Arizona father Christopher Scholtes arrested for murder after allegedly leaving his two-year-old daughter in a hot car for three hours during a 42-degree heat wave

An Arizona man has been arrested and charged with murder for leaving his 2-year-old daughter in a sweltering car for three hours during a 108-degree heat wave this week, police said Friday.

Christopher Scholtes, 37, has been identified as a suspect in the death of his toddler on Tuesday, whom he left in a car in the driveway of his home in Marana, Arizona, about 22 miles northwest of Tucson.

According to Marana police, he was arrested early Friday and charged with first-degree murder and child abuse.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for a neighbor’s surveillance footage showing the girl was in the car for three hours, police said.

Police were called to the home shortly after 4 p.m. on Tuesday after the child’s mother came home to find her daughter unconscious in a car that was turned off and had no air conditioning.

The mother performed CPR on the toddler until emergency services arrived and attempted life-saving measures, but were unsuccessful. She then took the child to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Scholtes is said to have told police that when he arrived home he found his daughter sleeping in her child seat in the car.

Because he didn’t want to wake her, Scholtes left her in the running car with the air conditioning on while he went inside, according to police.

On Wednesday, Marana Police Captain Tim Brunenkant said they were trying to determine when the car and air conditioning were turned off.

Scholtes was held at the Pima County Adult Detention Center.

“This incident is a stark reminder of how dangerous it is to leave children unattended in a car,” Marana police said in a statement.

“The temperature inside a vehicle can rise quickly, even on relatively mild days, and become potentially fatal within minutes.”

“The Marana Police Department and our entire community are heartbreakingly saddened by this loss and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this tragic incident,” the statement concluded.

When temperatures hit a new record high of 40 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, it took only about 20 minutes for a car to heat up to 60 degrees Celsius and just 40 minutes for it to reach 65 degrees Celsius, ABC15 reported at the time.

The name of Scholtes’ lawyer was not immediately known.