Arizona father rejects plea deal in daughter’s hot car death
MARANA, Ariz. (AZFamily) — An Arizona man is set to stand trial for murder after rejecting a plea deal related to the death of his young daughter in a hot car last summer.
According to 13 News in Tucson, Christopher Scholtes appeared in court on Thursday morning to discuss a plea deal that would have reduced the charges to second-degree murder. However, he rejected the offer, and his case will proceed to trial where he will face charges of first-degree murder and child abuse.
The charges stem from the death of Scholtes’ two-year-old daughter in Marana last year. Around 4 p.m. on July 9, police and fire crews responded to a home near Paseo Rancho Acero and Paytons Court and found a young girl unresponsive in the backseat of a car. She was pronounced dead a short time later.
The temperature at the time was 109 degrees. Per paramedics who responded, the autopsy report stated that the girl had a body temperature of 108.9 degrees.
Scholtes reportedly told officers that he and his daughter came home earlier in the day after running errands but said the girl was asleep, so he left her in the running car with the air conditioner on while he went inside.
Later that afternoon, Scholtes’ wife came home from work and asked where their daughter was. They both rushed outside and found the girl strapped in her car seat, not moving.
Scholtes also told police that they got home around 2 p.m., but nearby security video showed they arrived at the house shortly before 1 p.m. Investigators believe she had been in the car for about three hours.
He also told investigators that, based on previous experiences, he knew his vehicle had a safety feature that would shut off the engine after 30 minutes. Police later released body-cam video of their interaction with Scholtes.
He was arrested later that week.
According to the interim complaint, Scholtes’ other two children, ages 5 and 9, said their father had left all three of them in the car regularly and that “he got distracted by playing his game and putting his food away” when their sister was in the car. Investigators impounded a 2023 Acura MDX and also confiscated several electronics from the home, including a PlayStation gaming console.
The complaint also detailed that Scholtes received a text message from his wife while their daughter was being rushed to the hospital.
“I told you to stop leaving them in the car, How many times have I told you,” the text read, to which he responded, “Babe, I’m sorry!”
“We’ve lost her, she was perfect,” his wife texted back, and he responded, “Babe our family. How could I do this? I killed our baby, this can’t be real.”
Scholtes pleaded not guilty in court last August, and talks of a possible plea deal began in November. His trial is tentatively set for October.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
