Christopher Scholtes charged with murder after child dies in hot car
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The Republic
Authorities have charged a father with murder in the death of his toddler, who was found in a parked vehicle near a Tucson home for several hours on Tuesday.
Christopher Scholtes, 37, of Oro Valley, has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse in connection with the death of his 2-year-old daughter, according to a Marana police news release Friday morning.
Just after 4 p.m. Tuesday, officers and firefighters responded to a report of an unresponsive child left in a vehicle outside a home near Avenida Tierra Alta and North Hartman Lane, police said. Scholtes reportedly left the child in the air-conditioned vehicle while the air conditioner was still running, telling investigators he did not want to wake her by entering the home.
The mother was not home at the time, but when she returned, she found the child in the vehicle with the engine not running and the air conditioning not on, according to police. She performed CPR until emergency responders arrived and attempted life-saving measures. The girl was then taken to Banner University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Detectives serving a search warrant obtained video surveillance footage from nearby homes and concluded the toddler had been in the vehicle for about three hours, police said.
According to police, Scholtes was arrested Friday morning and booked into the Pima County Adult Detention Center.
“This incident is a stark reminder of the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles. Temperatures inside vehicles can rise rapidly, even on relatively mild days, and can lead to potentially fatal consequences within minutes,” police said in a statement. “We urge all parents and carers to remain vigilant and take every precaution to ensure the safety of their children.”
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