affiliate KPNX in Mesa, Scholtes told officers that he arrived home at 2 p.m. and left his youngest child inside the vehicle because he didn’t want to disturb her while she slept.
He admitted to authorities that he went inside the home while he knew the car, which was running and the air conditioning was turned on, would automatically shut off after 30 minutes.
Investigators obtained footage from the family’s security camera which showed Scholtes parking the vehicle on the driveway at 12:53 p.m. in direct sunlight with the temperature at 43°C.
He went inside the home with his two other children, ages nine and five.
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At 4:08 p.m., the video showed Scholtes’ wife arriving home and found her daughter unresponsive. Minutes later, she called 911.
The video also revealed Scholtes never went outside to check on his daughter between the time he arrived home and the time his wife discovered the child inside the hot car.
When officers spoke to the children, they said their father “got distracted by playing his game and putting food away.”
According to CBS affiliate KOLD in Tuscon, a PlayStation and several other electronic devices were taken by authorities as part of the investigation. The vehicle, a 2023 Acura MDX, was also seized.
Court records suggest the father had a history of leaving his children inside running vehicles.
While the daughter was rushed to the hospital, a text message exchange between both parents revealed the mother had asked Scholtes to stop leaving their children inside vehicles unattended.
“I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you?” Scholtes’ wife wrote.
“Babe, I’m sorry,” he responded.
“We’ve lost her, she was perfect,” she wrote back.
Scholtes responded: “Babe our family. How could I do this. I killed our baby, this can’t be real.”