The Arizona dad who killed himself as a substitute of serving a long time behind bars after leaving his 2-year-old daughter to bake to demise in a scorching automobile was rumored to be having an affair with the married lady subsequent door, neighbors instructed police.
Christopher Scholtes, 38, was discovered useless in his SUV contained in the storage of his Phoenix dwelling round 5:20 a.m. on Nov. 5, the identical morning he was as a result of report for a 20- to 30-year jail sentence for the homicide of his daughter, Parker.
He had pleaded responsible final month to second-degree homicide and intentional little one abuse.
Dr. Erika Scholtes, his anesthesiologist spouse, had defended him for greater than a yr after the tragedy and backed his bail and journey requests, whilst prosecutors ready to ship him away.
Neighbors, although, instructed cops they believed Scholtes was getting near another person: 37-year-old gross sales government Katelyn Schacht, who lived subsequent door.
Incident experiences reviewed by the Day by day Mail present a number of residents describing a “particular relationship” between the 2 and saying the neighborhood had a “frequent consensus” the pair had been having an affair.
Neighbor Michael Kramer stated Scholtes’ younger daughters usually escaped from the home and wandered the streets and that Schacht “had many tales” in regards to the youngsters getting unfastened.
One other neighbor, Kristine Verdugo, instructed police she doubted Schacht can be sincere with investigators due to her ties to Scholtes, whereas resident Sarah Godsil stated neighbors typically needed to kind “search events” when the kids or pets obtained out whereas Scholtes was sleeping “or one thing else occurs.”
Godsil added that Schacht continuously excused his habits and that some believed “one thing was occurring.”
Police interviewed Schacht and her husband hours after Parker’s demise. She instructed investigators Scholtes’ older daughters got here to her door crying and stated their mom was performing CPR.
“Mommy and daddy are calling 911 and mommy is giving her CPR,” one woman stated, based on the report.
Scholtes is believed to have died of carbon-monoxide poisoning, although the trigger hasn’t been formally confirmed, the Maricopa County health worker instructed the Day by day Mail.
His demise got here sixteen months after Parker died in a July 2024 warmth wave when he left her strapped contained in the household Acura for greater than three hours.
Courtroom data say he spent the afternoon inside consuming stolen beer, watching pornography and taking part in video video games whereas temperatures outdoors hit 108 levels.
Scholtes instructed investigators he misplaced observe of time whereas gaming and consuming. Surveillance footage confirmed he left Parker within the SUV shortly earlier than 1 p.m., and she or he was discovered unresponsive by her mom after 4 p.m.
The temperature contained in the automobile hit 108.9 levels when first responders arrived, based on the Pima County Medical Examiner.
Textual content messages in police information present Erika Scholtes confronting her husband about consuming, alleged drunk driving and what she referred to as a worsening sample of reckless habits.
“You haven’t proven me you’ll be able to cease placing the ladies at risk or not deal with me badly,” she wrote in a textual content trade on March 11 of final yr.
After Parker’s demise, she texted him once more in anger: “I instructed you to cease leaving them within the automobile. What number of occasions have I instructed you?”
“Babe, I’m sorry,” he replied. “Babe, our household. How might I do that? I killed our child, this may’t be actual.”
The couple’s two older kids later instructed police their father usually left them alone within the automobile, based on the experiences.
His 17-year-old daughter from a earlier marriage alleged in a lawsuit filed days earlier than his demise that he’d been leaving her unattended in automobiles for hours since she was “youthful than 7.”
Meaning Scholtes had been leaving his youngsters in automobiles for greater than a decade earlier than the habits lastly turned lethal.
Schacht and Erika Scholtes couldn’t be reached for remark.
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