A doctor’s husband left his two-year-old daughter who died in a hot car while playing computer games, still with his wife – they are now heading to Hawaii.
Christopher Scholtes, 37, was charged with first-degree murder in Marana, Arizona in July last year after taking a nap in the 190f warm fire.
But the court just allowed him to go on vacation to Maui with his doctor’s wife Erika and the couple’s two surviving daughters.
News of the court order first reported by Kold suggests that despite a horrible tragedy that prosecutors had been a homicide, the couple’s marriage remained intact.
Scholtes left his Acura run on air conditioning, but he allegedly lost time while racing the PlayStation and shutting down the vehicle.
The father faced a possible death penalty after refusing a plea agreement last month, and has been released on bail shortly after being arrested and applied for vacation.
His attorneys asked the court to change his bail terms and despite allegations against him, they allowed holidays to Maui from May 1 to 9.
Erika Scholtes stood beside her husband and even defended him in court.
Christopher Scholtes, 37, was allowed to spend a Hawaiian family vacation with his wife Erika and two surviving daughters
Parker Scholtes, 2, died in a hot car in front of her home after staying there for three hours in the heat of 190f
Judge Kimberly Ortiz approved the request, under severe opposition from prosecutors, under conditions where he kept in touch with pretrial services outside Arizona.
The order added: “The defendant should further contact with the child without supervision.”
Local TV station 13 News Neither of the dogs were found in Scholtes House this week and a babysitter watching family members.
Erika and Scholtes spent their holidays a year before Parker’s death – posting about their adventures on social media.
They skied in Banff last February, their oldest daughter towed and went to Cancun with the entire family last March.
The couple was also two in June last year, Seattle in October 2023 and Sedona in June 2023.
Last year in court, the allegations against Scholtes escalated from second-degree murder to first-degree murder. He later rejected a plea agreement to reduce it again
Scholtes’ two other nine and five-year-old children told police that Scholtes regularly left all three siblings in the car
Scholtes will face a 10-day trial on September 15, but has pushed it back to October.
He rejected a plea agreement that would have lowered his charges to second-degree murder and was sentenced to jail for up to 25 years.
Instead, he will face a potential execution of life after a cell or a possible conviction.
Scholtes told police he left Parker in the car seat inside the car, the engine was running and the air conditioning because he didn’t want to wake her up.
He claimed she was there less than an hour after returning home, but CCTV footage showed she was in direct sunlight for more than three hours.
He allegedly knew that based on previous experience, the car would automatically close in about 30 minutes.
Scholtes’s two other daughters, who were 9 and 5, said their father habitually left all three children in the car without anyone’s care.
Scholtes, 37, left his two-year-old daughter (along with her depicted as a newborn) behind the train at 109f, when
Erika Scholtes, 35, works as an anesthesiologist at the same hospital and her daughter was taken to
Police outside the house in Marana, north of Tucson, Arizona, while they were investigating the scene Tuesday night. Parker is left behind a blue Honda Acura SUV in the back of a police video
On the day Parker died, they told police their father, “distracted by playing games and putting his food down.”
Police claimed that the camera also showed Scholtes never went out to check Parker until his wife came home and asked where she was.
Erika, an anesthesiologist at the hospital where Parker was pronounced dead, returned home at 4.08pm, asked where her daughter was and found her in the car.
She performed CPR on Parker until medical staff arrived and drove her to the Banner University Medical Center Tucson.
When Parker was taken to the hospital, Erika texted: “I told you not to leave them in the car, how many times did I tell you.”
She later added: “We lost her and she was perfect.”
Scholtes replied: “Baby, sorry! What should I do. I killed our kids, it’s not true.
The shamed dad travels with his wife Erika Scholtes, who stands beside him and even defends him in court, their two surviving daughters
During his first court hearing, Erika called for support to her husband and called Parker’s death a “big mistake.”
“It’s a big mistake, and I don’t think it means him,” she said.
Shocking police agency footage captures the moment when the first responder frantically tries to save Parker after arriving at the house.
Police and paramedics desperately tried to revive the child as Scholtes panickedly rhythmically around his house.
