Ariz. Dad Who Searched for Porn While Daughter Died in Hot Car Was Found Dead by Suicide in Car
Christopher Scholtes, 38, was found deceased inside a motor vehicle that had been parked inside a closed garage, a police spokesperson tells PEOPLE
NEED TO KNOW
- Christopher Scholtes, 38, was found dead in his car, which was parked inside a closed garage on Nov. 5, a police spokesperson tells PEOPLE
- He was due in court that morning at which time he was set to report to prison ahead of his sentencing later in the month
- Scholtes faced up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of daughter Parker, 2, who died after he left her in a hot car where the temperature reached 109 degrees
New details are emerging about the Arizona father who died by suicide after being convicted of murder following his 2-year-old daughter’s hot car death.
Christopher Scholtes, who was convicted of murdering daughter Parker Scholtes, was found “deceased inside a vehicle,” Sgt. Brian Bower of the Phoenix Police Department previously told PEOPLE.
Bower also said that the vehicle “was parked inside a closed garage” and that the death is being investigated as a “suicide death.”
Scholtes, 38, died on the same day he was set to report to prison ahead of his sentencing hearing.
Officers discovered Scholtes’s body after responding to a call at 5:22 a.m., according to Bower — just a few hours before he was set to make an appearance in Pima County Court.
Just a few weeks prior, Scholtes pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his daughter, days before the start of his criminal trial.
He entered that plea after making a deal with prosecutors that would have seen him serve 20 to 30 years in prison. If he had been convicted at trial, Scholtes could have been sentenced to life or given the death penalty.
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Scholtes, who was out on bail ahead of his trial, was allowed to spend two more weeks at home with his doctor wife and their surviving daughters before having to report to prison.
His death is yet another tragedy for his surviving family members, who were already dealing with the loss of Parker, who died on July 9, 2024, after being left in the car by her father outside the family’s home.
Scholtes had been running errands and shopping that morning with Parker, and after arriving home, he brought in the groceries then decided to play video games — and at one point, he searched for porn.
Meanwhile, the temperature reached as high as 109 degrees while Parker sat in the car for over three hours until her mother discovered the toddler upon arriving home from work.
It was later revealed that Scholtes had previously left his children in the car prior to this tragedy.
That was mentioned both by his surviving daughters in their interviews with police and in the text exchange he had with his wife when she headed to the hospital on the day of Parker’s death.
Body camera footage recorded Scholtes admitting to responding officers that he’d left his daughter in the car.
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Scholtes told the responding officers that he left his daughter in the vehicle with the air conditioning on because she was asleep in her car seat. He then claimed that he forgot about his daughter because he was distracted, according to a copy of the criminal complaint obtained by PEOPLE.
He posted bail shortly after his arrest — and, in a surprise decision, the judge later approved his request to leave the state for a family vacation in Hawaii.
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Scholtes’s death also came shortly after his 17-year-old daughter from a previous relationship filed a lawsuit accusing him of neglect and abuse.
An Arizona Department of Child Safety report obtained by PEOPLE shows that there were nine complaints made by Scholtes’s daughter between 2014 and 2020, alleging instances of physical and emotional abuse and neglect.
The ADCS was never able to substantiate any of those allegations, though. After further investigation — and following the ninth report in 2020 — Scholtes’s daughter “transitioned to their mother’s care,” the agency noted.
In July 2025, there was also an allegation of sexual abuse made against Scholtes by his daughter, who said the alleged incident occurred in 2020.
“The investigation resulted in the removal of one child from the father’s home, but the other siblings were determined to not be in present danger and remained in the home,” the agency wrote. “The case remains open, and the Department is providing services to the child.”
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Scholtes’s daughter had since withdrawn her lawsuit following the death of her father.
Her former guardian, Lindsay Eisenberg, who filed the lawsuit on her behalf, tells PEOPLE: “She requested I dismiss the lawsuit and told me she just wants to move on with her life and find peace. All the publicity around her life is too much for her to mentally handle, and she just wants to disappear from the limelight and move on with her life.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
Roseville woman accused of stuffing dead mom into plastic tote, spending her money
Detroit Free Press
Updated Jan. 17, 2020, 5:25 p.m. ET
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A smiling snowman display marks the home where police say a woman’s body stayed stuffed in a tote for more than a month.
Carol Rey, 50, of Roseville was arraigned Friday for the shooting death of her 69-year-old mother at their home in the 29000 block of Congress Street, according to a news release from the Roseville Police Department
Police believe the older woman, who has not been named, was shot in the head in November 2019 and concealed in a plastic tote, similar to ones used for home storage, police said.
The slain woman’s body was later moved to a detached garage, police said. All the while, transactions still were being made on her financial accounts.
Police believe Rey posed as her mother, using the slain woman’s phone to send texts to other family members, according to the release.
Police responded to the home about 10 a.m. Jan. 14 after other family members called for a welfare check on their grandmother, police said. Police then met Rey, who was evasive when questioned.
A search warrant led them to the woman’s body that afternoon.
She was in a large storage tub in the garage, according to a news release from the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office. She’d been shot in the back of the head.
Rey and a 34-year-old man, an acquaintance, were detained for questioning, but the man was released, police said.
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Rey now faces charges of first-degree murder, felony firearm and larceny of $20,000 or more, according to police.
“The ability of the defendant to take her own mother’s life and then cover the murder up for two months, by keeping the victim in the garage, is unfathomable,” Prosecutor Eric Smith said, according to his release. “Our hearts go out to the other family, and friends, of the victim as they try to make sense of this unnecessary tragedy.”
The death is a haunting revelation for 28-year-old Mike Schutter, who lives across the street and a few doors down from the victim’s home.
He watched from his windows as Rey was arrested, he said.
“I have lived here my whole life and to think something that crazy could happen 100 yards from where I sleep, it is weird,” Schutter said. “I get creeped out now when I come home at nights (sic). I work nights so I come home at 2-3 a.m. in the morning, and I get a weird feeling whenever I look at that house now.”
Schutter said he did not know the relationship between the two women but never had any reason to suspect something was amiss.
“It is a quiet little neighborhood — nothing crazy happens,” he said. “It is hard to believe.”
Rey was denied bond when she appeared in Macomb County’s 39th District Court on Friday and is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 29.
She faces up to life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.
Roseville woman posed as dead mother in texts for weeks after her death, police say
Published January 17, 2020 1:27pm EST
ROSEVILLE, Mich. (FOX 2) – Police in Roseville have released details about a woman’s murder in which her adult daughter is the main suspect.
A 69-year-old woman was found dead at a home on Congress Tuesday morning during a welfare check. Police have now revealed that the body was found in a plastic tote in the garage – and that the woman had been dead for several weeks.
Police believe the victim, whose name was not given, died of a gunshot wound to the head in November 2019.
Her body was placed in a plastic storage tote and eventually taken outside to the detached garage.
After the woman’s death, police say her 50-year-old daughter – who also lived in the home – used her mother’s phone to text other family members, posing as her mother.
Police are also investigating several financial activities related to the victim’s various accounts.
Police haven’t said yet what the motive for murder could be.
A 34-year-old male acquaintance was also taken in for questioning earlier this week.
