Prosecutor blasts Arizona dad who killed himself the day he was due to be jailed for leaving daughter, 2, to die in hot car

Prosecutors criticized an Arizona father who killed himself just hours before he was set to go to jail for killing his two-year-old daughter.

Christopher Scholtes, 38, was found dead early Wednesday morning at the $1 million home in Phoenix he shared with his wife Dr. Erika Scholtes.

He was supposed to begin a 20 to 30-year prison sentence for the second-degree murder of his two-year-old daughter, Parker, who died after being left in a hot car on a 109-degree Fahrenheit day in July 2024.

‘This is obviously extraordinarily complicated, and we extend our deepest sympathies and sorrow to all the loved ones who have suffered the loss of this beautiful baby girl,’ Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said in a video statement.

‘This little girl’s voice was nearly silenced because justice was not served appropriately this morning. But it has not and will not be silenced due to the hard work of the people who work here at the Puma County Attorney’s Office.’

Scholtes took a plea deal in October was set to be sentenced on November 21 after reporting to jail on Wednesday. He was allowed to stay out on bail until Wednesday, when he would be taken into custody, and used that time to plot his suicide.

Parker had been left in the hot car for more than three hours, while her abusive father watched porn, played video games, and drank beer.

Scholtes leaves behind three daughters and his wife.

Christopher Scholtes, 38, was supposed to begin a 20 to 30-year prison sentence for the second-degree murder of his daughter, Parker, two, who died after being left in a hot car on a 109-degree Fahrenheit day in July 2024

‘This little girl’s voice was nearly silenced because justice was not served appropriately this morning,’ Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said

Conover spoke directly to the surviving family in her statement, saying to Parker’s sisters: ‘May you be surrounded by love. May you receive all of the support you deserve and need and then some. May you know and believe that you can survive and thrive.’

She went on to say she has seen similar victims go on to thrive in life and that her team wishes that for them.

‘And when you look back on this time as the years follow, may you not feel tied down by what happened here, but rather lifted up by your baby sister’s wings from up above,’ she added.

Texts between Scholtes and Erika revealed leaving his children in the car for extended periods of time was a recurring pattern of behavior for him.

As Parker was rushed to the hospital, Erika texted Scholtes saying: ‘I told you to stop leaving them in the car, how many times have I told you.’

She later added: ‘We’ve lost her, she was perfect.’

Scholtes replied: ‘Babe, I’m sorry! How could I do this? I killed our baby, this can’t be real.’

Their other two other children, then aged nine and five, told police their father regularly left all three siblings alone in the car.

Scholtes was found dead early Wednesday morning at the $1 million home in Phoenix

Parker had been left in the hot car for more than three hours, while her abusive father watched porn, played video games, and drank beer

Scholtes took a plea deal in October was set to be sentenced on November 21 after reporting to jail on Wednesday. He was allowed to stay out on bail until Wednesday, when he would be taken into custody, and used that time to plot his suicide

Scholtes moved from the house where Parker died to one in the suburbs of Phoenix about an hour away.

His wife, anesthesiologist Erika Scholtes, 37, splashed $1.025 million on the stunning four-bedroom, 2,369sqft home in April.

Scholtes’s protracted legal defense has not been cheap as he pleaded not guilty last year and rejected a plea deal in March that would have let him off with as little as 10 years behind bars.

Just six months later, he had no choice but to accept a far worse deal for 20 to 30 years in jail on second-degree murder and child abuse charges.

Erika was at work as an anesthesiologist at Banner University Medical Center, the same hospital Parker was taken to, while her daughter was left in the car.

She strongly defended her husband in court by calling their daughter’s death ‘a mistake.’

In addition to facing decades in jail, Scholtes was sued last week, along with Erika, by his eldest daughter, now 17, for emotional distress, assault, battery and fraud.

He’s married to Dr. Erika Scholtes, an anesthesiologist at Banner University Medical Center

Scholtes was also allegedly abusive towards the eldest girl, and she on one occasion called police to say she was afraid to go home because she lost some money and was worried her father would hit her.

Department of Child Services investigators wrote in their reports that she told them ‘she would frequently be slapped, thrown, have her hair pulled, have her head pushed into walls, and be picked up by her shirt or her arm.’

Scholtes eventually lost custody of the girl, and after her mother died earlier this year, she was instead given to another guardian.