New information has surfaced in the case of an Arizona father accused in the death of his 2-year-old daughter, who was allegedly left in a sweltering car for more than three hours.
Christopher Scholtes, 38, is set to face trial later this month in Pima County on charges of first-degree murder and intentional child abuse connected to the July 9, 2024, incident.
According to court documents, Scholtes — a father of three — allegedly forgot his youngest daughter in the vehicle after returning home from running errands. Prosecutors say he went inside and spent hours playing video games while the child remained strapped in her car seat.
A new court filing also claims Scholtes used his PlayStation to search for pornography during that time, according to a motion for admissibility submitted by prosecutors.
However, Judge Kimberly Ortiz ruled that prosecutors cannot present evidence or testimony about the alleged search during trial. In her order, she wrote that “the State is precluded from any eliciting testimony in its case in chief regarding the Defendant looking for pornography on the PlayStation before [his daughter’s] body is discovered.”
Witnesses called to testify are also barred from mentioning the alleged two-minute PlayStation search on July 9, 2024.
Earlier this year, Judge Ortiz granted Scholtes permission to travel to Hawaii with his wife and two surviving daughters before his trial. That decision came shortly after he rejected a plea deal and entered not guilty pleas to both charges.
Police say Scholtes admitted to leaving his daughter in the car when officers arrived at his Marana home after his wife found the child unresponsive inside the vehicle.
According to the criminal complaint, the toddler had been in the car for more than three hours by the time officers arrived. The internal temperature had reached 109 degrees.
Scholtes allegedly told investigators he had left the car running with the air conditioning on because the child had fallen asleep. He said he went inside to put away groceries but became distracted and forgot she was still in the car.
He also reportedly acknowledged that he knew his vehicle’s engine shuts off automatically after 30 minutes — which would have stopped the air conditioning.
Investigators further alleged that Scholtes’ two older daughters, ages 6 and 9 at the time, told authorities their father had left them alone in the car on previous occasions.
The complaint also describes a text Scholtes’ wife allegedly sent him as their youngest child was being rushed to the hospital: “I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you?”
The Pima County Attorney’s Office filed first-degree murder and intentional child abuse charges less than a month after the girl’s death.
Prosecutors had offered Scholtes a plea deal earlier this year that would have reduced the charge to second-degree murder in exchange for a guilty plea, but he declined.
His trial is scheduled to begin on October 27.
