Arizona girl, 2, left in car by father on 109-degree day and is found dead

[NuttMegg]

I think CS had checked out of the marriage, couldn't wait to get to the several hour long video games where he was in control. Actually reminds me of myself and my hobbies, once immersed, days can pass before I get back to reality. But I don't have little kids, and do have the dog cuddled, fed, walked, etc.

His wife wore the financial pants, although it appears as though she is willing to kind of bring herself down to his level to mollify him. (see court pleadings...all a big mistake, he's pillar of comm.). It's so foreign to me when she says we need him with us so we can "start" to grieve on Saturday at the burial.

These people are so far from the way I would respond... I think, anyway. Maybe it's just the pov from old age. Recognizing these scripts from long ago, although not including the devastating loss of baby in that careless way.

 

[Herat]

I disagree, I believe that there are definitely situations where otherwise devoted parents make a fatal error due to a change in routine or even just a series of very unfortunate events. I think those cases are evident for what they are though— in this case, Scholtes obviously knew that the girl was in the car and should’ve known the dangers associated with leaving her there. He made the CHOICE to leave her out in a hot car and, as a result, that poor baby died while he sat inside in an air-conditioned room playing video games.

I always link this old Washington Post article because reading it years ago really opened my eyes to the reasons why many parents accidentally leave their children in cars, even if it seems unfathomable. I wouldn’t feel right charging the types of parents in these stories with murder—their lives are already a living hell because of their honest (but catastrophic) mistakes in the first place. I think that’s why prosecutorial discretion is important, though definitely imperfect.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html

MOO.

I agree with you, threeseverninefour. I think there are conditions where the responsible parent is distracted by unexpected events or fatigue and does suffer the double penalty of the guilt from the death and the legal action against them for their neglect.

CS and his wife appear to have tolerated some form of this locked-car babysitting for not only the smallest and most helpless child,but for all 3 of them. For what sounds like months if not years. Now he is choosing to blame exercise equipment in the garage and the mother is looking to deflect any responsibility onto him. Their culpability is a very different issue, as this situation was not a single, first-time accident, but was a repeated practice in this household.

 

[NuttMegg]

But leaving a running car in a garage, even open, is such a bad, dangerous, irresponsible idea. He should get off his games and be a caretaker, not a child.

Looks like a gorgeous house, aren't modern attached garages air conditioned these days? If not, how could either of them work out in that heat? I live in an adobe house, no garage, this is an honest question.

 

[NuttMegg]

Where were the other two children at the time the 2 year old was in the car? The 9 year old and the 5 year old were not likely in school. Were they in the house with him? Was he putting them in a position to care for the little one?

LE will probably find out there are other ways he has been shirking childcare duties for his own private times. I sense there have been problems in this marriage before.

Has he been in charge of child care for 9 years ? ( the oldest child is 9). This family certainly would have had the means to hire a babysitter.

The other 2 kids went in the house when they got back from wherever they went with CS. The baby was left in the car. At 12:53 iirc. So they were home.

 

[SMK777]

There is a profound issue of negligent care of a helpless child here and it appears to me to be a chronic practice - indeed using the locked car as a babysitting technique. I find the mother's text to be very odd and in a way, an attempt to deflect any responsibility for this crime to him.

SBM
Yes, it seems like this father got into some very bad habits and dangerous practices. It is always tempting to allow an infant to finish their nap rather than disturb them to take them out of the car; however extreme danger lies in this temptation. It’s like driving drunk: you may get away with it many times, until something catastrophic happens.

Sounds like the mom, since she is an MD anesthesiologist, would have done well to hire a helper so that Dad could take breaks while someone else watched. She placed too much trust in him, apparently.

 

[Inthedetails]

I disagree, I believe that there are definitely situations where otherwise devoted parents make a fatal error due to a change in routine or even just a series of very unfortunate events. I think those cases are evident for what they are though— in this case, Scholtes obviously knew that the girl was in the car and should’ve known the dangers associated with leaving her there. He made the CHOICE to leave her out in a hot car and, as a result, that poor baby died while he sat inside in an air-conditioned room playing video games.

I always link this old Washington Post article because reading it years ago really opened my eyes to the reasons why many parents accidentally leave their children in cars, even if it seems unfathomable. I wouldn’t feel right charging the types of parents in these stories with murder—their lives are already a living hell because of their honest (but catastrophic) mistakes in the first place. I think that’s why prosecutorial discretion is important, though definitely imperfect.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html

MOO.

I agree. I think there are (rare) cases when the parents truly made the tragic mistake.

In this case, it was no mistake. While he didn't intend to kill her, imo, he very purposely left her in a deadly situation.

jmo

 

[photoprose1122]

I disagree, I believe that there are definitely situations where otherwise devoted parents make a fatal error due to a change in routine or even just a series of very unfortunate events. I think those cases are evident for what they are though— in this case, Scholtes obviously knew that the girl was in the car and should’ve known the dangers associated with leaving her there. He made the CHOICE to leave her out in a hot car and, as a result, that poor baby died while he sat inside in an air-conditioned room playing video games.

I always link this old Washington Post article because reading it years ago really opened my eyes to the reasons why many parents accidentally leave their children in cars, even if it seems unfathomable. I wouldn’t feel right charging the types of parents in these stories with murder—their lives are already a living hell because of their honest (but catastrophic) mistakes in the first place. I think that’s why prosecutorial discretion is important, though definitely imperfect.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html

MOO.

Exactly. This is why we have due process and trial by jury and judges. Because not every case is the same and all factors have to be considered and weighed before handing out punishment. There is a distinct difference between a fatal error in which - as you pointed out - there’s a change in routine (very often the case in forgotten child in the backseat) or other extenuating circumstances which result in a child’s death, versus a situation like this where it was gross negligence on the parent’s part. The two situations can’t be treated the same.

 

[Herat]

Looks like a gorgeous house, aren't modern attached garages air conditioned these days? If not, how could either of them work out in that heat? I live in an adobe house, no garage, this is an honest question.

Garage A/C is never as good as within the closed walls of the house. Mostly, people would exercise in the early am when it is cool or very late at night. As an anesthesiologist, the mother would be fairly used to very early, 0-dark-hundred, work hours and if she was exercising it was probably something like 4 am or so before the sun came up. Safer to exercise in the closed garage than trying to run on residential streets in the pre-dawn darkness.

 

[Herat]

Exactly. This is why we have due process and trial by jury and judges. Because not every case is the same and all factors have to be considered and weighed before handing out punishment. There is a distinct difference between a fatal error in which - as you pointed out - there’s a change in routine (very often the case in forgotten child in the backseat) or other extenuating circumstances which result in a child’s death, versus a situation like this where it was gross negligence on the parent’s part. The two situations can’t be treated the same.

Yes. This was not a first-time forgotten child in the back seat.

This was a child deliberately left in the back seat as a routine and not the only child this routinely happened to.

I note that he has been released to the home on bail, with the stipulations he avoid firearms or alcohol.

If I were the wife, I might want to have another family member present in the home to make sure CS did not do something even more stupid.

Oh, and take away the Playstation.

 

[NuttMegg]

Yes. This was not a first-time forgotten child in the back seat.

This was a child deliberately left in the back seat as a routine and not the only child this routinely happened to.

I note that he has been released to the home on bail, with the stipulations he avoid firearms or alcohol.

If I were the wife, I might want to have another family member present in the home to make sure CS did not do something even more stupid.

Oh, and take away the Playstation.

Iirc he can't be alone with the kids, or perhaps with any kids. Can't remember the exact wording.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

agree but he has to be super dumb if he told LE that and it wasn't the case because all they have to do is ask mom if that was her practice or she was aware it was his.

She was aware it was his practice, her texts were entered in the court record and have been reported in the media.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Exactly. Especially because he tried to say it was only 30 or 60 mins and that wasn’t true. I wonder if the timeline was more for the mother’s benefit (his shame of being responsible for their child’s death, so trying to make it not sound as bad). He said he got home closer to 3 than 1.

I read somewhere he said he went out and checked on her. Wonder if that’s true (irrelevant tho at end of day ).

No, LE checked video from neighbors and it was reported he never went to check on her.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Or, for that matter, a side dude.

Or that he was actually watching (edited for content) non-child friendly content, NOT playing video games.

I haven't read all the stories, but ISTR that the two older children were not at home - maybe at camp or a summer program?

They were at home. They told LE he was playing on Play Station.

 

[mickey2942]

I was gone once on a business trip, and my husband, who never took care of the dog, forgot to feed him and take care of him, until he talked to me, and I asked him about our dog. (Fortunately, we spoke every day), he told me that the dog was "fine".

A few months later he admitted that he completely forgot about our baby dog. The dog missed one meal. He lived.

So, I can see, if it is not part of a normal routine or schedule to overlook a "new" task. But, in this case, the father was the primary caregiver, and deliberately left a child in 112° heat in a car. So he could play a video game.

And in my case, I reminded my husband about our dog. This was before cell phones, email, text messages. Believe me, back then, if we had all of those things, I would have been texting him about our dog.

 

[NuttMegg]

"A judge agreed Scholtes is not a flight risk but release conditions forbid him from being alone with his two other daughters."

Arizona father charged with murder after daughter dies in hot car

Christopher Scholtes is charged with second degree murder in his daughter's death. Her mother, a doctor, found the child.

www.courttv.com

 

[BrownRice]

On another note, I understand the two other girls were older, but why was he playing video games (and possibly drinking) in the middle of the day when he was supposed to be taking care of the kids anyways? I understand needing a break from childcare to decompress for a few minutes while they self-entertain, but a few hours?! Again, it seems like he wasn’t even able to handle the basics of being a stay-at-home dad. Truly behavior I would expect from a teenage boy, not a father of 3.

MOO.

Exactly. That’s what bed time is for! That’s when a parent decompresses (unless another responsible party is there to take over).

 

[BrownRice]

But leaving a running car in a garage, even open, is such a bad, dangerous, irresponsible idea. He should get off his games and be a caretaker, not a child.

Plus in that heat, she’d die anyway. Just would have maybe taken a little longer.

 

[Chimera]

Is he saying that he regularly left the child/ children in the car with the A/C running IN the garage? That has it's own horrible set of risks of carbon monoxide poisoning. That is a dangerous thing to do and just as prone to harm to your child/children. As an anesthesiologist, of all people, you would think the mother would have shut that down completely if she was aware of it. I know a woman whose older parents died of carbon monoxide poisoning in their home when they left the car in the closed garage running to warm up on a cold day, inside the garage while the carbon monoxide buildup from the vehicle exhaust steeped into their home, so it's a dangerous practice to those in the house, too, not just the children in the running vehicle.

I would have thought the exercise equipment in the garage taking up space for the car would not have been a new issue, but one that was ongoing for weeks or months, and in cooler months never seemed dangerous, to him.

There is a profound issue of negligent care of a helpless child here and it appears to me to be a chronic practice - indeed using the locked car as a babysitting technique. I find the mother's text to be very odd and in a way, an attempt to deflect any responsibility for this crime to him.

I'm still having trouble understanding how he thought this was an acceptable way to care for your children.

Bbm.
Agreed !
Some moms would be planning a divorce and would no longer be speaking to the husband.
Omo.

Eta : Placing a toddler in the car in their car seat and leaving them for three hours is almost like restraining them.
Cruel !!!

 

[NuttMegg]

Bbm.
Agreed !
Some moms would be planning a divorce and would no longer be speaking to the husband.
Omo.

Seems un-doable. Daily life with memories of little Parker ever present. And how she died.

Besides, he's going to turn over a new leaf and start to enjoy parenting the other 2 girls? For all the time he spends playing videio games he could have started an online business. Or gotten an online masters.

Every text from her will be threatening to him, as casual as she makes the checking up to be. Anyway I think he'll get prison time and she'll learn to move on.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

To me, it sounds like she is either the sole provider or primary income and if he’s not home to watch the children… how will she go to work? MOO

If my thought is true, then wow, I’m just jaw dropped about that thought process. I wouldn’t want him around the other children… especially alone, ever again. I’m not sure I’m getting maternal vibes from her but that’s just MOO and subject to change

She has taken a leave and part of the release order is he can't be alone with children. Her affect was curious.