Arizona father charged in 2-year-old’s hot car death pleads not guilty

TUCSON (Scripps News Tucson/Court TV) — An Arizona father charged with killing his daughter by leaving her in a hot car has pleaded not guilty.

Last week, Christopher Scholtes was in court for the first time since murder charges against him were raised from second-degree to first-degree.

Christopher Scholtes appears in court for his arraignment Aug. 8, 2024. (Court TV)

Scholtes, 37, was arrested July 12 on charges of second-degree murder and child abuse. A grand jury indicted him for first-degree murder, a charge that requires premeditation and deliberate actions that kill.

At his arraignment last week, Scholtes’ attorney entered a plea of not guilty.

Scholtes said only a few words in court and refused interviews afterwards.

Investigators believe Scholtes may have left his daughter in the car for more than three hours.

Police say he told them he routinely left the girl in the car with the engine and air conditioning running, but in this case the car stopped. The interim complaint against Scholtes adds the claim that he knew the car would shut off automatically after 30 minutes.

According to the document, the family’s other children, aged five and nine, told police Scholtes often left all of the children in the car. The document states on the day of the girl’s death, Scholtes was distracted by a video game and putting some food away.

Scholtes wife is a medical doctor. Investigators say she came home about 4 pm and asked where the 2-year-old was. The report says Scholtes searched through the house, then remembered the girl was still in the car. By that time, the car and its air conditioning had stopped.

Police say by late afternoon the temperature was 109. Scholtes told police he had returned home with the girl about 2:30pm. Police found neighborhood surveillance video that they say showed Scholtes car returned and stayed parked as of 12:52, about two hours sooner.

The child’s mother tried to revive the child but could not. Police says as an ambulance rushed the child to a hospital, the mother texted Christopher Scholtes:

“I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you?”

Scholtes responded: “Babe, I’m sorry!”

The mother texted: “We’ve lost her. She was perfect.”

Scholtes: “Babe, our family. How could I do this? I killed our baby. This can’t be real.”

This story was originally published by Scripps News Tucson, an E.W. Scripps Company.