Shocking police body camera footage captured the heartbreaking moment first responders frantically tried to save a two-year-old girl who was abandoned in a scorching car by her father for three hours.
Christopher Scholtes, an Arizona father, can be seen holding his head in anguish and screaming at police before falling to his knees in a video obtained by Inside edition.
Scholtes, 37, faced first-degree murder charges brought by a grand jury on Thursday after originally being arrested on a lesser charge of second-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
“Please honey, please…” she can be heard pleading in the video.
“I can’t believe it,” he was heard moaning. “Oh my God.”
Scholtes told police that when she got home, Parker (pictured next to her) was asleep in the backseat and she didn’t want to wake her up.
His infant daughter was found unconscious in his vehicle after he allegedly left her there while he enjoyed a PlayStation gaming session.
In the harrowing video, police and paramedics are seen desperately trying to revive the boy while Scholtes is seen pacing around his home in a panic.
Scholtes was arrested last month after his two-year-old daughter, Parker, was found unconscious in his car outside his home in Marana, Arizona, on a day when temperatures reached 109°F.
Scholtes’ other children, ages 5 and 9, told police the boy spent the afternoon playing video games, and investigators said neighborhood surveillance showed Parker may have been left unattended for more than three hours.
Parker in a family photo taken in March with his parents and two older sisters, who reportedly told police that Christopher had often left them in the car with the air conditioning on.
Scholtes told investigators that his daughter had been sleeping in the car and that, in order not to wake her, he left the engine running with the air conditioning on.
However, police said Scholtes allegedly “became distracted by playing his game and putting away his food.”
On the day Parker died, July 6, Scholtes told police he arrived home around 2:30 p.m. and left his daughter in the car because she was sleeping. His wife found her when she returned from work at 4 p.m.
However, Arizona detectives said they obtained neighborhood surveillance that showed Scholtes’ Honda Acura SUV actually arrived around 12:50 p.m.
The escalation of charges against Scholtes from second-degree murder to first-degree murder is significant and shows prosecutors believe the father intentionally killed his daughter.
Christopher Scholtes was seen in court Thursday, where the charges against him were upgraded from second-degree murder to first-degree murder in the death of his daughter.
While second-degree murder is generally based on reckless conduct leading to death, first-degree murder requires that the death was premeditated and deliberate.
At his first court appearance on Thursday, Scholtes, dressed in a grey suit, appeared to hang his head in shame but remained silent as the formal notice of charges against him was served.
He only made a few brief remarks in court and refused to speak to reporters after the hearing.
