Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Dad Admits He Let Daughter Die in Hot Car While Searching for Porn

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

Christopher Scholtes planned to go to trial to fight a first-degree murder charge in the July 2024 death of his daughter, Parker. Parker Scholtes, 2, died after Christopher left her in a hot car to nap for three hours in their driveway. Detectives discovered Scholtes was playing video games and searching for porn as Parker died. Now, on the eve of his trial, Christopher has agreed to plead guilty after turning down a plea agreement last spring. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes over the latest in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/CrimeFixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Mark Weaver https://x.com/MarkRWeaverProducer:Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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I know. And I know this isn't easy for you. The Arizona dad. who was playing video games and searching for porn as his daughter died in a hot car is admitting guilt after all. I look at the guilty plea in Christopher Schultes' case and how the death of his daughter Parker will send him to prison for decades and we're learning more about his history of being investigated for child abuse. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy.

Parker Schultes was a beautiful two-year-old girl, and she died for no reason at all other than her father. The man who was supposed to love her and protect her more than anyone else in this world was preoccupied with playing video games and searching for porn. Christopher Schultz was Parker's father. And one day in July of last year, he left her napping in her car seat in the car in the driveway. Schultz left Parker there for three hours. And now more than a year after Parker's death, and on the eve of Christopher Schultes's scheduled murder trial, he has pleaded guilty. I'll lay out what he pleaded guilty to very shortly. But first, I want to take a look back at the body-worn camera footage and how we got to this

point. In July of last year, Parker died in the driveway of the family's home in Marana, Arizona. Christopher Schultes was a stay-at-home dad. His wife is a doctor, and she was at work at the time When she got home, she asked where Parker was, and it was then that Christopher Schultes realized that he had left Parker in the car. Here's the 911 call. What are you reporting? She was in the car sleeping. She's unresponsive. Okay.

And who is she? Please, please, please. My daughter. My daughter. Please, please, please. And this was out in the driveway? Yes. Is she still breathing?

No, she's not breathing right now. Okay, we need to start CPR right now. Yes, we are. We're out of CPR, yes. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. How long has it been? It's her shower.

You didn't have to stop? It was, but it turns off. I've been checking. My God. Okay, is she breathing yet? Is she ready? No. Medics arrived and tried to save Parker, but it was simply too late.

Video from inside the home, it's blurred. Anything? Now get this. Christopher Schultes actually questions why the police officers are at his house. Well, you haven't seen someone with that now? What's going on? Why are you with me? Because we're first responders and we're on scene.

We're on the time to call us. anything like this happens they call us at one point shultus talks about his car parked in the driveway he said he left parker in it with the AC on just as he claimed in the 911 call the AC was on the AC was on you guys all hear from my MDX one parked on the black one okay the blue no blue Are you guys here for me? We're... We're... We want to do anything again at all this.

That's why you have somebody... It's my worst nightmare. Christopher Schultes is understandably very upset. This is an emergency of his own making. His wife is a doctor, and she's there. But she knows that there is nothing that can be done based on Parker's condition. She's dead. Like, I need to be like her with her.

Oh my God, my no. No! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! They're going to Northwest. Yeah, they're going to Banner right now. We're going to keep you updated with everything, okay? We just need to stand by with you right now, all right? Is that your wife out there?

Yes. Okay. We're going to make sure she gets down there okay. All right, we have officers escorting her down there. If we need to, we will drive her down there. And we'll make the same accommodations for you, all right? We'll keep you updated with everything they have. Officers are in the house with Christopher Schultes for some time, and then his wife called.

She wants me to try and get her ride to the hospital. Hey, we will accommodate that for you, all right? We're just gonna need to get a statement from you about what happened, what's been going on. Obviously, I know this isn't easy for you. Okay, it's not easy for anyone around right now. We're gonna keep you updated with everything we hear. Do you want to sit down somewhere? Where would you be most comfortable?

Sure. You want me to refill this for you? Can I sit? Is that all right? An officer gets Shultz to talk, and he offers an explanation as to why the car was parked in the driveway and not the garage. I'm sorry, this is all going on. We always parked that part in the garage, usually, but I just got a Peloton recently, and the Pelot time is in the garage now. So that's why it's not even in the garage. And how long was she sleeping in the car out there?

I want to say it was no more than 30, 45 minutes. And I don't think their air was off that entire time. I think there was a time in between. I checked on her last. It was still running. She was still sleeping. And then when I went back out, the car was off. Let's face it, you don't know when you might get hurt and need a lawyer. And if you do, Morgan and Morgan is a firm that will fight for you. This firm has more than a thousand lawyers. And that's because they win a lot. The firm has recovered more than $25 billion for more. more than 500,000 clients. Can you believe that in the last few months? A client in Florida got $12 million after the insurance company offered just $350,000. In PA, a client was awarded $26 million that was 40 times the insurer's $650,000 offer. Another client in Pennsylvania received $29 million after being offered only $500,000. So even if you think your case is not worth millions and millions of Why not start a claim and fight for what you deserve? Morgan and Morgan makes it truly so very easy. You can start a claim from your cell phone and just eight clicks.

So if you are ever hurt, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash crime fix by clicking the link below or scanning that QR code that you see right there on your screen. Shaltes wants to go to the hospital, but his plans don't work out exactly as he had hoped. Just to let you know, I don't want to feel like we're intruding, but we're going to have to stand by with you for a while, all right. There's a reason why. So any death, we have to treat like a crime scene. I know this is extremely difficult for you. This is a normal process that we have to follow through with.

I don't want you to be blindsided by anything, but that's what's going to be going on. for right now, okay? So I'm being treated like a murderer? No. I just lost my... Not at all. I know that. And I know this isn't easy for you.

That's why I'm trying to be straightforward and honest with you, okay? I don't want to keep any secrets. I don't want to hide anything for you. Someone's going to talk to you about what happened, though. All right? We will keep you updated with everything. Oh, man. our own family, like what whole family is going to be ruined.

We're going to be all right. So we can't let you do that right now. We have to stand by with you. Okay? As soon as you can, we will let you know. He's stay in the room if you want, but I'm going to be in time. I know this isn't easy for you, but the quicker we get this done and finish up, the sooner you can be with your wife, all right?

I'm trying to stand by with you. So I can go into the hospital to do with my wife. We're not going to shower anything right now. You need to stand by with us. I don't understand why. Christopher Shultes was later charged with second-degree murder and taken into custody. So remember how we talked about the investigation and things that would transpire? Okay.

And I told you, I'm always going to tell you guys the truth. There's no secrets here, right? So it's off of our investigation at this point, right? We have determined that there's probable cause to go ahead and charge you for what happened. Okay. Let's come out here, Christopher. It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. Okay, so listen, listen, this doesn't change.

This doesn't change what's going on. Okay, what happens at this point? It's simple, okay? What happens at this point is you are going to be taken in custody, and you will be booked, and then after you are, After your votes, you have an initial appearance of the judge within the first 24 hours. Okay. After the first 24 hours, right, the judge will determine law and things like that as far as what happens next.

At that point, the case goes to the courts. It'll be between you, it'll be between your attorneys, and it'll be between the county prosecutor. So, again, I can't change the consequences of what happened. All right. But what I'm going to ask of you. Okay. Did I just have you standing over me please? Come on, Chris. Let's go out here. Can you grab him some shoes? Come on. Come on. Christopher, it's okay. It's okay. That second degree murder charge was later upgraded to first degree murder. Prosecutors didn't believe that Christopher Schultes intended to kill Parker, but his children told investigators that he had left Parker in the car to nap. More than 50

times before, and there was this, a text exchange between Schultes and his wife as Parker was being rushed to the hospital. It said, I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you? Christopher responded, babe, I'm sorry. His wife responded, we've lost her. She was perfect. Christopher responded, babe, our family, how could I do this? I killed our baby. This can't be real. Christopher Schultes pleaded not guilty to the murder charges and his wife, Erica, was very supportive of him. I just wanted to say that no one understands how great of a tragedy this is more than myself, my girls, my remaining two daughters and Christopher. So not only do we have to move forward grieving for my daughter, but we potentially could be losing their father. So the absolute worst

case scenario for our family is if Chris would be away from us. We're already hurting. No one else shares this bond and this trauma like all of us, all four of us. I know the significant. of the tragedy, and I don't want you to think for a second that I underestimate the impact that it has on our lives, on everyone's lives, or that I'm undermining your concerns about the safety of those in our household. So I'm just asking if you can allow him to come home to us so we can all start the grieving process so that he can bury our daughter with us this upcoming week and that we can go through this poor process together as a family. Erica also said at the time that Christopher was the caregiver for their daughters because she works. He's an amazing father. He's a pillar of our community. He's been a coach for young kids. He's taken them to school every day. He's been the main caregiver. I work many hours. So they're all that he sees. This was a big mistake. And I think that this doesn't represent him. And I just want that the girls to see their father so that I don't have to tell them tonight that they're going to

endure another loss. One thing I didn't mention is that I have taken an extended leave from work so that I will be home with the kids. I just wanted to make that known. Back in July of 2024, police said that Christopher Schultes told them he didn't want to wake Parker. So he left her in the car with it running in the AC on. But then we found out that Parker may have been left in the car without the car running and that she was in the car for three hours. The medical examiner said the temperature in the car reached a temperature of 108 degrees this past March. Christopher Schultes was offered a plea agreement, but he turned it down. Mr. Schultes, be comfortable reading and writing in English.

All right, you've been able to understand the court proceedings? Yes. And have you had any drugs to alcohol or medication in the past 24 hours? Do you feel like you're thinking clearly today? And you've had the opportunity to consult with your attorney through serving a plea agreement. Yes. If you had questions.

about the plagiarment where they answer to your satisfaction? Do you understand that the state does not have to offer you this plea again after today? The exposure that the attorneys agree on is that if you are convicted of trial, you would face a possible natural life sentence on that count one and for the count two dangerous crimes against children. The sentencing range would be between 10 and 24 years. The presumptive sentence is 17 years. both of those would be flat-time sentences.

Do you have any questions about that? Exposure or trial, if you did go to trial, if you were convicted? Okay. The plea offered that has been extended to you is a second-degree murder, which would be an amended count one. The sentencing range exposure is 10 to 25 years. What is the presumptive, Mr. Charles, I'm sorry? 16.

The presumptive is 16 years. that would also be a flat-time sentence. Do you understand that that is a plea offer? Okay. And that there's a maximum statutory fine of $150,000 or can be up to 83% or charge as well. There is also a requirement that the court order of community supervision upon a completion of a prison sentence.

Are there any other operative terms of the court's overlooked? No, yeah. Mr. Derry? I don't believe so, you're on. Okay. Mr. Schultes, are you being threatened in any way to reject the claimant? Has anybody promised you anything outside of this courtroom or the cleaverment to compel you or help force you to reject the plea agreement?

This is your decision? Okay. And understanding the consequences and risks of going to trial? trial? Do you want to reject the state's plea offered to second degree murder? Right, the court does find that Mr. Schultes is knowingly voluntarily and intelligently projecting the plea agreement. But then this week, days before jury selection was set to begin and after a judge ruled that the jury would not hear that Christopher Schultes was searching for pornography while Parker was in the car dying, Christopher Schultes agreed to plead guilty to second degree murder and a child abuse charge. The county

attorney issued a statement. Today, Christopher Schultes accepted a plea agreement and pled guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of intentional slash knowing child abuse under circumstance likely to cause death or serious physical injury. Under the terms of the plea, the sentences imposed by the judge are going to run consecutively and Schultes will face a sentencing rage of 20 to 30 years of flat time, meaning he's not eligible for early release. He must serve the full sentence imposed by the court in the Department of Corrections for murdering PS on July 9th, 2024. We are grateful for the hard work and dedication of our prosecutors, victim advocates, staff for their collaboration with local law enforcement on this

complicated and high profile case. This is yet another reminder to the community that the Payment County Attorney's Office will do everything we can to get justice for victims and prosecute those who have caused harm to others, especially those who are most vulnerable. We're also getting a look at Christopher Schultes' history of being investigated for claims of child abuse in the past. The claims date back to 2017, and they include allegations that children were being verbally and physically abused, and that Schultes allegedly withheld medication. The claims were investigated, and all of them were deemed to be unsubstantiated. So I want to bring in Mark Weaver. He is a prosecutor based in Ohio, and there's something about people leaving their children in cars and hot cars and them dying that, Mark, I know, has really stuck with you since the beginning of your career. Talk to me a little bit about that and then about this case.

When I read about this case, it reminded me that long before I was a prosecutor, I think I was a lawyer. I was a young lawyer. I read about one of these cases where the parents had left a child in a hot car. to die a horrific death. And then I did some research back then and found out it actually happens a couple dozen times, if not more, every year. And so one of my first major op-ed editorials in a big city newspaper, I think it was the Atlanta paper, if I recall, was pointing out that there needs to be jail time, even though it's a tragedy, even though it wasn't intentional, there needs to be jail time, number one, because we need to have some recognition of wrongdoing. And number to send a message to others that your children are not your keys that you misplace and that you don't know where they are at a given time. I've not prosecuted a hot car child death case,

although I have prosecuted cases surrounding dead and abused children. So when this one came out, it reminded me of my early concerns and the fact that it's still happening is just as frustrating as it ever was. It really is, especially with all. of the things we have these days. And, you know, you can do all kinds of things, you know, the things they tell you to do. I know as a mom, they tell you to do things like put your purse in the backseat of the car. So you don't, you know, if you have mommy brain where you get forgetful, then there's something back there that you have to retrieve. So you don't maybe get into a routine and think that you've gotten your child out of the car. This case, though, is not one of those cases. The case involving

Christopher Schultz and his daughter, Piper. In this case, we have an allegation that he left Piper in the car a lot, that he did it routinely and that his wife had told him repeatedly, don't do this, quit doing that, and that he would do this and knew that the air conditioning could kick off. I mean, there are all these, you know, awful things. There are awful facts for Christopher Schultz in this case. Yeah, his wife is a medical doctor and had told him on numerous occasions to stop doing this. He has two other children.

Apparently, he did it with them as well. If this was leave the kid in the car for 10 minutes while you go inside to take the milk and the eggs out of the bag and put it in the fridge, that's one thing. This is allegedly three hours of him playing video games and looking at porn. The porn is not going to come in, apparently, a trial. but the playing video games for three hours. You have a child, I have children. Anyone who's raised children know that in the middle of the day, they tend not to nap for three hours.

That would be an extremely unusual nap. And so setting aside the notion that it's really shouldn't be leaving children alone in cars for all of the bad things that could happen. The amount of time and the number of warnings that this man had make this a very compelling case. And one of the things that's so ridiculous to me about this case is the fact that he tells the cops that the reason, you know, he couldn't put the car in the garage, you know, and it was really hot out that day. The car's parked out in the sun, but he couldn't put the car in the garage because the bike, the exercise bike, was out there. And then he leaves her out there in the car anyway, leaves her out there for hours.

I mean, even leaving her out there for five minutes would have been too long. even for two minutes would have been way too long, especially in that heat, they charge him with first degree murder. That is a really significant charge. And they did that because of the history here and because of the testimony of the children that's anticipated and the fact that this was done repeatedly and he knew better and should have known better. Sure. It's first degree murder because it's felony murder, which is one of the ways in most states to get to the highest murder charge is being responsible for the death of somebody else, even if it's not intentional, this was not intentional, but the death of somebody else while committing another felony. Now, most of these

felony murder cases are while committing a kidnapping, while committing an armed robbery. But in this case, it's while committing child endangerment at the felony level. And his history of having done it is what really makes the charge here. Is this a tough sell, though, to a jury who sees a father and they're like, wow, he didn't mean to do this, but it's not that he didn't mean to do it. You know, you might be able to pick a sympathetic jury, but there probably are enough parents on that jury or people on that jury who know you shouldn't be leaving a child in a car repeatedly like that. Even in your own driveway, it just sounds dangerous. What is dangerous? Not the least of which cars get stolen and every year there are accounts of cars being stolen with children in the back. It doesn't happen all

the time, but it happens enough that parents should be thinking about it. Some of your viewers know that I just recently prosecuted the case where mother and father had a very aggressive pit bull mixed dog that mauled their baby infant, six-month-old child to death, and I'm in the middle of the sentencing process for each of those right now. We did not go to a jury, but one of the considerations had we gone to a jury is similar to what's happening here. You have to wonder whether there's one or two jurors who simply say, the death, the loss, the guilt is punishment enough. And I therefore don't want to vote to convict and add further punishment on the head of a parent who will have to live with this upsetting outcome for the rest of his or her life.

Christopher Schultz already turned down one plea offer in this case. So he's already said once, I'm going to trial. And do you think that his lawyer is saying to him, look, you should take a deal? Or do you think the lawyer is saying, you know, we can win this? That's an aggressive lawyer who says, let's roll the dice on first degree murder. given how bad these facts are and given how angry most jurors would be. There's usually a lot happening below the surface that we can't see from the filings or from the public court settings. In most hearings before we have with the judge, we'll be back with the judge beforehand,

both lawyers and the judge talking about things that never are made public. So prosecutors are not supposed to talk about plea bargains about to happen publicly. And so the fact that they're talking about it means there could be one. And both sides are always interested in getting a good result without having to risk a bad result. So Christopher Schultz has agreed to plead to a lesser charge. What are your thoughts on that, Mark? This is not unexpected. In every one of these cases, the prosecutor knows that he or she is taking a risk of having the jury quit or hang.

And, of course, the defendant is taking a risk. So in this case, with this plea agreement, each side gets some certainty about the outcome. The prosecution knows that they're going to get a conviction. The defense knows that they're going to get an offense level that's less than that they would have had if he had gone to trial. So this is why so many of our cases are pled out, not because it's not important to stand for justice, but each side has an interest in seeing this resolved in some way. Do you think it getting so close to trial, you know, we're on the eve of jury selection? do you think that's why maybe you know Christopher Schultz warmed to the idea of a plea

I've seen many cases settle right before trial if the judge will allow it some judges are kind of harsh about this they say no pleas a week out unless it's to the indictment because you can always plead to the indictment but smart and prudent judges will allow the the the pressure of the inbound trial to force a resolution if it's going to happen anyway That's likely what happened here. You know, it's a really disturbing case because that little girl, it doesn't matter if it was unintentional or not. I mean, that little sweet little girl, she couldn't get out of that car seat. There was nothing she could do.

She was strapped in there and she literally, she would have literally cooked from the inside out. I mean, think about that. She's in there taking a nap. And I just, as a mom, it just makes me sick. Yeah. Parents have this important caretaker role and protector role for their children. And parents who set that aside to go play video games or do other distractions, probably shouldn't have been parents in the first place.

None of us is perfect. We all make mistakes. This is a serious mistake. And it came about not from mere carelessness. This is criminal recklessness. And this is endangering children. And the thought of what that child went through when the person who was supposed, to be protecting her was the one who left her to make to death. It breaks, it breaks my heart.

Yeah, it's just, it's just horrible. And you know that Christopher Schultz realized what had happened and how bad it was. But at the same time, it's like, you've been told how many times, according to the information we've seen not to do this. I mean, the wife says it in the text messages. It's just horrifying. Mark Weaver, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Thank you, Anjanet. Christopher Shultes will be sentenced next month. And again, he faces anywhere between 20 and 30 years in prison. And law and crime will have that covered for you.

I'm Anjanet Levy. Thanks so much for joining me for this episode of Crime Fix. I'll see you back here next time.