Authorities say a toddler in Arizona died of heatstroke while the temperature inside the car reached nearly 109 degrees Fahrenheit while his father was playing video games.
Police said 2-year-old Parker Scholz was found dead in a Honda SUV parked outside his home in the Tucson suburb of Marana after his father, Christopher Scholz, left the toddler there to nap for more than three hours on July 9.
According to the autopsy report, the temperature inside the car had risen to 108.9 degrees by the time emergency responders found the girl’s body. Released to The Arizona Republic Wednesday.
The toddler’s cause of death was officially determined to be “environmental heat exposure” and the manner of death was ruled an accident, the paper reported.
Suspect Christopher Scholz, 37, who authorities say was playing a PlayStation video game inside the home while the girl was dead, was charged with second-degree murder three days later.
Scholz initially claimed he had left his daughter in the car with the air conditioning on full blast for 30 minutes after returning home from shopping at about 12.30pm because he didn’t want to wake her.
But he was engrossed in playing video games for more than three hours, according to court documents, and his wife, a doctor, came home at 4 p.m. and was horrified to find their child unconscious in his SUV.
The distracted father later admitted he knew the car’s engine would automatically shut off after 30 minutes of driving, The Arizona Republic reported, citing the arrest report.
According to the arrest report, Skortes’ two other daughters told police that their father would “sometimes leave them alone in the car while he distracted himself by playing games or putting away food.”
As the girl was rushed to hospital, anesthesiologist Erica Skortes scolded her husband for dangerous behaviour.
“I can’t tell you how many times I told you to stop leaving me in the car,” she texted him.
She later wrote, “We have lost her. She was perfect.”
Skortes responded: “I’m sorry. Why did you do this? You killed our baby. This can’t happen.”
Mr Scholz said he had forgotten the girl was still in her car seat before his wife got home and made the tragic realisation in sweltering heat, with temperatures reaching triple digits.
A judge set Skortes’ bail at $25,000.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
