A DAD who faced decades in prison after leaving his two-year-old daughter to die in a hot car while he was allegedly inside watching porn has died.
Christopher Scholtes, 38, was charged with the first-degree murder of his toddler Parker, after he left her napping in a parked car on a 90F day in July last year.
He was set to go to prison, but failed to appear at a hearing on Wednesday.
Officers later found him dead inside a Phoenix home, as reported by ABC.
It is understood cops are probing his death as a possible suicide.
Scholtes was due to be sentenced on November 21 and faced up to 30 years behind bars, with no chance of parole.
His alleged X-rated activities were revealed to a court last month, in Tucson, Arizona, 15 months after leaving his daughter to die.
The court heard he had left his 2003 Acura running with the air-conditioning on before he lost track of time.
As he allegedly became distracted while playing PlayStation, drinking booze and watching porn, his car turned off – leaving Parker to bake to death.
The Pima County Medical Examiner said the temperature inside the car was 108.9F when emergency services first arrived, confirming the toddler had died from heat exposure.
Texts between Scholtes and his wife Erika allegedly revealed this neglect was a pattern of behaviour 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 followed up with a heartbreaking message: “We’ve lost her, she was perfect.”
In response, Scholtes said: “Babe I’m sorry! How could I do this. I killed our baby, this can’t be real”.
Despite the damning texts, Erika appeared in court, staunchly defending her husband, calling the death of her daughter “a mistake”.
She works as an anaesthesiologist at Banner University Medical Center, the same hospital Parker was taken to.
The pair have two other children – aged five and nine – who told police their father left all three siblings alone in the car on a regular basis.
According to the criminal complaint, the two children told police he’d “got distracted by playing his game and putting his food away”.
On the afternoon of the tragic ordeal, the PlayStation and other electronic devices were seized as evidence.
Prosecutors allege that Scholtes had left Parker alone in the car on his way home that day, after shopping at the supermarket and a gas station.
He had shoplifted beer from both shops, some of which he drank as Parker was roasting to death, according to court documents.
He arrived home with his daughter at 12:53pm, as the older children returned from a trampoline park he’d let them go to unattended.
Prosecutors say he had looked up men’s clothing at Nordstrom as well as porn between 2pm and 2.30pm.
He originally claimed he had arrived home at 2.30pm, but changed his story after security footage exposed his deception.
Parker was left to nap in the vehicle as he went inside.
Erika discovered Parker at 4pm, when she returned home from work.
First responders attended the scene a short time later, however nothing could be done.
Parker was declared dead an hour after she was found.
An investigation into her death revealed a disturbing pattern of alcoholism, child neglect and past drug abuse.
The older Scholtes siblings said their parents often argued over their father’s behaviour, particularly his drinking habits.
Scholtes has a recorded history of neglectful behaviour with his oldest daughter – who is now 16 years old – shared her with a previous partner.
Investigators were told he would also leave his eldest daughter and Parker’s siblings in the car alone long enough for the air-conditioning to switch off.
Fortunately, his oldest daughter had known how to restart the car, stopping disaster from striking sooner.
She allegedly suffered abuse at the hands of her father, where on one occasion she called the police.
Department of Child Service investigators reported the girl 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 lost custody of the girl after her mother died earlier in the year.
She was given to another guardian.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
How to get help
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide
It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
