Christopher Scholtes was found unresponsive in his car the day before he was due to start a 20-30 year prison sentence
New details have emerged about the death of a dad who was due to begin a prison sentence for leaving his daughter to die in a scorching hot car. Christopher Scholtes was due to spend at least 20 years in jail for leaving two-year-old Parker to die in July 2024.
At around 5.20am on Wednesday, November 5, Scholtes was found dead in a car in the garage of the $1 million (£746,000) home he shared with his wife, Dr Erika Scholtes, in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr Erika and the couple’s live-in nanny were the ones to find Scholtes and a medical examiner has now confirmed that Scholtes, 38, died of carbon monoxide poisoning, reports the Mirror.
In October Scholtes accepted a plea deal and pled guilty to the second-degree murder of Parker and child abuse. He was due to hand himself in at the end of the day on November 5. The plea deal held a sentence of no more than 30 years in prison for both counts and he was due to be sentenced on November 21.
Details of the scene when he was found were outlined in a summary report by medical examiner Daniel Casa. Scholtes was found unresponsive in a car, according to the report, which then included details of how the dad took his own life.
Although the make and model of his car were not listed, a neighbour told the Daily Mail he was found in his beloved red Honda S2000 convertible. He left a living will on the roof of the car, in case his attempt to end his life failed, and a suicide note was found inside the house, according to the report.
It also appeared that Scholtes had set up a second method of suicide in the family’s garage but it is unclear whether he tried that method before he got in the car and failed, or put it together as a back up plan, according to the report.
Scholtes was found with a blood carboxyhaemoglobin level of 80 per cent – around 40 times higher than would be expected of a healthy non-smoker. Blood tests also showed marijuana, caffeine and diphenhydramine (the active ingredient in cold and flu medicine such as Benadryl) in his system.
The report listed a plethora of health conditions including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and ADHD, along with cocaine, alcohol and marijuana use. It was also noted that he had a degenerative joint disease.
Dr Casa noted: “He reportedly made suicidal statements after the death of his daughter, and he had recently exhibited a depressed mood.”
The report said he was “under stress” due to his criminal case and he was expected to report to prison on the day he was found dead. The medical examiner’s report matched a graphic account of the moments after Scholtes was found given to the Daily Mail. The neighbour, who saw the scene through the open garage door, said: “They were al standing looking at the car and he was already in the car dead at that time.
“All of a sudden [Erika] started walking around and this other lady pulled up all frantic and they ran up to the door. Then the police and the fire department showed up. I don’t know how far [the fumes] went into the house, but the kids were there, the family was there. It could have been bad.”
Scholtes took his own life just over a year after two-year-old Parker died in the family car. Scholtes left it parked in the driveway of their former family home in Tucson, Arizona and temperatures that day soared to a blistering 43C.
Parker’s body temperature recorded at 42.82C when she was found unresponsive by emergency workers. The medical examiner ruled her cause of death to be environmental heat exposure, ruled as an accident.
The dad told authorities he left his daughter in the car with the air conditioning on for 30 minutes as she had fallen asleep on the drive home. But he later admitted that the car’s engine automatically shuts off after half an hour. Police said Scholtes admitted to knowing he had left his daughter in the car, telling authorities he usually parked in the garage but hadn’t that day as there was exercise equipment in the way.
Scholtes’ two other children, nine and five, told investigators they were regularly left alone in the car by Scholtes. They added that the dad “got distracted by playing his game and putting food away” as their little sister lay in the baking hot car. As part of the investigation, police seized a PlayStation from the property.
Prosecutors accused the dad of drinking beer, playing video games and watching adult content while Parker died inside the hot car. Surveillance footage showed Scholtes returning home in the car with his daughter at around 1pm, but it wasn’t until 4pm when his wife returned asking where their daughter was that he sprang into action.
The couple raced out to the car, where they found Parker not moving, still strapped into her car seat. Emergency services raced to the scene, and even though Parker was rushed to hospital, she did not survive.
Bodycam footage from the scene showed Scholtes pacing around the home, telling police it was “his worst nightmare” Text messages between Scholtes and his wife suggested a pattern of leaving his children in the car.
One text from his wife said: “I told you to stop leaving them in the car, how many times have I told you”. Scholtes responded: “Babe, I’m sorry!” before his wife replied: “We’ve lost her, she was perfect.”
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