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

[BrownRice]

I can't believe he is out on a first degree murder charge with only a $25,000 bail amount. Considering he is facing minimum 25 years in prison "if" found guilty.

And the text messages, fact he was drinking and watching while his baby daughter was trapped in a car seat, in a car, she couldn't get out of....completely helpless and dependent on her caregiver, who was inside a nice house with air conditioning on a 108° day.

This guy didn't even have a job. There is no excuse for this behavior. Give him a pass for Attention Deficit Disorder? Possibly, if he hadn't been drinking!!!!

This guy does not want a jury trial in Tucson. It would be the fastest jury return on record. Just saying.

If his defense is he has ADHD or any other health issue, that should not matter. If you are a caregiver to small children, you are either competent to do the job or hire someone who is. Leave notes, set alarms etc. This was deliberate. He didn’t even forget her. He literally left her there.

 

[mickey2942]

If his defense is he has ADHD or any other health issue, that should not matter. If you are a caregiver to small children, you are either competent to do the job or hire someone who is. Leave notes, set alarms etc. This was deliberate. He didn’t even forget her. He literally left her there.

Agreed. I wonder if he really wanted a boy. Three girls?

 

[iamshadow21]

Agreed. I wonder if he really wanted a boy. Three girls?

Four. Including the eldest.

 

[OneLove]

Four. Including the eldest.

Except he lost all custody of his oldest due to abuse and leaving her locked in roasting cars. Sadly, his new wife defended his actions. Apparently she still defends his homicidally narcissistic and addicted (lack of) character. How very very sad for their children who are in full knowledge that he murdered their sister and was in the habit of locking them unattended in (roasting) cars and they stated as much to the investigators. I can't begin to imagine what that unmotherly mother is even thinking putting that murderous slime ahead of her own children's welfare. Smh.

 

[LittleSeaTree]

Evidence ruled admissible at Tuesday's hearing included texts between Scholtes and his wife Erika allegedly revealing this was a pattern of behavior 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.'
[snip]
Other texts between the couple showed Erika increasingly furious about her husband letting his drinking put the children's lives at risk.

'You haven't shown me you can stop putting the girls in danger or not treat me badly,' she wrote on March 11 last year.

'Even yesterday, you drove home drunk with two minors. You drink to excess every time. You can never have just one. I've been asking for three years to cut back and it's actually gotten worse.'

Scholtes promised to 'find relief and happiness elsewhere' but Erika countered that the last time he did that he merely replaced booze with cocaine.

'At least this one is legal, right?' he replied.

'I'm a piece of addict and I need to get addicted to healthy things like running again.'

But just ten days later she raged at him for allegedly driving 138mph after drinking, with Parker in the car, calling both ' decisions'.

'You hate me,' he replied. 'And she was sleeping, it's fine.'
Dad 'watched X-rated videos while daughter, two, died in hot car'

YES! I am glad this will all be admitted and the jury will hear about all of these exchanges. It's BS IMO that this mother hasn't been charged with at the very least child neglect. She continued to leave her children in harms way as evidenced by the text exchanges.

How is he that much of a moron that he thinks the fact that she was sleeping makes any difference whatsoever. He’s useless as a human. IMO

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I wonder exact how much of these texts will be seen by a jury. And the evidence of what he did that particular day at the gas station prior to leaving her in the car. Normally if substance abuse contributes to the death of a child that's a large part of the criminal case, IMO.

 

[Arkay]

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.'This enrages me, from that day to this.

This enrages me so much, from that day until this and going forward.

WHAT MOTHER HAS TO TELL HER HUSBAND MORE THAN ONCE TO STOP LEAVING HELPLESS CHILDREN IN THE CAR ALONE???

The INSTANT you learn of this behavior, you DO SOMETHING!

Your husband is a drunk driver? Or drove on cocaine? With your little kids in the car? Leaving them locked in a car in the blazing Arizona summer? You know this but you just let it continue?

I know she didn’t do it and he did. But he wasn’t ever going to stop. His oldest daughter suffered through this and grew old enough to tell.

He wouldn’t stop but Erika had multiple avenues to save her children. But hey, let’s just leave Parker in the car for hours all alone until she perished from heat and suffocated, most likely. Sure, I mean how can anyone expect Daddy to give up his habits when there are unsavory things he could be doing instead, right?

JMO I despise them both.

 

[OneLove]

How is he that much of a moron that he thinks the fact that she was sleeping makes any difference whatsoever. He’s useless as a human. IMO

Brain rot from 1) alcoholism 2)substance abuse, cocaine abuse was specifically cited by his codependent accomplice and 3) whatever factors predisposed him to develop pathological infantile narcissism

Of course, passengers "being asleep" while doing 138mph while drunk is not an excuse anyone other than a mentally challenged blithering nonhumanoid would even attempt to make, especially concerning his own dependent flesh and blood.

But for SOME REASON, he believed the person he said this to would actually BUY that and even pet his poor ruffled feathers, maybe even take him on a Hawaiian vacation AFTER he murdered her 2 year old daughter. Hair on fire over here...

 

[LittleSeaTree]

Brain rot from 1) alcoholism 2)substance abuse, cocaine abuse was specifically cited by his codependent accomplice and 3) whatever factors predisposed him to develop pathological infantile narcissism

Of course, passengers "being asleep" while doing 138mph while drunk is not an excuse anyone other than a mentally challenged blithering nonhumanoid would even attempt to make, especially concerning his own dependent flesh and blood.

But for SOME REASON, he believed the person he said this to would actually BUY that and even pet his poor ruffled feathers, maybe even take him on a Hawaiian vacation AFTER he murdered her 2 year old daughter. Hair on fire over here...

Perfect, ALL of that!

 

[LadyL]

Well, is anyone really surprised that this man was not only drinking but watching ? And likely regularly, while he silenced the kids by shutting them up in the car or inside a room of the house

His wife knew. She's known all along. She's a failure as a parent, too.

we knew this all along so no, not surprised
I can't remember if it was from a credible source

 

[LadyL]

Typical for DM to include the spouse in the headline and photos

However, in this case, I do think it is relevant that she had knowledge of his regular practice of using the car to babysit the children and his record of speeding with the children in the car.

I honestly don't feel that she should be excluded from scrutiny. Instead of fixing the problem with her husband by having a dedicated daycare provider for them in the safety of their home, she allowed his highly dangerous behaviours to continue.

I'd think she knew very well about his day-drinking too, likely he smelled of alcohol when she got home, and there would be bottles around that weren't that well hidden.

totally agree
she should be held responsible as well

 

[LadyL]

Evidence ruled admissible at Tuesday's hearing included texts between Scholtes and his wife Erika allegedly revealing this was a pattern of behavior 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.'
[snip]
Other texts between the couple showed Erika increasingly furious about her husband letting his drinking put the children's lives at risk.

'You haven't shown me you can stop putting the girls in danger or not treat me badly,' she wrote on March 11 last year.

'Even yesterday, you drove home drunk with two minors. You drink to excess every time. You can never have just one. I've been asking for three years to cut back and it's actually gotten worse.'

Scholtes promised to 'find relief and happiness elsewhere' but Erika countered that the last time he did that he merely replaced booze with cocaine.

'At least this one is legal, right?' he replied.

'I'm a piece of addict and I need to get addicted to healthy things like running again.'

But just ten days later she raged at him for allegedly driving 138mph after drinking, with Parker in the car, calling both ' decisions'.

'You hate me,' he replied. 'And she was sleeping, it's fine.'
Dad 'watched X-rated videos while daughter, two, died in hot car'

YES! I am glad this will all be admitted and the jury will hear about all of these exchanges. It's BS IMO that this mother hasn't been charged with at the very least child neglect. She continued to leave her children in harms way as evidenced by the text exchanges.

she should've kicked him out the first time he did any of it - driving drunk with them in the car, speeding with them in the car, leaving them in the car

 

[snarast]

totally agree
she should be held responsible as well

This. I think she should - to a lesser extent.

EDIT: just read the texts

She should be charged. I’m hoping she’ll make a deal - testify against him or have your kids taken away to parents who care enough to prevent what - from the texts - is a near certain disaster waiting to happen.

There’s passive aggressive DV here of course - but if you as an MD find your husband doing things that more than just jeopardises your children. Things that would make you report your neighbours if you saw them doing it to their children. And he has done it 10 times on record - which means hundreds of times in reality.

Ignoring such behaviour should be punishable.

And he does it because he is bored and seems to have a dopamine imbalance.

She seems addicted to him.

IMHOO

 

[Charlot123]

And after all this, the court allows him to go to another state (Hawaii) for a family vacation with the two surviving children.

I'm really confused as to why he is getting all the breaks and his wife is not being held accountable for her failure to provide a secure daytime care situation for the children when she knew he was putting them in danger.

Not to defend the wife, but he may be one of these hopeless cases when any decision would have negative consequences. If she hired a nanny, he’d hit on a nanny, and to put all girls into a daycare would mean, he’d be blacking out in the evenins. The safest choice would be to put him into a dual diagnosis rehab and pay mom to help her, I guess, but you can’t put anyone into a rehab against his wish.

 

[OneLove]

Not to defend the wife, but he may be one of these hopeless cases when any decision would have negative consequences. If she hired a nanny, he’d hit on a nanny, and to put all girls into a daycare would mean, he’d be blacking out in the evenins. The safest choice would be to put him into a dual diagnosis rehab and pay mom to help her, I guess, but you can’t put anyone into a rehab against his wish.

Agree on the hitting on a nanny. And most unlikely he'd consent to rehab, especially since he was *still* getting away with excuses like "but they were *asleep* while I was speeding drunk". Ugh. He seems the type to just find another sucker-mommy type to keep him housed, fed, clothed, drunk, and with lots of toys for gaming and . Makes you wonder why she was so desperate, doesnt it? What was going on there?

 

[snarast]

Agree on the hitting on a nanny. And most unlikely he'd consent to rehab, especially since he was *still* getting away with excuses like "but they were *asleep* while I was speeding drunk". Ugh. He seems the type to just find another sucker-mommy type to keep him housed, fed, clothed, drunk, and with lots of toys for gaming and . Makes you wonder why she was so desperate, doesnt it? What was going on there?

We see a gorgeous MD.

She has some kind of dependence on him that is all in her head.

Just. Let. Go.

IMHOO

 

[Kittypoo]

Yes! You’d think at a minimum his DOCTOR wife should have either stopped his behavior or brought in a hired nanny to care for the girls.

If ES had observed similar behavior in a patient she would have been legally obligated to report it as a mandated reporter. So why is she not legally obligated to report her alcohol guzzling, adult entertainment watching, shoplifting husband who knowingly left vulnerable children alone in a car - on numerous occasions no less?
JMO

I think actually the known drink driving and excessive speeding is an even worse crime (if that’s possible) as here he’s also putting the general public at high risk of death if he crashes. 130+ mph!! Wtf
I would have thought this could have been easily proven within timelines from her text messages and the corresponding gps location and camera footage.
IMO

 

[Kittypoo]

This enrages me so much, from that day until this and going forward.

WHAT MOTHER HAS TO TELL HER HUSBAND MORE THAN ONCE TO STOP LEAVING HELPLESS CHILDREN IN THE CAR ALONE???

The INSTANT you learn of this behavior, you DO SOMETHING!

Your husband is a drunk driver? Or drove on cocaine? With your little kids in the car? Leaving them locked in a car in the blazing Arizona summer? You know this but you just let it continue?

I know she didn’t do it and he did. But he wasn’t ever going to stop. His oldest daughter suffered through this and grew old enough to tell.

He wouldn’t stop but Erika had multiple avenues to save her children. But hey, let’s just leave Parker in the car for hours all alone until she perished from heat and suffocated, most likely. Sure, I mean how can anyone expect Daddy to give up his habits when there are unsavory things he could be doing instead, right?

JMO I despise them both.

She could have put her career on hold (as many of us women do) for her children and sent HIS sorry arse out to work. She could have hired a nanny or enrolled in nursery.
Unfortunately this would have impacted on their instagram perfect lifestyle, fancy cars, exotic holidays several times a year and she/they made the wrong decision.
Dont get me started on that useless addict lump of a husband CS.
IMO

 

[pukasonqo2]

https://people.com/dad-murder-hot-car-death-daughter-christopher-scholtes-🤬🤬🤬🤬-11830416

Too bad. That would have been the nail in the coffin for CS.

The judge ruled that the jury cannot hear that CS searched for p@rn on the computer while his 2 year old daughter was trapped in a hot car. I don't understand why his wife went to Hawaii with him. Beyond me to understand this.

Some people have a fixation with the idea of remaining a family regardless of how damaging or dysfunctional the family actually is

 

[steeltowngirl]

Not to defend the wife, but he may be one of these hopeless cases when any decision would have negative consequences. If she hired a nanny, he’d hit on a nanny, and to put all girls into a daycare would mean, he’d be blacking out in the evenins. The safest choice would be to put him into a dual diagnosis rehab and pay mom to help her, I guess, but you can’t put anyone into a rehab against his wish.

The safest choice was to leave him and take their kids with her. Let him figure out how to sort it out. She’s a doctor! She had the means to support herself and her kids. Single, divorced and widowed moms do it all the time.

JMO