The tragic death of Christopher Scholtes has sent shockwaves through Arizona, particularly as it coincided with the day he was set to begin a prison term for the heartbreaking death of his young daughter. The circumstances surrounding Scholtes’s passing have since come to light, shedding more clarity on this devastating situation.

On Wednesday morning, the 38-year-old, who was the spouse of Dr. Erika Scholtes, was discovered dead at their luxurious Phoenix home, valued at $1 million. The timing of his death was particularly poignant, as it was mere hours before he was due to report for incarceration related to the tragic event of July 2024, where he was charged with the second-degree murder of his two-year-old daughter, Parker.

Details of how Scholtes ended his life remain undisclosed, with inquiries directed to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office for further information. The community remains on edge as they await more insights into this distressing incident.

Inside the home, Dr. Erika Scholtes, a 37-year-old anesthesiologist, is reportedly seeking solace with her two surviving daughters. Lindsey Eisenberg, who once served as the guardian for Scholtes’s 17-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, commented on the situation. She mentioned that Scholtes’s eldest daughter, whose identity the media has chosen to protect, expressed little surprise over her father’s decision to take his own life.

This reaction stems from the plea deal Scholtes reached the previous month, where he agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for a prison sentence ranging from 20 to 30 years, with no possibility of parole. The complexities and emotional turmoil surrounding this case continue to unfold, leaving a community grappling with the aftermath.

Scholtes’s eldest daughter, who the Daily Mail is not naming, ‘wasn’t surprised’ that her father killed himself to avoid a 20 to 30 year prison sentence without parole after striking a deal last month to plead guilty to second-degree murder, Eisenberg said. 

Parker died in a roasting Acura while Scholtes sat inside his home watching adult movies and playing video games.  

Eisenberg, who is helping Scholtes’s eldest daughter oversee a lawsuit she filed against Chris and Erika Scholtes, told the Daily Mail she was the one who broke the news about the death with a phone call on Wednesday morning.

Chris Scholtes (left) killed himself at his family home in Phoenix Wednesday, the Daily Mail has been told. Scholtes’s wife Dr Erika Scholtes is seen holding daughter Parker, 2, who her husband murdered in a hot car in July 2024.  

Parker had been left to sleep in the family’s Acura with its air conditioning turned on. Her father admitted her second-degree murder last month and had been facing 20-30 years without parole when he was found dead 

‘[His daughter] said “I knew he was going to do this, I knew he was going to commit suicide”. Then she asked if her sisters were OK,’ Eisenberg said.

Eisenberg is no longer the 17-year-old’s guardian. The teenager, whose mother died in February 2024 is now a ward of state. Eisenberg remains empowered to act on behalf of the girl in a civil suit filed against her late father and stepmother.  

Last week, Scholtes eldest daughter sued her father and stepmother Erika for emotional distress, assault, battery and fraud. 

She alleges she suffered abuse at Scholtes’s and Erika’s hands and is also seeking damages over her half-sister’s death, according to court papers seen by the Daily Mail. The lawsuit was filed last week and neither Christopher Scholtes nor Dr Erika Scholtes had responded to it by the time of his death. 

The girl’s guardian Eisenberg said the teen was hellbent on continuing the lawsuit against Erika even with her father dead.

‘She wants to pursue the civil suit against Erika even more and fight her for custody of her little sisters when she’s 18 in two weeks,’ she said.

Erika was at work as an anesthesiologist at Banner University Medical Center, the same hospital Parker was taken to, while her daughter was left in the car. 

It is unclear if she was at home when her husband took his own life, but there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on her part and she has never faced any criminal charges.

At a court hearing Wednesday, Pima County prosecutors appeared shaken and emotional as news of Scholtes’s death spread. 

Scholtes was found dead at the family’s $1 million Phoenix home Wednesday morning. The family moved there in April, 94 miles away from their old property in Marana, where Parker died 

Scholtes is pictured with Parker on the day she was born. The little girl’s life was cut tragically short – and now Christopher Scholtes has met his own tragic end  

Erika Scholtes, 35, was an anesthesiologist at the same hospital her daughter was rushed to. She was at work when Parker died but stood by her late husband 

The Scholtes family moved 94 miles from the house in Marana where Parker died after buying a $1.025 million four-bedroom, 2,369sqft home in the Phoenix suburbs in April.

Chris Scholtes protracted legal defense has not been cheap as he pleaded not guilty last year and rejected a plea deal in March that would have let him off with as little as 10 years behind bars.

Just six months later he had no choice but to accept a far worse deal for 20 to 30 years jail on second-degree murder and child abuse charges.

Erika strongly defended her husband in court by calling their daughter’s death ‘a mistake’.

Scholtes left Parker napping in his 2023 Acura running with the air-conditioning on outside his house during the scorching weather.

But he lost track of time while he played on his PlayStation, drank booze and watched adult videos, and the vehicle shut off.

The Pima County Medical Examiner said the temperature inside the car was 108.9F when first responders arrived. They confirmed Parker died of heat exposure.

Texts between Scholtes and Erika revealed he’d previously left his children in the car for extended periods. 

As Parker was rushed to the hospital, Erika texted Scholtes saying: ‘I told you to stop leaving them in the car, how many times have I told you.’

She later added: ‘We’ve lost her, she was perfect.’ 

Scholtes replied: ‘Babe I’m sorry! How could I do this. I killed our baby, this can’t be real.’ 

Their other two other children, then aged nine and five, told police their father regularly left all three siblings alone in the car.

The youngsters told police Scholtes ‘got distracted by playing his game and putting his food away’, according to the criminal complaint.

A PlayStation and other electronics were taken away as evidence.

Prosecutors wrote in court documents that Scholtes also searched the internet for men’s clothing at Nordstrom and for pornography from 2.02pm to 2.30pm.

Scholtes also left Parker alone in the car on his way home that day while he shopped at a gas station and a supermarket.

Scholtes’s two other children, aged nine and five, told police that Scholtes had left all three siblings alone in the vehicle regularly

He shoplifted beer from both shops, some of which he later drank while Parker was dying, according to the documents.

Security camera footage showed him swipe the alcohol from the gas station, go into the bathroom, and emerge with fewer cans than he went in with.

Scholtes finally arrived home at 12.53pm, just as his older daughters returned from a trampoline park he let them go to unattended.

He initially told detectives he pulled in at 2.30pm, but changed his story after it was proven a lie by security footage.

Parker was left to nap in the car while they all went inside, and was not retrieved until after 4pm when Erika got home from work.

Erika came inside and asked where the toddler was, prompting a frantic rush to the car by both parents and the arrival of first responders soon after.

Parker was declared dead in hospital just an hour later.

Investigations into how she died revealed a disturbing pattern of alcoholism, child neglect, and past drug abuse.

The older daughters said their parents often fought about Scholtes’s behavior, especially how much he drank.

‘He still drinks too much beer, and he keeps leaving us in the car when my mom told him to stop doing this,’ one of the girls said, according to documents. 

‘That’s how he made my baby sister die.’ 

Police outside the house in Marana, north of Tucson, Arizona, as they investigated the scene. Parker was left in the blue Honda Acura SUV behind the police tape

The Scholtes family pictured together in happier times. Dr Erika Scholtes must now contend with the loss of her husband and her youngest daughter  

Other texts between the couple showed Erika increasingly furious about her husband letting his drinking put the children’s lives at risk.

‘You haven’t shown me you can stop putting the girls in danger or not treat me badly,’ she wrote on March 11 last year. 

‘Even yesterday, you drove home drunk with two minors. You drink to excess every time. You can never have just one. I’ve been asking for three years to cut back and it’s actually gotten worse.’

Scholtes promised to ‘find relief and happiness elsewhere’ but Erika countered that the last time he did that he merely replaced booze with cocaine.

‘At least this one is legal, right?’ he replied.

‘I’m a piece of shit addict and I need to get addicted to healthy things like running again.’ 

But just ten days later she raged at him for allegedly driving 138mph after drinking, with Parker in the car, calling both ‘shitty decisions’.

‘You hate me,’ he replied. ‘And she was sleeping, it’s fine.’

While on bail, the court gave Scholtes permission to go on vacation to Maui with his doctor wife Erika and their surviving children earlier this year.

It was to be their final trip as a family.