The father who reportedly abandoned his 2-year-old daughter to perish in a sweltering car while he overindulged in video games has been charged with murder by a grand jury.
According to Tucson ABC station KGUN, Christopher Scholtes, 37, was charged with second-degree murder earlier this week, but he was indicted on Thursday in Pima County, Arizona, on charges of first-degree murder instead. He has to deal with a charge of child abuse just like he did at first.
According to the authorities, after returning home, Scholtes left his 2-year-old daughter Parker in his car. He left her there with the air conditioner running, purportedly because he didn’t want to wake her.
Officers stated that the surveillance footage, however, did not support his account. Although he claimed to have arrived at around two p.m., the police report his arrival as 12:53 p.m.
Erika Scholtes, the spouse, got home from work at four o’clock. According to the police, when she got there, the AC was off and the car had stopped running.
According to video obtained by a local news outlet, she did not represent him when she testified on his behalf at his bond hearing, claiming that the death was an error.
On the other hand, according to court filings, her communications suggested that he had previously abandoned his kids in the car.
The two other daughters of Scholtes, who are five and nine years old, are said to have corroborated to authorities that their father would frequently leave them unaccompanied in the car. According to KOLD, they reported to the police that Scholtes became distracted while playing his video game and putting his food away after returning home from running errands.
Read Also: Baltimore DPW Worker Dies After Sudden Medical Crisis at Work
According to an affidavit written by authorities, surveillance footage did not depict defendant Scholtes checking on the car or his daughter, as USA Today reports.
“When she asked where the 2-year-old was, he began to check the rooms of the home and then realized he had left her in the vehicle,” they stated.
