The day before he was scheduled to turn himself in to authorities, the Arizona dad who pleaded guilty to murder in the hot car death of his 2-year-old daughter died by suicide.
As reported by TMZ, Christopher Scholtes was found dead in his home in Marana on Tuesday (Nov. 4). He was scheduled to turn himself in to authorities on Wednesday (Nov. 5).
His death is being investigated by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner as a suicide, and law enforcement sources said they are looking into carbon monoxide poisoning as a possible cause of death.
As reported by the Arizona Daily Star, Scholtes admitted to his wife, Erika Scholtes, that he would let his three children nap inside his car while he played video games and watched pornography at his home.
On July 9, their youngest daughter, Parker Scholtes, died in their Acura MDX. The high on that day was 109 degrees Fahrenheit, and the responding paramedics found that her body temperature reached up to 108 degrees.
Christopher’s two other daughters, ages 9 and 5, were at a trampoline park on the day that Parker died in the hot car. Investigators said that surveillance footage showed that he shoplifted beer from a gas station and a grocery store while he left her in the hot car.
When he returned home at 12:53 p.m. that day, he left his youngest daughter to nap in the car. Sometime between 2:02 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., he shopped online for clothing and viewed pornography.
When his wife returned home at approximately 4 p.m., she asked where their daughter was, and they found her unresponsive in the car.
“I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you,” Erika Scholtes wrote in text messages while she took their daughter to the hospital. “We’ve lost her. She was perfect.”
The child was pronounced dead by 5 p.m. that day.
Christopher Scholtes was scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 21. As reported by KVOA-TV last month, his 17-year-old daughter from a previous relationship filed a lawsuit accusing him of emotional distress.
For more information about suicide prevention or to speak with someone confidentially, call or text with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.