An Arizona father charged with murder after leaving his 2-year-old daughter in a car in the hot sun was engrossed in playing PlayStation games for more than three hours while the toddler died, according to a new report.
Christopher Scholz, a 37-year-old father of three, claims he left his toddler, Parker Scholz, asleep for just 30 minutes inside his 2023 Acura MDX after returning home from shopping because he didn’t want to wake him.
But newly unsealed court documents say he was playing video games for more than three hours before the doctor’s wife came home and found the girl dead in her car. KPLC-TV News reported..
“I told you not to leave the kids in the car,” anesthesiologist Erica Scholz scolded her husband in a text message after the July 9 tragedy, the outlet reported.
“How many times have I told you?”
“Baby, I’m sorry,” the suspect allegedly responded. “Baby, our family. How could you do this? You killed our baby. This isn’t real.”
During the heartbreaking exchange, Erica Skortes described Parker as “perfect.”
Christopher Scortes told police he arrived at a home in Marana, a Tucson suburb, around 2:30 p.m. and parked his car outside because the garage was full of exercise equipment.
He said he had forgotten the little girl was still in her car seat until his wife came home at 4pm and made the horrifying discovery.
However, surveillance footage reviewed by police showed the suspect arrived outside the home just after 12:30 p.m. and left Parker in the car in 109-degree temperatures for more than three hours, KPLC reported.
According to charging documents filed in the case, Christopher Scortes would “distract himself by playing games and putting away food,” while the couple’s two other children told police that their father would often leave all three siblings alone in the car while at home.
The distracted father reportedly admitted to police that he had left the air conditioning on in the car for Parker but knew it would automatically turn off after 30 minutes.
In court Friday, as Christopher Skortes was charged with murder and child endangerment, his wife called the deadly blunder a “big mistake” and pleaded with the judge to release him pending the conclusion of his trial.
“All I’m asking is that he come home to us so that we can all work through our grief, so that he can bury his daughter with us next week, and so that we can go through this whole process together as a family,” she told the judge.
“This was a huge mistake and represents nothing of my father,” Erica Skortes said. “I just want my daughters to see their dad and not have to tell them tonight that they have to endure another loss.”
Although prosecutors had requested $1 million bail, the judge set bail at $25,000.
