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

[abyquinn]

Usually because they were raised by alcoholics/addicts and were stuck. Kids can't leave their alcoholic parents, so they learn how to cope. MOO ES grew up in a dysfunctional household where one or both parents had substance use issues, and learned to cope by adapting, fawning, minimizing, and believing she could change them if only she tried hard enough.

I am sure she loves her kids, and she probably also believes she's doing the right thing by having CS home. She is sure she can change him and make things okay if she just tries a little harder...

And no, it doesn't make sense because it's not conscious. It's a trauma response that she's not aware of and hasn't addressed.

All MOO and I'm not a mental health professional.

Are you wondering/assuming/educated guessing, ES grew up in a dysfunctional home or is this something you’ve heard? I’m curious about her upbringing too. I wonder if her father treated her poorly so CS treating her and the girls like their needs weren’t important is normal behavior to her and she hasn’t realized yet that she needs to do more than just send him a text?

Was alcohol an issue for her parents so again, as a child she was powerless and she hasn’t realized she has a voice, she doesn’t have to put up with his drinking? His drinking isn’t just an issue for him, his drinking is an issue for their whole family and the public. One of their text exchanges she called him out for DUI with 2 kids in the car - his response, “You hate me!” WTH?

I’ve only seen a little in SM from people who know them, but twice now I’ve read that she has always had poor taste in men. Her boyfriends were man-baby types, CS sure fits that mold well.

 

[Herat]

Yes, I understand. I am very sorry and I wish that his kids find the way to get clean. I hope time will help, but it is a huge trauma. For everyone.

"I had loved him so long" did strike a chord with me, though.

I wonder if we can't leave because it is hard to walk away from our shattered
dreams.

When I was around 20, I met that person - not an alcoholic, gainfully employed, very far from a loser. Lying with abandon but senselessly (for example, about his birthday) was his hobby. A broken relationship was a small price I had to pay given what he did to others. So in six months time, on finding out that his birthday fell on a totally different month and year, I merely shrugged my shoulders. To the me of today, such people look like inflatable toys - there is a dark rag lying around, but with the attempts of the "community" and the parents and the people around, he is inflated into a beautiful dragon.

But, I still hung around for a couple of months after he proposed, bought a ring and ultimately, did nothing. He didn't even break the engagement. As I later found out, it was his typical modus operandi. (He proposed to another girl, before me, and when she went on a vacation, he married someone else). Why did I stick around? Well, i was 20, much younger than him and such people are uncommon. But mostly, i stayed because the image of our greatest future together was hard to walk away from. To admit to something worse than, "I have bet on a wrong card", to say "that card was fake", takes strength.

So I think, ES met CS in her 20es, and I bet he was a liar but tried his best to pretend for a long time, and in fact, they did have real things binding them. Maybe, just maybe, she is going through the terrible revelation, that her partner of twelve years is a sham figure? It must be hard to realize it so late in life, and at such a cost. So I am not blaming her, just waiting.

I still can't find a name for this pathological lying. No known medical syndrome explains it. In my BF, it was serious - crying, he'd tell me about someone dying in a car accident, and later, I'd accidentally meet that person, very much alive. I think I understand what prompted him to start yet another story (insecurity), but why stick with it knowing that sooner or later you'd have to admit to one more lie? All I know is that he would fly under the radar for any known diagnosis.

It takes a lot of time to learn about human motivations and behaviours. Decades. I think it's also very hard at age 20 to realize that people do not think of right and wrong in the same way you do.

 

[Herat]

Was just about to post ALL of this after reading the transcript provided by @Allabouttrial.

IMO every single point you made is so valid and I would write the exact same.

Therefore I won’t rehash it all but it really sticks in my gut—-leaving his children out of it just for a second, does the judge genuinely believe a man driving drunk at excessive speed is not a danger to the community at large?

Please.

Therefore it must be what @MsMarple mentioned—-likely the judge was, at the time, unaware of all his collateral dangerous practices.

Yet I wonder…they were able to upgrade his charge from Murder Two to Murder One, so why couldn’t the judge have him hauled into custody once that happened? By now she certainly knows his other perilous exploits, since we are merely observers and yet we know.

Befuddled and furious here.

JMO

LE has to have objective data to show cause for an incarceration and punishment.

So they would need to have some validated record of the actual reading of his excessive speeding when the children were in the vehicle. I am a bit cautious about the number 138 in the text because is it absurdly high for the vehicle and the driving roads in the area. It wouldn't hold up in court if not validated by a LE method. 98 mph is much more believable.

Similarly a breathalyzer or blood draw with a blood alcohol reading would be necessary for the same reasons.

I also agree that her statement (full of false claims and half-truths as it is) and her status as a practicing physician likely swayed the judge to be more lenient, not having had access to his full record.

 

[airportwoman]

LE has to have objective data to show cause for an incarceration and punishment.

So they would need to have some validated record of the actual reading of his excessive speeding when the children were in the vehicle. I am a bit cautious about the number 138 in the text because is it absurdly high for the vehicle and the driving roads in the area. It wouldn't hold up in court if not validated by a LE method. 98 mph is much more believable.

Similarly a breathalyzer or blood draw with a blood alcohol reading would be necessary for the same reasons.

I also agree that her statement (full of false claims and half-truths as it is) and her status as a practicing physician likely swayed the judge to be more lenient, not having had access to his full record.

138KM is 85MPH. That's still way over the speed limit.

 

[airportwoman]

It takes a lot of time to learn about human motivations and behaviours. Decades. I think it's also very hard at age 20 to realize that people do not think of right and wrong in the same way you do.

And much-older predators know this, and go for people like that because an older person, even just a few years older, can see through them.

Anecdote: When I was in college, I worked with a guy like this. He was in his 30s and working at a restaurant but he wasn't in school himself, and claimed he was in a band (which wasn't entirely false; he got some people together and booked a gig at a bar; some of our co-workers went and said they were awful). You could tell who had reached the age of 20, because anyone older than that could tell the guy was a walking full-of-it. Under 20, they thought he was the coolest dude on earth, both men and women.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

For people who are writing that they hope that he is arrested at his arrangement on Thursday, I do not understand why law-enforcement needs to wait until Thursday, that is a lot of time. I think he should be pulled in now! I am actually really scared and worried for this family.

Agree, especially since it was in part the testimony of the young kids that led to 1st degree indictment.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

P

I read about one where exactly this happened but they said that the air con was on and the engine running and when Mum checked, she said that the engine had cut off and so had the air con. Transpired that the child had been left for 4 hours as mum argued with her BF and then kissed and made up and went to the bedroom to become intimate and when she got back to her car in the driveway, she had locked her car keys inside too, so rather than smashing the glass she got a ride to her sisters to pick up her spare key. By the time they got the poor child out, she had been inside for 4 hours. Absolutely tragic and in these circumstances that I write, that’s not one that there can be any excuse for!

Children so often pay terrible prices so the dysfunctional adults in their lives can keep the drama and chaos games going. Terribly sad IMHO.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Was just about to post ALL of this after reading the transcript provided by @Allabouttrial.

IMO every single point you made is so valid and I would write the exact same.

Therefore I won’t rehash it all but it really sticks in my gut—-leaving his children out of it just for a second, does the judge genuinely believe a man driving drunk at excessive speed is not a danger to the community at large?

Please.

Therefore it must be what @MsMarple mentioned—-likely the judge was, at the time, unaware of all his collateral dangerous practices.

Yet I wonder…they were able to upgrade his charge from Murder Two to Murder One, so why couldn’t the judge have him hauled into custody once that happened? By now she certainly knows his other perilous exploits, since we are merely observers and yet we know.

Befuddled and furious here.

JMO

The grand jury indictment did not involve a judge, I don't think, and no one has acted before there is another hearing. So dangerous. JMOOO.

 

[AislingGray18]

Yes, I understand. I am very sorry and I wish that his kids find the way to get clean. I hope time will help, but it is a huge trauma. For everyone.

"I had loved him so long" did strike a chord with me, though.

I wonder if we can't leave because it is hard to walk away from our shattered
dreams.

When I was around 20, I met that person - not an alcoholic, gainfully employed, very far from a loser. Lying with abandon but senselessly (for example, about his birthday) was his hobby. A broken relationship was a small price I had to pay given what he did to others. So in six months time, on finding out that his birthday fell on a totally different month and year, I merely shrugged my shoulders. To the me of today, such people look like inflatable toys - there is a dark rag lying around, but with the attempts of the "community" and the parents and the people around, he is inflated into a beautiful dragon.

But, I still hung around for a couple of months after he proposed, bought a ring and ultimately, did nothing. He didn't even break the engagement. As I later found out, it was his typical modus operandi. (He proposed to another girl, before me, and when she went on a vacation, he married someone else). Why did I stick around? Well, i was 20, much younger than him and such people are uncommon. But mostly, i stayed because the image of our greatest future together was hard to walk away from. To admit to something worse than, "I have bet on a wrong card", to say "that card was fake", takes strength.

So I think, ES met CS in her 20es, and I bet he was a liar but tried his best to pretend for a long time, and in fact, they did have real things binding them. Maybe, just maybe, she is going through the terrible revelation, that her partner of twelve years is a sham figure? It must be hard to realize it so late in life, and at such a cost. So I am not blaming her, just waiting.

I still can't find a name for this pathological lying. No known medical syndrome explains it. In my BF, it was serious - crying, he'd tell me about someone dying in a car accident, and later, I'd accidentally meet that person, very much alive. I think I understand what prompted him to start yet another story (insecurity), but why stick with it knowing that sooner or later you'd have to admit to one more lie? All I know is that he would fly under the radar for any known diagnosis.

When you said:
I wonder if we can't leave because it is hard to walk away from our shattered
dreams.
That hit me. I know for me, I met my ex as young teens, and i fully admit i took him back 20 years later, based on those shattered dreams. Ouch. Some of your other points hit too. IDK how to explain being with an overt narcissist is like, but I think you get it . It's extreme narcissism.

I think Mom here was trapped in that

 

[Herat]

138KM is 85MPH. That's still way over the speed limit.

Why would an American in the USA driving an American car refer to a speed in KM/hr rather than MPH.

 

[al66pine]

Judge's Order?

I'm really kind of shocked to read the judge's statement ....
"This is the kind of offense that is highly unlikely to recurr" ([/I] But he is here precisely precisely because it recurred over and over)

snipped for focus @Herat Addressing only one point.
Initial arrest was Murder 2 & child abuse.*

When judge said/wrote
"kind of offense that is highly unlikely" to recur
I believe judge MAY have meant that Father is unlikely to cause another death/commit another homicide.
Not saying I agree w line of reasoning, but appears judge may have focussed specifically on the M-2 offense being not likely to recur.

To justify releasing CS, judge seems to have glossed over the lesser child abuse charge, unless there's more to the order that I've missed.

Now w info released since the order & the M-1 announcement, we're all wearing 20/20 hindsight glasses. Hoping the judge will put on a pair too.

ETA: Seems likely imo if given a chance by ES or if opportunity somehow arises that CS may commit ChAbuse again, while out, perhaps locking dau's in car, or DUI/DWI, or other actions.

imo
____________________
* July 12 Daily Mail
"Police on Friday morning charged Scholtes with second degree murder and child abuse..."

 

[mickey2942]

Well. CS is in a lot of trouble here. Thursday should be interesting. Is there even a bond available for first degree murder? I am surprised that there wasn't a bench warrant issued based on the grand jury results.

,Dad of girl who died in hot car now faces first-degree murder charge

 

[MsMarple]

P

I read about one where exactly this happened but they said that the air con was on and the engine running and when Mum checked, she said that the engine had cut off and so had the air con. Transpired that the child had been left for 4 hours as mum argued with her BF and then kissed and made up and went to the bedroom to become intimate and when she got back to her car in the driveway, she had locked her car keys inside too, so rather than smashing the glass she got a ride to her sisters to pick up her spare key. By the time they got the poor child out, she had been inside for 4 hours. Absolutely tragic and in these circumstances that I write, that’s not one that there can be any excuse for!

Ugh, I saw the video and LE interviews of that case. Another one where the adults make absolutely awful decisions then are shocked when a child dies as a result. It makes me question the value of humanity sometimes.

In this case the father CS also seemed to be surprised that his daughter died though I really can’t understand why. IMO it was more like he realized just how long he left Parker in the car when his wife arrived home and attempted to convince her he thought she was in the house or something.
JMO

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Well. CS is in a lot of trouble here. Thursday should be interesting. Is there even a bond available for first degree murder? I am surprised that there wasn't a bench warrant issued based on the grand jury results.

,Dad of girl who died in hot car now faces first-degree murder charge

I would sleep better if there had been! This guy scares me.

 

[al66pine]

Functions of Judges?

He also has other criminal charges in courts in the area, at least one sealed that is not too old....
Shouldn't the judge have checked if another child had been removed from the home?

snipped for focus @LifeIsAMystery Only addressing one point.

Generally, LE /prosecutor presents evidence to the judge at these hearings, and the judge's role is to, well, to judge, not to investigate.

 

[Normancita]

What kinds of actions, decisions and determinations might be made at Thursday’s hearing?

 

[al66pine]

Why would an American in the USA driving an American car refer to a speed in KM/hr rather than MPH.

@Herat I'll try this ^ Q. Take your pick.

A1: Because cognitively impaired (DUI, DWI, legal or illegal drugs?) American driver looked at speedometer needle at KMpH mark instead of MPH mark, & in talking/texting w spouse, driver referred to 138.
(IIUC speedometers in most cars display both MpH & KMpH.)

A2: Because, despite driving at legal speeds at all times or maybe faster, but more slowly than either 138 MpH or KMpH, American driver LIED to spouse about driving 138 to antagonize spouse. May or may not have specified MpH or KMpH.

A3: Perhaps driver did not refer to any speed but SPOUSE referred to 138 because she saw Honda's speed info from a monitoring app (posters mentioned app like Life360 or similar?). Maybe spouse misread it?

A4. IDK.

 

[Herat]

@Herat I'll try this ^ Q. Take your pick.

A1: Because cognitively impaired (DUI, DWI, legal or illegal drugs?) American driver looked at speedometer needle at KMpH mark instead of MPH mark, & in talking/texting w spouse, driver referred to 138.
(IIUC speedometers in most cars display both MpH & KMpH.)

A2: Because, despite driving at legal speeds at all times or maybe faster, but more slowly than either 138 MpH or KMpH, American driver LIED to spouse about driving 138 to antagonize spouse. May or may not have specified MpH or KMpH.

A3: Perhaps driver did not refer to any speed but SPOUSE referred to 138 because she saw Honda's speed info from a monitoring app (posters mentioned app like Life360 or similar?). Maybe spouse misread it?

A4. IDK.

A2 is my choice.

I think this speed is not credible ( as MPH) and he just told her that to further annoy her. I do have no doubt that he would be speeding. As the one-time owner of a very fast sports car, I contend that 138mph is totally unstable on a regular road and the Acura is not capable of that speed.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Functions of Judges?

snipped for focus @LifeIsAMystery Only addressing one point.

Generally, LE /prosecutor presents evidence to the judge at these hearings, and the judge's role is to, well, to judge, not to investigate.

Someone was derelict in their duty of evidence gathering then, a child had been removed by the state from that very home, in part for similar conduct by CS and similar failure to protect by ES. Key and very relevant evidence IMOOO.

It was really ES pleading that likely carried the day. Hopefully the little girls will not be harmed before the hearing, JMOOO.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

I agree! As far as I understand the judge could have issued an arrest warrant which would have resulted in the father getting hauled in. I’m not a lawyer of course but I think the DA would have to write the warrant and the judge would sign.

Maybe it was just easier to keep the date since once arrested CS would have to be arraigned within 24 hours which might have complicated court scheduling?

But IMO everyone thinks the father will be controlled by his doctor wife and therefore don’t see any potential danger in allowing him around the family.
JMO

Not sure the judge who presided over the bond hearing will be involved in an ongoing way, in many places they are not a trial judge also.

Agree that the judge may have thought of ES as protective, CPS, oldest and Parker and the surviving kids, not to mention her own texts, say otherwise.