GUILTY Arizona girl, 2, left in car by father on 109-degree day and is found dead #2 (guilty plea, father found dead 5 November 2025 before sentencing)

[DBLG]

From what I can gather (and I was able to easily find) there is a separate structure on the property (although small). Probably intended as a workout space since it has a small wall unit AC (not connected to central air). Maybe at one time it was the shed. I would imagine he was found in the early morning hours in this separate living area. I was busy all day and when I saw this pop up on the news page I could not move my fingers fast enough to get to this Websleuths forum. All JMO

 

[LadyL]

BREAKING: Christopher Scholtes, Marana father who pleaded guilty to the murder of his daughter for leaving her in a hot car, has died. That’s according to Maricopa County Coroner records. He was supposed to be arrested per plea deal today. @KVOA

well I hate to say it but this is the best outcome for his wife and daughters ... now they can heal and won't be having to visit him in prison IMO

 

[LadyL]

I also am not at all surprised. I expected he would a) run, or b) end himself.

But men such as he, IMO usually take their families with them when thy resign themselves to option b. Praying for the girls, that they are safe, that his selfish to the end butt didn't unalive himself in front of them, and that they get to move forward with love, consistency, and emotional support.

He truly is the most cowardly of defendants. He left his family to clean up his mess, true to form. Now ES is left to deal with the civil suit filed against them alone.

he would rather they suffer for life

 

[Charlot123]

The other point is that this means that either Chris and Erika were not sleeping in the same room the night of Nov 4 or early morning Nov 5

OR, that she found him and did not alert authorities or make a 911 call until the morning.

I somewhat doubt it. First, she seemed to go by the book when she found Parker. I expect her to behave the same way. I don’t think she is involved in any way. Of course, it falls on her, again, the funerals, the papers, the kids. I hope she’ll manage.

 

[Arkay]

well I hate to say it but this is the best outcome for his wife and daughters ... now they can heal and won't be having to visit him in prison

Yes, I think it’s better, maybe, for the daughters, at least ultimately. But more likely down the road.

In the more immediate timeframe, I’m afraid it will be confusing and upsetting. They lost a sister and a father and probably are still young enough to feel grief rather than relief over his death.

For the eldest sister who sued Chris, I remember she said she’d hoped he would be imprisoned and that they’d throw away the key. For her this may help her along the path to healing and some kind of closure, although she is now literally an orphan.

God bless that mother of her friend who’s been caring for this daughter. She’s nearly 18 now, who knows what path she will choose when she’s no longer a minor.

Jmo

 

[Arkay]

That old song, “Goodbye to You,” by Scandal with Patty Smyth, is rolling through my head.

Everyone could only wish Erika would have gathered herself together, asked herself as in the lyrics, “how can I have loved someone like what I see in you,” and booted that madman from her life, her children’s lives, and if she were any kind of woman, protected her stepdaughter, too.

JMO

 

[iamshadow21]

he would rather they suffer for life

Every single choice he made was selfish and revolved around himself.

I truly believe that this is one of the tiny fraction of suicides that are truly a selfish act. He wasn't grief stricken, or ashamed, or thinking they'd be better off without him. He just didn't want to have to exist in prison, an environment where nobody would be catering to his every whim, he'd have to do things he didn't like and be around people he didn't want to be around.

It's a myth that narcissistic people love themselves too much to kill themselves. When they do choose to kill themselves, it's generally successful and because they're doing the mortality version of taking their bat and ball and going home because they can't have their way.

I am certain that his last thought was triumphant, with absolutely no consideration for those who would find him or be grieved at his passing. He would have considered this winning.

MOO

 

[snarast]

May God protect his surviving daughters from further childhood traumas.

 

[iamshadow21]

Does anyone know if he gets a legal clean slate because he killed himself prior to the appeals process? I hope not. It should stand for all time that he was responsible for killing Parker.

 

[elliefant]

Does anyone know if he gets a legal clean slate because he killed himself prior to the appeals process? I hope not. It should stand for all time that he was responsible for killing Parker.

I think that only applies when somebody has been given leave to appeal but the appeal hasn’t been heard yet doesn’t it?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

IMO no one knew he would do this. Maybe he chose this location because he just doesn't care or maybe to hurt his wife one more time, because he has no care/respect for women (evident by the videos he chose to watch and maybe alleged cheating). But the location at home shows no one else knew.

I still consider everyone else a victim, including his wife and his mother. Sometimes people "love someone too much" and the denial just goes way too far, as long as that person is around.

 

[iamshadow21]

IMO no one knew he would do this. Maybe he chose this location because he just doesn't care or maybe to hurt his wife one more time, because he has no care/respect for women (evident by the videos he chose to watch and maybe alleged cheating). But the location at home shows no one else knew.

I still consider everyone else a victim, including his wife and his mother. Sometimes people "love someone too much" and the denial just goes way too far, as long as that person is around.

No one knew, maybe, but it didn't take a psychic to predict. We were all saying that one way or another, he wasn't going to show, and a peek at other social media sites shows they were pretty much all saying what we were. And yet, he spent a year at home, in the house with the other children he abused, holidaying in Hawaii and getting gifted PlayStations and cars, rather than in jail with all the other people awaiting trial for murder.

He should have been in custody, on suicide watch, from the moment the plea deal was official. There's no way around this, the judge is responsible for not requiring it. Yes, people still suicide in prison, but there would have been a lot more people watching him twenty four hours a day to prevent that outcome.

MOO

 

[katikaboom]

Wow, CS’s older daughter sued both her dad and his wife in October.

Which is likely a large part of the reason he suddenly pled guilty. Hope the daughter continues with the lawsuit against ES

 

[ChatteringBirds]

No one knew, maybe, but it didn't take a psychic to predict.

I agree, and I assume his relatives all actually worried he might do this.

 

[Tortoise]

It seems obvious what his plan was now, looking back to how he rejected the first deal with less prison time, but then agreed to a higher tariff.

 

[kityy]

hello, i'm very much curious, perhaps the parents were @lchoholic and @busive so they were quite tipsy, unaware of their actions. perhaps her father was a little... unstable. having only shown regret when arrested, not when he realised HIS OWN KID DIED BECAUSE OF HIM.

 

[SMK777]

 

[Ladyotm]

Wow! Many of you called it. I felt he wouldn't show up for sentencing, just not like this. I share some of the same thoughts as many of you.

had she not bought into his, woe is me, victim mentality and ES's claims that his being in custody would be detrimental to their surviving girls, CS would still be alive to serve his sentence and experience justice on earth. Ridiculous. Watch ES turn around and blame the rest of the world and the court for her having gotten her way when arguing that nonsense.

I don't understand mom's thinking. Did she really believe it was an accident? What about him did she know that we didn't? Will she now consider him not so great? Is her grief compounded? Is she mentally stable? How is she dealing with this mentally? Her past actions shows she may not make the best decisions when it comes to the children, yet put up with a lot to "keep her family together". Can anyone be sure she won't attempt to take herself and the remaining daughters to " a better place, to be with Parker and daddy"?
I hope that she receives any mental health intervention she may need. Surely, she will need the support of other caring individuals in her circle right now.
I also wonder if there were any investigations and consequences at work, resulting from knowing her husband was engaging in this dangerous and deadly behavior. Did CPS also investigate her for her responsibility in keeping the children safe?

I’m actually shocked by this. I thought that he would run and that he thought too highly of himself to take himself out. We can be sure that his final act included no remorse for Parker; he was terrified of going to prison and he took the coward’s way out. Selfish to the end.

All JMO.

Exactly! Feeling sorry for himself only. Otherwise he would have admitted guilt, not dragged this out, and potentially subjected his young daughters to testifying against him.

I am fairly sure he took his own life, the reporting wouldn’t be so sparse if there was another possibility. This is surely not guilt for Parker — had he felt sorry, he would have taken his own life much sooner, as other parents who have lost their children in this type of incident have done — but instead, recognition that the fun was fully over.

You can’t shoplift beers, watch p*rn*gr*phy, or even have a shower whenever you want, not in the slammer. Chris’s party was finished and so was he.

I do hope these girls are surrounded by love and receive all the support and care they deserve and need.

One day they will be old enough to find out the full story of what happened and I do hope they are psychologically equipped to deal with it.

They should be and remain the top priority in this.

Still wondering about the judge's lack of insight and treatment of other defendents in similar positions.

 

[iamshadow21]

I think that only applies when somebody has been given leave to appeal but the appeal hasn’t been heard yet doesn’t it?

Looks like it might stand: https://law.justia.com/codes/arizona/title-13/section-13-106/

So, that's good.

 

[Rosydecember]

I don't understand mom's thinking. Did she really believe it was an accident? What about him did she know that we didn't? Will she now consider him not so great? Is her grief compounded? Is she mentally stable? How is she dealing with this mentally? Her past actions shows she may not make the best decisions when it comes to the children, yet put up with a lot to "keep her family together". Can anyone be sure she won't attempt to take herself and the remaining daughters to " a better place, to be with Parker and daddy"?
I hope that she receives any mental health intervention she may need. Surely, she will need the support of other caring individuals in her circle right now.

SFFBM — very well said and extremely legitimate concerns.

Have we heard confirmation at all that ES and the girls are alive? I know a search for death records yielded nothing, but still slightly holding my breath…. His mom could have found and called 911 instead of ES. Hope it wasn’t the girls…. Maybe we can try to foia that information.

I’m hoping this gives ES a chance to breathe for the first time in a long time and that she’s not now suicidal herself. I thought I read awhile back that she was no longer speaking with her mother… i hope that changes now. She and her girls need her more than ever I’m sure. MOO