Wife of Arizona father charged with murder for leaving toddler in hot car for hours calls tragic death a ‘big mistake’

An Arizona man charged with murder after allegedly killing his 2-year-old daughter by leaving her in a hot car for hours during a heat wave was a “great father” and a “pillar of society,” his wife told a judge.

Erika Scholtes, a 35-year-old anesthesiologist, called the death of her young daughter a “big mistake” during a court hearing on Friday. Christopher Scholtes pleaded not guilty in the death of her youngest child, Parker.

Authorities said Scholtes, 37, of Marana, Arizona, left Parker in a car in the family’s driveway for hours on Tuesday in temperatures exceeding 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

“I only ask that you allow him to come to our home so that we can all begin the grieving process, so that he can bury our daughter with us next week and we can go through this whole process together as a family,” Erika Scholtes pleaded with the judge.

“This was a huge mistake and this does not represent him,” she added. “I just want the girls to see their father – that I don’t have to tell them tonight that they have to suffer another loss.”

She insisted that he posed no threat to the community.

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

Scholtes appeared in court the same day. The judge pleaded not guilty and the father of three was released into custody, according to a report.

The judge set secured bail at $25,000 and denied the state’s request for a higher bail of $1 million.

In an audio recording obtained by KVOA TV, Mrs. Scholtes can be heard calmly asking the judge to let her husband come home while he awaits his preliminary hearing on August 1 so that the family can mourn the dead child together.

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 Parker until emergency services arrived. The child was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

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

Because he didn’t want to wake her, Scholtes left her in the running car with the air conditioning on and went inside, according to police. At some point the vehicle turned off.

Scholtes had originally told police he was driving home with his daughter at 2 p.m., but video footage from a neighbor showed he arrived home at 12:53 a.m., KOLD TV reported.

That day, temperatures in Marana reached a record-breaking 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40.4 degrees Celsius). That means it only takes about 20 minutes for a car to heat up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) and just 40 minutes to reach 149 degrees Fahrenheit (65 degrees Celsius), ABC15 reported.

Marana Police Captain Tim Brunenkant told reporters that Parker’s death remains under investigation.

“We don’t know the circumstances, we’re trying to figure it out. When these temperatures occur, especially this week when it’s 40 degrees, it’s just tragic.”

Aside from a drunk driving charge 15 years ago, Scholtes has no criminal past.

One of the conditions for Scholte’s release is that he has no unsupervised contact with children.

His wife told the court she would be taking an extended leave of absence from work, KVOA reported.

It was not immediately clear what Christopher Scholtes does for a living.