The father of a 2-year-old girl who died last week after being left in a hot car parked in front of the familyβs Marana home texted his wife, βI killed our baby,β a court document shows.
βI told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you,β Erika Scholtes, a doctor, texted her husband as their daughter was being taken to the hospital on July 9, according to new details included in an interim complaint filed in Pima County Justice Court. βWeβve lost her, she was perfect,β she said in a text.
βBabe, our family. How could I do this. I killed our baby, this canβt be real,β Christopher Scholtes responded.
The girl, Parker, died at the hospital that evening.
Christopher Scholtes was arrested July 12 on suspicion of second degree murder and child abuse. At his videotaped initial court appearance later in the day, Judge Lisa Surhio entered a βnot guiltyβ plea for him.
At the videotaped court hearing, Erika Scholtes pleaded for her husbandβs release.
βI know the significance of the tragedy and I donβt want you to think that Iβm underestimating the impact that it has on our lives or that Iβm undermining your concerns about the safety of those in our householdβ Erika Scholtes told the judge during the video hearing.
Todd Romero, the attorney for Christopher Scholtes, told the judge the girlβs death was a βfamily tragedyβ and that the accused did not have any prior criminal history aside from a DUI years ago.
βIβm just asking if you can allow him to come home to us, so we can all start the grieving process, so that he can bury our daughter with us and we can go through this process together as a family,β Erika Scholtes told the judge, saying her husband was not a flight risk.
Christopher Scholtes swayed back and forth and from side to side while his wife and lawyer spoke to the judge.
The prosecutor, Brad Terrace, asked that he be held on a $1 million bond, noting that Scholtes mislead investigators about details that resulted in his daughterβs death.
Judge Lisa Surhio instead released Scholtes without bond. Scholtes was released to pre-trial services supervision and is prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with minors while the case is pending. He also is prohibited from using alcohol, drugs and having firearms.
Scholtes initially told investigators that he had taken his daughter with him while running errands and returned home about 2:30 p.m. However, surveillance footage from the neighborhood shows his vehicle returning home about 12:53 p.m., about an hour and half earlier, according to the interim complaint.
Contrary to his later statement about knowing that his vehicleβs air conditioning would automatically shut off after 30 minutes, he initially told investigators that he usually gets a notification on his phone if the car turns off, but didnβt receive one this time.
The two other Scholtes children, ages 9 and 5, told investigators their father βgot distracted by playing his game and putting his food awayβ after leaving the child in the car that day. A gaming system was one of the electronic items investigators seized from the home, a search warrant return shows.
The vehicle was said to be parked in direct sunlight, and the car seat was on the driverβs side near the west-facing window, the interim complaint reads.
A preliminary hearing has been set for Aug 1.
