A man facing prison time for the death of his two-year-old daughter, who perished in a hot car while he watched adult content, has passed away. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office in Arizona confirmed the death of Christopher Scholtes without specifying the cause.
Scholtes, who had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the July 2024 incident involving his daughter Parker, did not appear for a court hearing in Pima County. The court heard that the temperature inside the car where the child was left had reached approximately 43°C when emergency responders arrived, leading to her death due to heat exposure.
Under an agreement made with prosecutors in October, the 38-year-old father was expected to be sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison. However, he had been out on bail until the day of his expected incarceration. His arrest on July 9, 2024, followed the discovery of his youngest child left unattended in the car while he was engrossed in video games.
During the tragic event, Scholtes admitted to searching for adult content on his PlayStation while leaving his daughter in the car outside their Marana residence, about 100 miles from Phoenix. The father initially claimed he left the child with the air conditioning on for 30 minutes, not realizing that the engine would shut off automatically after that time.
Upon the mother’s discovery of the child later that day, it was found that the A/C had stopped and the outdoor temperature had soared to 43°C. Surveillance footage revealed that Scholtes had engaged in shoplifting and consumed alcohol in the bathroom while his daughter was left unattended in the car.
Despite initially stating that his daughter was left alone for a short period, investigations and surveillance footage contradicted his claims. The tragic incident led to the child’s death, attributed to environmental heat exposure according to the autopsy report.
Reports from investigators indicated a pattern of neglect, with Scholtes’ other children disclosing that they were routinely left unsupervised in the car for extended periods. The eldest daughter, aged 17, from a prior marriage, filed a lawsuit alleging ongoing emotional and physical abuse inflicted by Scholtes over the years.
The teenager accused her father of creating a hostile living environment that resulted in her suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. She further claimed financial exploitation through a fraudulent conservatorship maintained by Scholtes.
Scholtes faced public criticism when he was permitted to travel to Hawaii for a family vacation, despite objections from the prosecution. The trip occurred months after the tragic death of his daughter, while Scholtes and his wife had recently relocated to a new home in the Phoenix suburb following the heartbreaking incident.