An Arizona father arrested and charged with murder last week after leaving his 2-year-old daughter in a hot car to her death said he was obsessed with video games and “regularly” left his children in the car unattended, according to court documents.
Christopher Scortes, 37, was arrested July 12 by Marana Police on suspicion of second-degree murder and child abuse. Marana is located northwest of Tucson in Pima County.
Police said Scholz returned home on July 9 and left his daughter asleep in the backseat of his car, with the engine running and the air conditioning on. He told detectives he left his daughter there so she could continue to sleep because he didn’t want to wake her.
Authorities say the girl was left in the car in direct sunlight on the roadway for three hours in scorching 109-degree heat.
According to a tentative complaint filed by the Pima County Prosecutor’s Office, Scholz told detectives he returned home at 2:30 p.m. on the day she died, but a security camera from a nearby home captured his car arriving home at 12:53 p.m., shortly after the other two children had arrived home.
He was seen walking alone from his car to the front door.
According to the lawsuit, Scholz knew he had left his daughter in the car and also knew the car and air conditioning would automatically shut off after 30 minutes.
The wife’s car was seen arriving at the home at 4:08 p.m., and a 911 call was made at 4:16 p.m.
The lawsuit states that surveillance video “does not show Christopher checking on his vehicle or his daughter during this time.”
When his wife returned home, the mother asked where their 2-year-old daughter was, and Scholz searched rooms in the house before realizing she had left the daughter in her car, according to the complaint.
He returned to his car, whose engine was not running, and found the 2-year-old “still unresponsive in his car seat” in the back seat, according to the complaint.
The mother performed CPR on the child until emergency responders arrived. The child was taken by ambulance to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Detectives spoke with Skortes’ two other children, ages 9 and 5, who told them Skortes “regularly left his three children alone in the vehicle.”
They also said that while his sister was in the car, her son was “distracted by playing games and putting food away.”
Local CBS affiliate KOLD reported that the PlayStation was seized by authorities during the investigation, along with other electronic devices and a 2023 Acura MDX vehicle.
While their 2-year-old daughter was being taken to the hospital, Scholz received a text from his wife saying, “I don’t know how many times I’ve told you to stop leaving our girls in the car,” to which Scholz replied, “I’m sorry,” according to the lawsuit.
“We lost her. She was perfect,” she texted, while her husband said, “Our love, our family. How could you do this? I killed our baby. This is not real,” according to the lawsuit.
Scholz is described as a lifelong resident of Arizona, is unemployed, has no prior felony convictions and has no prior arrests for misdemeanor domestic violence offenses.
The criminal complaint indicates Scholz will not be released on bail. It was not immediately clear whether Scholz has an attorney.
He is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 1.
