A two-year-old girl in Arizona tragically died after being left alone in a hot car while her father allegedly played video games inside their home.
Chris Scholtes, 37, is alleged to have been distracted by video games and forgot that his daughter was asleep in the vehicle on a scorching 109°F day on July 9.
Scholtes told law enforcement officials he had returned home around 2:30 p.m. with Parker and left the car running in the driveway with the air conditioning on so she could continue to sleep.
Her mother, Erika Scholtes, 35, arrived around 4:00 p.m., asked where Parker was and found her unresponsive in the car.
Upon calling 911, Erika, an anesthesiologist at Banner University Medical Center, began giving her daughter CPR until the Marana Police Department and the fire department arrived.
Despite performing life-saving measures, Parker was rushed to the medical center, where she was pronounced deceased.
A text exchange between the mother and father suggested this was not the first time Scholtes had done this.
"I told you to stop leaving them in the car; how many times have I told you?" Erika texted her husband on the way to the hospital, reported KVOA-TV reported, citing court documents.
"We have lost her; she was perfect," she added.
Scholtes replied, "I'm sorry, babe."
"Babe. Our family. How could I do this? I killed our baby; this can't be real."
He allegedly told the responding officers that "he got distracted by playing his game and putting his food away."
Marana Police detectives obtained video surveillance from nearby homes and determined that the child had been in the vehicle for approximately three hours.
Christopher Scholtes was arreste don July 12 and booked into the Pima County Adult Detention Center for 2nd Degree Murder and Child Abuse.
The couple has two other daughters.
