According to police, a father knowingly left his two-year-old daughter in a hot car while he played on his PlayStation, to die in temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius.
Christopher Scholtes, 37, was arrested Friday and charged with second-degree murder and child abuse in the death of Parker Scholtes.
The game console was seized last week during a search of his home in Marana, north of Tucson, Arizona.
Scholtes told police he left his daughter in a car seat in the car because he didn’t want to wake her, according to a police report obtained by DailyMail.com.
He said he left her in the family’s blue Honda Acura SUV for about 30 minutes after he arrived home at 2:30 p.m., police said.
However, new evidence from prosecutors suggests the girl was actually in the car for three hours, in direct sunlight.
Christopher Scholtes, 37, was arrested Friday and charged with second-degree murder and child abuse in connection with Parker’s death. He was seen with Parker, her two older sisters and his wife, Erika
His wife, Erika Scholtes, a doctor at the hospital where Parker was pronounced dead, arrived home at 4:08 p.m. and asked where her daughter was, only to find her in the car, police said.
As Parker was being rushed to the hospital, she texted him, “I told you not to leave them in the car, how many times have I told you that.”
She later added: ‘We lost her, she was perfect.’
Scholtes replied, ‘Honey, I’m sorry! How could I do this? I killed our baby, this can’t be real.’
Scholtes’ two other children, ages nine and five, told police that Scholtes regularly left his three siblings alone in the car
Scholtes’ two other children, aged nine and five, told police that their father regularly left his three siblings alone in the car.
The children told police that Scholtes was “distracted by his playing and putting away his food” while Parker was dying in the car, the complaint said.
The father of three told police he had left the air conditioning on in the Acura, but that he knew from previous experience that it would automatically turn off after about 30 minutes.
Scholetes told police he arrived home with Parker around 2:30 p.m., but surveillance footage from neighbors showed his car arriving at the house around 12:53 a.m.
The cameras also showed that Scholetes never went outside to check on Parker until his wife came home and asked where she was, police said.
A few minutes later they found Parker unconscious in the back of the car and at 4:16 p.m. 911 was called, when the temperature was 108 degrees Fahrenheit.
According to KPTV, a PlayStation and other electronics were seized by authorities.
On Monday, anesthesiologist Erika Scholtes called her daughter’s death a “big mistake” and begged a Tucson judge to reconsider the decision to keep her husband in custody until his next hearing in August.
A 911 call was placed at 4:16 p.m. when the reported temperature was 109 degrees. Parker is pictured
Parker was left in this blue Honda Acura SUV that was seen behind police tape earlier that same day. The conditions of his release include that he stay away from alcohol or illegal drugs, as well as firearms
Erika Scholtes, 35, works as an anesthesiologist at the same hospital where her daughter was rushed to on Tuesday. She successfully requested her husband’s temporary release on Friday, hours after his arrest. He is accused of murder
The judge granted the doctor’s request and agreed to release the suspect until the next hearing next month so he can begin the grieving process with his family members.
“I just ask that you please let him come home so we can all begin the grieving process,” Erika said during a private appearance at her husband’s scheduled sentencing hearing.
She explained that it would be ‘so that he can bury our daughter with us this coming week, and [so] that we can get through this miserable process together as a family’.
Scholtes told police that when he got home, Parker (pictured together) was asleep in the backseat and he didn’t want to wake her, so he decided to leave her in the car, despite the extreme heat.
“This was a huge mistake and I don’t think it suits him,” the mother of two continued.
“I just want the girls to see their father so I don’t have to tell them tonight that they’re going to have to deal with another loss.”
The defense then pointed out that Scholtes had no criminal record, apart from a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol from 15 years ago.