A two-year-old girl died from heat exposure inside a hot car after her father left her in the driveway on a scorching day, her autopsy confirmed.
Parker Scholtes was found dead in the blue 2023 Honda Acura SUV around 4:15 p.m. on July 9 outside the family home in Marana, north of Tucson, Arizona.
Her father, Christopher Scholtes, 37, was charged with second-degree murder and child abuse after police discovered he had left her in the car napping for three hours.
The Pima County medical examiner said the temperature inside the car was 108.9 degrees F when first responders arrived.
An autopsy performed on July 10 confirmed Parker died from heat exposure, and the report listed the cause of death as “accident.”
Christopher Scholtes, 37, was charged with second-degree murder and child abuse in Parker’s death. He is seen with Parker, his two older sisters and his wife Erika.
Parker Scholtes, 2, died in a hot car in front of her home after she was left there for allegedly three hours on a 109°F day.
Scholtes told police he left Parker in her seat inside the vehicle with the engine running and the air conditioning on because he didn’t want to wake her.
He claimed she was there less than an hour after they arrived home, but CCTV footage revealed she was in direct sunlight for more than three hours, according to a criminal complaint obtained by DailyMail.com.
His wife Erika Scholtes, a doctor at the hospital where Parker was pronounced dead, came home at 4:08 p.m. and asked where her daughter was, then found her in the car, police said.
Scholtes’ two other children, ages nine and five, told police that Scholtes had regularly left the three siblings alone in the vehicle.
As Parker was rushed to the hospital, she sent him a text saying, “I told you to stop leaving them in the car, how many times have I told you that?”
He then added: “We have 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 their father regularly left the three siblings alone in the car.
The children told police that Scholtes “became distracted playing his game and putting away his food,” according to the complaint.
Police seized a PlayStation and other electronic devices as evidence.
The father of three told police he left the Acura’s air conditioning on but knew it would automatically shut off after about 30 minutes, based on previous experience.
Scholetes told police he arrived home with Parker around 2:30 p.m., but surveillance footage from neighbors’ cameras showed his car arriving at the home around 12:53 p.m.
A 911 call was made at 4:16 p.m., when the temperature was reported to be 109 degrees. Parker is pictured
Scholtes told police that when she got home, Parker (pictured next to her) was asleep in the backseat and he didn’t want to wake her up, which made him opt to leave her in the car despite the extreme heat.
The cameras also showed that Scholetes never went out to check on Parker until his wife came home and asked where he was, police alleged.
Minutes later, Parker was found unconscious in the back of the car and a 911 call was made at 4:16 p.m., when the temperature was 109°F.
Erika Scholtes, an anesthesiologist, called her daughter’s death a “huge mistake” and begged a Tucson judge to reconsider holding her husband until his next hearing in August.
The judge upheld the doctor’s request and agreed to release him until his next hearing on Thursday so he could “begin the grieving process” with his family.
Parker was abandoned in this blue Honda Acura pickup truck seen behind police tape earlier that day.
Erika Scholtes, 35, works as an anesthesiologist at the same hospital where her daughter was taken on the day she died.
“I’m just asking if you can allow him to come home with us so we can all begin the grieving process,” Erika said during a remote appearance at her husband’s scheduled hearing.
She explained that it would be “so that he can bury our daughter with us next week, and (so) we can go through this poor process together as a family.”
“This was a huge mistake and I don’t think it represents 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 suffer another loss.”
The defense went on to point out that Scholtes had no criminal record other than a drunk driving charge from 15 years ago.
He was also charged with assault, but the charge was dropped.