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

[MsMarple]

What Did Dau Mean by "Food"

Per the Interim Affidavit, Dau(s?) stated: "he got distracted by playing his game and putting his food away." Did not say "groceries" in Affidavit.

What kind of food? Relevant?
--- Carry-out/take-away snacks/meals?
Maybe only one foam clamshell for himself? Or maybe a stack of them w 4 meals? Or one biggish bag of fast food?
Likely a few min?
--- Groceries?
------ If just a a box of cookies & gallon of milk? A few min?
------ If several/many bags of groceries, make 3-4-5 trips?
----------Carry into house, put on kit. COUNTER. A few min?
----------Carry bags into house, to SORT & put some groceries into some into fridge, some into freezer, some into pantry, some into the right kit cabs? Yep, could take 20-30 min?

Btwn the death & the arrest, seems MSM & some posts here converted "food" from dau's stmt in Interim Affidavit into "groceries."

May be a relevant & material difference, re ELAPSED TIME in which CRS forgot or misjudged. Well, CRS' DEFENSE would ARGUE.

Or may not be relevant or material. IDK.
___________________________

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/kvoa.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/78/17846bec-42fb-11ef-a3cf-0bbd73adf697/6695a5310511f.pdf.pdf

Thx agn to @LifeIsAMystery for posting ^ link.

JMO but I think any relevance over the definition of “food” would depend on what defense the dad and his attorney choose to put forward.

IF he claims Forgotten Baby Syndrome then under that theory it can happen in an instant, for example when a parent drives past the daycare center. There doesn’t seem to have time constraints so in theory anyway he could claim a lapse in memory in the very moment he put food away, be it a gallon of milk or lunch leftovers or a trunk full of bags. IMO

 

[al66pine]

That's true. I don't know where I picked up "groceries". Thinking a bit more if there were "groceries", ie if he had to make 2 trips to the car or more, then he essentially made the decision several times to leave her in the car.

Probably the door cams showed the size of what he brought in.

@NuttMegg
Food = Carry Out or Groceries or ?

No worries. You were not the only one. Prob'ly picked up from MSM coverage or other posters using "groceries."

ETA: And as I said, may not be relevant or material.

ETA: @MsMarple Thx for your input re "food" relevance depending on the Def't theory of defense.

 

[al66pine]

Sources of Video? Interior Cam Vid Footage?

.... Probably the door cams showed the size of what he brought in.

snipped for focus @NuttMegg
Your mention of door cams prompted me to reread Interim Affidavit more closely. Seems likely S household had some kind of vid, either Ring-type or surv. system w multiple cams.

Affidavit does not specify whether LE collected any vid from the Scholtes' residence AFAICT. First it refers to video from "adjacent residences" then "Video surveillance."*
Sooo, imo possibly got vid from S household, possibly not.

IF S household had any INTERIOR vid cams, and
IF footage from that day was not erased/deleted/permanently obliterated,
footage could be USEFUL, either to prosecutor or def, imo.
________________________________
* LE "obtained nearby security footage from adjacent residences.... Video surveillance shows [yadda yadda]. Video surveillance obtained does not show" CRS checking on car or dau during that time.

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/kvoa.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/78/17846bec-42fb-11ef-a3cf-0bbd73adf697/6695a5310511f.pdf.pdf

 

[airportwoman]

Since we learned of those family court details awhile back, it's left an additional really bad taste in my mouth. I understand that parents who divorce or breakup and then transition to having 2nd/new families are going to almost by default have an unavoidable imbalance in the amount of time, attention and resources that are spent on their new family vs their previous child(ren) since they live full-time with their new family and aren't having to split custody of their new child(ren) with anyone else; but it appears this dad's situation is.....more like a write-off and complete start over vs a transition with some of the usual inevitable imbalances. I have strong personal feelings about that based on a dear friend's situation when we were growing up. The emotional damage that causes kids is sad to witness because it's avoidable.

I also wonder if the first wife refused him visitation rights, or restricted them severely, because she knew he was just going to dump her on Wife #2 and go do his own thing.

I am also aware that child support and visitation/custody are not supposed to be tied together, but let's face it, they are (and IMNSHO should be!) and she said, "If you don't pay, you can't see her" and he wasn't interested enough in her to care one way or another.

 

[mickey2942]

"I am sorry, Babe, I just forgot". That statement...sounds like CS is talking about forgetting to buy milk at the store. Not actually killing his child by deliberately leaving her in the car, while he gets his food in the house...and plays video games.

I really would like to know what the older children said, did they ask about their little sister? Where were they for three hours? They got home around 1pm, their mother came home around 4-4:30ish, CS was playing video games, were the kids just supposed to disappear? Go to their rooms and play and not bother their father at all? I am interested in what they were doing in this time frame.

 

[LadyL]

What Did Dau Mean by "Food"

Per the Interim Affidavit, Dau(s?) stated: "he got distracted by playing his game and putting his food away." Did not say "groceries" in Affidavit.

What kind of food? Relevant?
--- Carry-out/take-away snacks/meals?
Maybe only one foam clamshell for himself? Or maybe a stack of them w 4 meals? Or one biggish bag of fast food?
Likely a few min?
--- Groceries?
------ If just a a box of cookies & gallon of milk? A few min?
------ If several/many bags of groceries, make 3-4-5 trips?
----------Carry into house, put on kit. COUNTER. A few min?
----------Carry bags into house, to SORT & put some groceries into some into fridge, some into freezer, some into pantry, some into the right kit cabs? Yep, could take 20-30 min?

Btwn the death & the arrest, seems MSM & some posts here converted "food" from dau's stmt in Interim Affidavit into "groceries."

May be a relevant & material difference, re ELAPSED TIME in which CRS forgot or misjudged. Well, CRS' DEFENSE would ARGUE.

Or may not be relevant or material. IDK.
___________________________

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/kvoa.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/1/78/17846bec-42fb-11ef-a3cf-0bbd73adf697/6695a5310511f.pdf.pdf

Thx agn to @LifeIsAMystery for posting ^ link.

[bbm]

what is 'right kit cabs'?

 

[mickey2942]

This is interesting. The model of the car, Parker died in, the Acura MDX, 2023 model, has a "rear seat reminder", to remind drivers not to leave anything in the rear seat. This is interesting. Was this safety feature disabled? The police took the car as evidence to examine. How did CS forget Parker in the back seat, in a car with this safety feature?!

Text message exchange revealed between Scholtes and wife in interim complaint

TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) — News 4 Tucson is learning new information about the situation surrounding the two-year-old left inside a hot car in Marana.

www.kvoa.com

https://www.sanfranciscoacura.com/2023-acura-mdx/

---

 

[Kip]

I can understand how some parents forget they have their child in their car, especially when it's an unusual occurrence. For the life of me, I do not understand the strategy of leaving the kids in the car. When my kids would fall asleep in the car (and now my grandkids), much of the time they remain asleep when I carried them in, or if they awoke, they fall back to sleep relatively easily. If not, oh, well, that's the way it goes. If I were to leave them in the car, I would be running out to check on them every 5 minutes, which would be more disruptive than just carrying them inside in the first place.

 

[SMK777]

[bbm]

what is 'right kit cabs'?

I think kitchen cabinets.

 

[SMK777]

This is interesting. The model of the car, Parker died in, the Acura MDX, 2023 model, has a "rear seat reminder", to remind drivers not to leave anything in the rear seat. This is interesting. Was this safety feature disabled? The police took the car as evidence to examine. How did CS forget Parker in the back seat, in a car with this safety feature?!

Text message exchange revealed between Scholtes and wife in interim complaint

TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) — News 4 Tucson is learning new information about the situation surrounding the two-year-old left inside a hot car in Marana.

www.kvoa.com

https://www.sanfranciscoacura.com/2023-acura-mdx/

---

It seems likely that he disabled it, since he was using the car as a baby sitting device.

 

[al66pine]

[bbm]
what is 'right kit cabs'?

@LadyL Sorry.
'right kit cabs'
In context of my post = Putting certain grocery items into
the "correct kitchen cabinets."
My apologies. Glad you asked for clarification.


@SMK777
You were on target. Thanks for your help.

 

[ifindedout]

This is interesting. The model of the car, Parker died in, the Acura MDX, 2023 model, has a "rear seat reminder", to remind drivers not to leave anything in the rear seat. This is interesting. Was this safety feature disabled? The police took the car as evidence to examine. How did CS forget Parker in the back seat, in a car with this safety feature?!

Text message exchange revealed between Scholtes and wife in interim complaint

TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) — News 4 Tucson is learning new information about the situation surrounding the two-year-old left inside a hot car in Marana.

www.kvoa.com

https://www.sanfranciscoacura.com/2023-acura-mdx/

---

MDX owner's manual link (file too big to upload)
https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis//pubs/OM/AH/BTYA2323OM/enu/BTYA2323OM.PDF

 

[mickey2942]

It seems likely that he disabled it, since he was using the car as a baby sitting device.

So, this goes from a "careless" accident of "forgetting", to deliberate negligence. Especially if the mechanism for safety was disabled. And it sounds like CS did this routinely.

13-1103 - Manslaughter; classification

MOO is this a Murder 2. Recklessly causing the death of another person.

 

[ifindedout]

I noticed that. She implied that he was just so busy putting groceries away. It sounded like a canned response to me, as though she was speaking for her organization.
I wish LE would check out that grocery purchase, find out if he left Parker in the car then, too. Maybe impossible, but maybe not, if they thought to confiscate the grocery tab.

If it was groceries, that store will more than likely have an itemized record of his transaction if a bonus (rewards) card or app was used.

 

[Herat]

MDX owner's manual link (file too big to upload)
https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis//pubs/OM/AH/BTYA2323OM/enu/BTYA2323OM.PDF

The owner's manual has a lot of ground to cover. This vehicle has many many types and kinds of regular vehicle monitoring and maintenance items, and clearly some complex systems for all sorts of convenience features to cover. They do a very extensive job of describing the kinds and methods of child restraints and how to install them.

They also directly address not leaving children unattended where they state: Do not leave children in the vehicle unattended, especially in hot weather when the inside of the vehicle can get hot enough to kill them. They could also activate vehicle controls causing it to move unexpectedly.

The vehicle also has a system to alert the driver of a possible person remaining in the back. It is indirect, where is identifies if the rear doors have been opened, and does not physically identify if there is a person or weight mass in the seat, as the passenger seat belt alarm does. I think Honda has done a good job of covering this and any concerned parent would read about the Rear Seat Reminder system and leave it ON and use it as a safety guide.

Their warning clearly states heat can kill an unattended child, and the vehicle provides a warning system if it appears something or someone has been left in the back seat.

Page 66 has the warning about leaving people in the back seat. It says there are warning labels on the dashboard.

Page 204 is devoted to Rear Seat Reminder

"This feature alerts you to the possible presence of passengers or items in the second row or third row seats before you exit the vehicle. It activates when the vehicle is set to VEHICLE OFF if the rear doors were opened shortly before or after the vehicle was set to ON. A reminder appears on the driver information interface and an alert will sound when the power mode is set to VEHICLE OFF.

1. Rear Seat Reminder

When the power mode is set to VEHICLE OFF, the reminder comes on briefly, then the function is deactivated. The reminder will not work if the power mode has not been set to ON within 10 minutes of operating the rear doors.

The system does not detect passengers in the rear seats. Instead, it can detect when a rear door is opened and closed, indicating that there may be something in the rear seats.

You can turn off the notification setting.

2 Customized Features P. 351
(This is an algorithm of how to customize various features. Information specific to the Rear Seat Reminder is on page 373 and states the Rear Seat Reminder is customizable to ON or OFF. The default setting is ON.)

 

[Kittybunny]

This is interesting. The model of the car, Parker died in, the Acura MDX, 2023 model, has a "rear seat reminder", to remind drivers not to leave anything in the rear seat. This is interesting. Was this safety feature disabled? The police took the car as evidence to examine. How did CS forget Parker in the back seat, in a car with this safety feature?!

Text message exchange revealed between Scholtes and wife in interim complaint

TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) — News 4 Tucson is learning new information about the situation surrounding the two-year-old left inside a hot car in Marana.

www.kvoa.com

https://www.sanfranciscoacura.com/2023-acura-mdx/

---

My car has that feature, and it’s just a message on the display screen. Either way, it’s irrelevant since he made a deliberate conscious choice to leave his daughter in the car on purpose. He knew she was there.

Agree that this case is so incredibly rage-inducing because it was SO AVOIDABLE and SO STUPID.

I know I might be being irrational too because my anger does extend to the mom, even when I recognize all the amazing points that @Iamshadow made about how this is totally his fault and he was a seething ball of barely contained resentments and a total man-child. 100 percent agree.

BUT…all my sympathy went out the window with that statement of hers to the judge begging for him to come home. I guess “Sorry babe!” is all it takes.

However, there is a part of me too that wonders…just because she was the breadwinner, doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be some form of coercive control happening here. He looks like a pretty intimidating dude.

Where’s the Daily Mail when you need them to get some of their infamous snaps of this guy doing something that’s going to send him back to jail?

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

DBM

 

[al66pine]

MDX owner's manual link (file too big to upload)
https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis//pubs/OM/AH/BTYA2323OM/enu/BTYA2323OM.PDF

@ifindedout
TYVM for tracking down link w info about the rear seat reminder.
And the quotes too.

 

[al66pine]

Evidence of CRS' Errands?

If it was groceries, that store will more than likely have an itemized record of his transaction if a bonus (rewards) card or app was used.

@ifindedout Good point.
Yep, likely.
And prob'ly also true for some or all of the stops CRS made earlier on his errands.

After hearing his stmts about what he did that day, LE graded and flunked him on the SMELL TEST.

Likely there's video evidence of the when-and- where of his presence imo.
Bank, barber shop, dry cleaners, car wash, dept store, or ?
No obvious reasons that any of the above would erase surv. camera footage. And likely no automatic 'recording-over' like on a 7 or 30 day loop as in ye olden tymes.
And LE was able to start collecting evidence from ^ places SAME DAY or next.

And other electronic evd of his transactions, like receipts.

If CRS lied to LE about matters so easily disproven (like time he arrived home), he likely spun other fairy tales for LE, imo.

There's going to be plenty for the prosecutor to work w and for the jury to consider in deliberating.

 

[SMK777]

So, this goes from a "careless" accident of "forgetting", to deliberate negligence. Especially if the mechanism for safety was disabled. And it sounds like CS did this routinely.

13-1103 - Manslaughter; classification

MOO is this a Murder 2. Recklessly causing the death of another person.

Yes, it’s what makes this case different from the parent who in the midst of a change in routine, forgot to drop the baby at daycare and drove on to work.