The Arizona dad who killed himself after leaving his 2-year-old daughter to die in a hot car had been locking his kids in parked cars for more than 10 years, his now-teen daughter claimed as she filed an explosive abuse lawsuit against him.
Christopher Scholtes, 38, allegedly began leaving one of his daughters locked in his car over a decade ago — and made a habit of doing it ever since.
“The first time he did it was with me when I was younger than 7,” the girl, now 17, told News 4 Tuscon.
She made the stunning comments just days before the deadbeat dad killed himself on Tuesday night, hours before he was supposed to turn himself in for a decades-long prison term for killing his youngest daughter, little Parker, by locking her in his car for three hours on a 109-degree Tucson day in July 2024.
Scholtes was watching porn, playing video games and drinking beer inside while his baby baked — and he later claimed he forgot her after leaving the tot in the car while she napped for half an hour.
But his 17-year-old daughter from a previous marriage claimed that locking kids in cars while he “forgot” them was a regular occurrence for her deadbeat dad.
The teen filed a lawsuit just days before his death, alleging he created a home filled with “repeated physical, emotional, and psychological abuse” that’s left her battling depression and PTSD.
“[Scholtes] intentionally caused Plaintiff to fear imminent harm and made harmful and offensive physical contact,” the teen alleged in the Oct. 28 suit, which accused him of assault and battery and child abuse.
She even accused her father of fraud, claiming he filed and maintained a bogus conservatorship while she was living with her now-late mother so he could pocket financial benefits for himself.
“As a result, Plaintiff suffered severe emotional distress, anxiety, depression, suicidal ideations, post traumatic stress, and long-term psychological harm,” the daughter alleged in her suit.
Scholtes’ history of locking kids in cars has been well documented since his summer 2024 arrest, with his surviving two younger daughters telling investigators how he would routinely leave them in the car.
His wife even berated him after their youngest died, raging, “I told you to stop leaving them in the car” in a text.
“How many times have I told you?” she added.
“Babe, I’m sorry,” he replied. “Babe, our family. How could I do this? I killed our baby, this can’t be real.”
Scholtes pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in October and was due to be formally sentenced later in November after he reported to prison.
But his body was found in a Phoenix home just after 5 a.m. Wednesday, with prosecutors confirming he’d killed himself the night before.
“Instead of coming in to take account for what has occurred here, we have been informed, and we have confirmed, that the father took his own life last night,” said Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said in a statement.
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