Current:Home > My'This can't be real': He left his daughter alone in a hot car for hours. She died. -TrueNorth Capital Hub
'This can't be real': He left his daughter alone in a hot car for hours. She died.
View
Date:2025-04-15 15:36:07
"Babe our family. How could I do this. I killed our baby, this can't be real."
So wrote the father who police say left his daughter in a car last week near Tucson, Arizona, to die.
The temperature that afternoon was 111 degrees.
She was 2 years old.
This is where you want to stop reading. Please don’t, especially if you are a parent or a grandparent.
Marana police say Christopher Scholtes, 37, intentionally left his daughter in the car that afternoon and had done so before.
Dozens of children die in hot cars each year
Apparently, she was sleeping and he didn’t want wake her so he left her there in the car, with the air conditioner running.
More than three hours later, his wife arrived home and well, you know.
The Scholtes tot was the ninth child to die in a hot car this year, according to Kids and Car Safety. Since then, you can add four more.
Every year, dozens of children die after being left in sweltering cars.
Often, it’s a mother running errands or a father who forgot to drop off a child at day care on his way to work. Rarely, but sometimes, it’s a parent who just doesn’t much care.
My child died in a hot car.What his legacy has taught me about love and forgiveness.
Dad knew A/C in car would shut off in half hour
It’ll be up to the courts to decide how this child came to be left to die, strapped in her car seat as the temperature rose to unbearable and ultimately unsurvivable levels.
Scholtes told police that he returned home with the child about 2:30 p.m. on July 9. Neighborhood surveillance cameras, however, put his arrival at 12:53 p.m.
It was after 4 p.m. when the child was found, when the mother got home from work and asked about her youngest.
Here’s the stunner: Scholtes told police he knew the car would shut off after 30 minutes, according to released court documents.
Scholtes’ other children, ages 9 and 5, told Marana police that their father got distracted, busy as he was playing a video game and putting food away.
It wasn't the first time he left a child in the car
Apparently, it wasn’t the first time he left a child unattended in the car.
“I told you to stop leaving them in the car,” the child’s mother texted him as the child was being rushed to a hospital, where the toddler was pronounced dead. “How many times have I told you?”
Scholtes has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder and child abuse. He could face decades in prison though I would imagine, if he's any sort of father, that he’s already living in hell.
"I told you to stop leaving them in the car, how many times have I told you," his wife texted.
"Babe I'm sorry,” he replied.
"We’ve lost her, she was perfect," she wrote.
Cities are only getting hotter:Our houses and asphalt made heat worse. Don't just complain about it. Stop it.
Lest you proclaim this could not happen to you ...
"Babe our family. How could I do this? I killed our baby. This can't be real."
I don’t envy the judge who must figure out where justice lies in a tragedy such as this.
Before you say it could never happen to you … well, perhaps the better thing to be thinking is this:
There but for the grace of God …
Laurie Roberts is a columnist for the Arizona Republic, where this column originally appeared. Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com or follow her on X (formerly Twitter): @LaurieRoberts.
veryGood! (859)
Related
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Why large cities will bear the brunt of climate change, according to experts
- Tiger Woods' ex-girlfriend files 53-page brief in effort to revive public lawsuit
- Colorado State DB receives death threats for hit on Colorado's Travis Hunter
- Meta releases AI model to enhance Metaverse experience
- UAW threatens to expand strike to more auto plants by end of week
- Phoenix racetrack to end live racing, which means its OTB sites will close
- Édgar Barrera, Karol G, Shakira, and more lead Latin Grammy nominations
- Chuck Scarborough signs off: Hoda Kotb, Al Roker tribute legendary New York anchor
- Watch as DoorDash delivery man spits on food order after dropping it off near Miami
Ranking
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- Édgar Barrera, Karol G, Shakira, and more lead Latin Grammy nominations
- This is what a Florida community looks like 3 years after hurricane damage
- Drew Barrymore's Hollywood labor scuffle isn't the first for her family
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- Hurricane Nigel gains strength over the Atlantic Ocean
- Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter to be out three weeks, coach Deion Sanders says
- Delivery driver bitten by venomous rattlesnake
Recommendation
Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
Generac recalls over 60,000 portable generators due to fire and burn hazards
China tells foreign consulates in Hong Kong to provide personal data of all local staff
Another option emerges to expand North Carolina gambling, but most Democrats say they won’t back it
The Super Bowl could end in a 'three
New Spain soccer coach names roster made up largely of players who've threatened boycott
What is 'modern monogamy'? Why it's a fit for some couples.
Unlicensed New York City acupuncturist charged after patient’s lungs collapsed, prosecutors say