An Arizona father who admitted leaving his two-year-old daughter to fatally overheat in a parked car was found dead in Phoenix on Wednesday morning, the day he was due to be taken into custody ahead of sentencing that could have sent him to prison for up to 30 years. Phoenix police said 38-year-old Christopher Ryan Scholtes was discovered at a home near North 7th Street and Northern Avenue at about 5 a.m. and that detectives are investigating the death as a suicide. The Pima County Attorney, Laura Conover, confirmed later that her office had been informed he “took his own life,” adding that prosecutors had expected him in court that morning to be remanded following his plea last month.
Scholtes pleaded guilty in October to second-degree murder and to intentional or knowing child abuse likely to cause death or serious physical injury, accepting a deal that set a sentencing range of 20 to 30 years of flat time, with no possibility of early release. A sentencing hearing remained scheduled for 21 November in Pima County Superior Court, officials said. The Pima County Attorney’s Office had previously stated the sentences on the two counts were to run consecutively under the plea agreement.
The case stemmed from the death of his daughter, Parker, on 9 July 2024 outside the family home in Marana, northwest of Tucson, during a day when the temperature reached roughly 109F (43C). Police and firefighters responding to the address found the child unresponsive in the back seat. She was rushed to Banner – University Medical Center but did not survive. An autopsy later recorded her body temperature at about 108.9F.
Scholtes initially told officers he had left the toddler in the vehicle with the engine running and the air conditioning on because he did not want to wake her, saying he intended to be gone 30 minutes to an hour. However, investigators obtained surveillance footage from a neighbour indicating the child remained in the car for about three hours. The timeline evidence contradicted his account of arriving home in the early afternoon; the video showed the vehicle arriving just before 1 p.m. and not moving again until later, when the child was discovered. According to investigative records summarised in local coverage, he admitted knowing the vehicle would automatically shut off after about 30 minutes.
Prosecutors have said that while Parker was strapped in the car seat outside, Scholtes spent the afternoon inside the house. Records described him watching pornography, playing video games and drinking beer. When Parker’s mother, an anaesthesiologist, returned home at around 4 p.m., she found the child unresponsive, attempted CPR and called 911. Body-camera footage from responding officers captured Scholtes pacing and calling it his “worst nightmare,” and later becoming defensive when told he could not shower and could not be left alone.
Statements gathered by police from other children in the household also pointed to a pattern of leaving youngsters unattended in vehicles. Two siblings, then aged five and nine, told investigators their father routinely left them in the car. Text messages released in the case showed Parker’s mother chastising Scholtes after the death, writing, “I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you?” He replied, “Babe, I’m sorry… Babe, our family. How could I do this? I killed our baby, this can’t be real.”
The death of the child and the subsequent court proceedings drew sustained attention across Arizona through 2024 and 2025 as the legal case developed. In March this year Scholtes rejected a plea offer that would have brought a 10- to 25-year term. With a trial looming, he later reversed course and accepted the October plea to second-degree murder and child abuse, exposing himself to a longer range but avoiding the possibility of a first-degree conviction and the harsher penalties it could carry. Under the flat-time rules described by prosecutors, any sentence imposed would have required him to serve every day.
The manner of his death left proceedings in an unusual posture on Wednesday. Prosecutors and the defence had been due in a Pima County courtroom for a hearing at which the judge was expected to order that Scholtes be taken into custody pending sentencing. Instead, the hearing was quickly vacated. In a written statement, Conover said: “We expected to be in court this morning because the father had accepted a plea agreement to second-degree murder which could have carried as much as 30 years in prison. But instead of coming in to take account for what has occurred here, we have been informed and we have confirmed that the father took his own life last night.” She added that the case remained “extraordinarily complicated” and expressed condolences “to all the loved ones who have suffered the loss of this beautiful baby girl and now another loss to his family.”
The Phoenix Police Department said detectives were conducting a death investigation and that the Maricopa County Medical Examiner would determine the cause and manner of death. ABC15 reported the medical examiner had listed Scholtes as deceased and that a report would be available after the standard review period. Police at the Phoenix scene said the call came from a residence just before dawn; they did not describe any ongoing threat and said the circumstances pointed to a self-inflicted death, with the investigation ongoing.
Court and case records set out a detailed chronology for 9 July 2024. According to investigators, the family returned home late that morning or around midday. Video reviewed by police showed the vehicle parking in the driveway shortly before 1 p.m. With the temperature climbing above 100F, the engine idled initially, but investigators said the vehicle’s systems shut down about half an hour later. The toddler remained inside, strapped into the rear car seat. Prosecutors said Scholtes stayed in the living room, communicating with his wife by text and interacting with electronics in the home. They said he later told police he expected a phone alert if the vehicle overheated or turned off, but there was no indication any such alert was received. The neighbour’s camera showed the car stationary until the child was found hours later.
The Marana Police Department’s initial reports, along with interviews conducted by county detectives, formed the backbone of the state’s case. After officers arrived that afternoon and emergency crews transported Parker, investigators separated the parents and began documenting the scene. The body-camera video recorded officers telling the father, “She’s very hot right now. We’re going to do everything we can,” while they coordinated with responders. Records show that after learning of Parker’s death, Scholtes became agitated and asked, “So I’m being treated like a murderer?” He was arrested several days later and charged with second-degree murder and child abuse. He was later released on supervision pending trial, subject to conditions that were modified by the court over time.
Public filings and reporting throughout the case indicated tensions within the wider family. In October, one of Scholtes’ older daughters from a previous marriage sued him and Parker’s mother, alleging emotional distress and describing a history of being left in cars as a child. The civil filing also referred to alleged physical mistreatment, claims that the defendants have not publicly answered in detail. The civil case remains separate from the criminal prosecution and is handled in the civil courts.
The plea agreement in October was announced shortly before jury selection was due to begin. The Pima County Attorney’s Office said at the time that the judge would decide the final sentence within the agreed range and that the two counts would run consecutively. The office emphasised that under Arizona’s flat-time regime the defendant would be required to serve the entirety of the punishment without parole. Local stations reported that after rejecting an earlier offer in March, Scholtes changed position as prosecutors prepared to proceed to trial on the original charges.
The death on Wednesday means no prison term will be imposed. Conover said prosecutors nevertheless intended to continue recognising the loss of the child, stating that “this little girl’s voice was nearly silenced because justice was not served appropriately this morning. But it has not and will not be silenced due to the hard work of the people who work here at the Pima County Attorney’s Office.” The county attorney’s remarks reflected the legal reality that, with the defendant deceased, the criminal case cannot yield punishment, though the record of the plea will stand as the final adjudication of responsibility.
Wednesday’s developments refocused attention on the original warnings within the family home. The text exchange that investigators recovered — “I told you to stop leaving them in the car… How many times have I told you?” — captured the mother’s alarm over prior conduct. The response — “Babe, I’m sorry… I killed our baby, this can’t be real” — underscored the remorse that Scholtes later expressed publicly and to officers, even as he initially quibbled with the timeline. Testimony from the two older children, who described being left in a vehicle on other occasions, was expected to feature at trial before the plea made their appearance unnecessary.
Authorities in Phoenix said there was no indication that any other person was involved in Wednesday’s death. The police department said the scene was processed in the usual manner, with detectives canvassing the area, documenting the residence and coordinating with the medical examiner. No additional details were released about the location beyond the cross-streets provided by officials.
In Marana, officials have previously used Parker’s case to reiterate longstanding safety guidance about the danger of leaving children in vehicles, even for brief periods and even with an engine running. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has long warned that cabin temperatures can climb rapidly and that small children are particularly vulnerable to heatstroke. Local authorities have noted that in southern Arizona’s summers, interior vehicle temperatures can become lethal within minutes, and that automated systems designed to maintain cooling can fail or shut off unexpectedly. While those advisories were not the focus of Wednesday’s legal updates, they formed the backdrop to the tragedy that prosecutors said was prolonged over several hours.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner is expected to release a public report on the cause and manner of death in due course, a process that can take weeks. ABC15 said the office had listed Scholtes among its active investigations on Wednesday. Until that report is issued, the Phoenix police classification of suicide remains a preliminary investigative finding, consistent with the statement from the Pima County Attorney that he took his own life the night before he was to be remanded.
Parker’s mother has not issued a public statement since Wednesday’s events. During the criminal case, filings and interviews documented the strain on the family since the death of their daughter and the subsequent release of case materials, including texts and police footage. The county attorney’s statement on Wednesday offered condolences to all relatives, acknowledging the compounded grief of a family that has now sustained two deaths in the space of 16 months.
With the criminal process now expected to close because of the defendant’s death, attention will shift to the administrative conclusion of the case and to any civil claims that remain active. The lawsuit brought by an older daughter in October will proceed on its own timeline in the civil courts. The records of the plea agreement and the investigative files, including surveillance footage, body-camera video and text message transcripts, will remain on file with the relevant agencies and courts. For prosecutors in Pima County, the county attorney said, the priority is to honour the memory of the child whose death triggered the investigation and to continue their work on other cases involving the safety of children in vehicles during extreme heat.