Arizona Dad Whose Daughter, 2, Died in Hot Car While He Searched for Porn Is Found Dead Ahead of Sentencing

An Arizona man who had pleaded guilty to killing his 2-year-old daughter after she was left in a hot car was found dead on Nov. 5, according to Maricopa County Coroner records.

Authorities identified the deceased as 38-year-old Christopher Scholtes, whose cause of death remains under investigation. An autopsy is pending, and results are not expected until early 2026.

Phoenix Police Department Sgt. Brian Bower said that officers discovered Scholtes’s body after responding to a call around 5:22 a.m. The Pima County Attorney’s Office has not yet released a statement regarding his death.

Scholtes’s death occurred on the very day he was scheduled to surrender himself following a court appearance. He was expected to remain in custody until his sentencing, originally set for Nov. 2.

Just weeks earlier, Scholtes had surprised many by pleading guilty to murder for the death of his toddler daughter in a parked car—days before his trial was to begin. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors said he faced 20 to 30 years in prison without the possibility of early release. Had he gone to trial, Scholtes could have faced life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

According to court filings, Scholtes was arrested after leaving his youngest child in the car on July 9, 2024, while he remained inside the house playing video games. The complaint also alleged he spent a few minutes searching for pornography on his PlayStation during that time, though a judge later ruled that detail inadmissible at trial.

When Scholtes’s wife arrived home about three hours later, she found their daughter unresponsive inside the car. Investigators reported that the interior temperature had reached 109 degrees that afternoon.

Body camera footage captured Scholtes admitting that he had left his daughter in the car. He told officers that he left the air conditioning running because she had fallen asleep, then went inside the house—and forgot she was there. The complaint stated he knew the car’s engine automatically shut off after 30 minutes, disabling the air conditioning.

During later interviews, the couple’s two surviving daughters, ages 6 and 9, allegedly told investigators that their father had previously left them alone in the car. A text message from Scholtes’s wife sent as their daughter was being rushed to the hospital echoed that concern: “I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you?”

After his arrest, Scholtes was released on bail under the condition that he not be left alone with children. The court later granted him permission to travel to Hawaii with his wife and their two surviving daughters before trial.

Scholtes is survived by his wife and their two children. His attorney did not respond to requests for comment.