Law&Crime Sidebar - Hot Car Dad Slammed with Horrifying Lawsuit Before Shocking Death

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

Christopher Scholtes was found dead just days before he was to begin a 20-30 year prison sentence for the hot car death of his 2-year-old daughter Parker. Now, another of his children has filed a lawsuit against him, exposing more family secrets. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber takes a closer look at the new lawsuit with Arizona trial attorney Dwane Cates.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://forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY 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.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. She's dead. Like, I need to be with her when I go. Oh, my God. I know. No. There really seems to be no end to the heartbreak and pain of this story.

Arizona dad, Christopher Shultes, was supposed to start a 20 to 30-year prison sentence for killing his two-year daughter Parker. by leaving her in a hot car in the blazing Arizona summer heat. But instead, he was found dead in the home that he shared with his wife. And now we have learned just days before he was going to report to prison, another of his children filed a lawsuit against him, exposing even more alleged family secrets. We are taking a closer look at this brand new lawsuit and what this means. Welcome to Sidebar.

Presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. I can't talk a lawsuit like this. I can't talk major litigation like this without mentioning experts in the field are sponsor Morgan and Morgan. Why? Because they're America's largest personal injury law firm. They're a firm with over 1,000 attorneys who have recovered $25 billion for more than 500,000 clients. In fact, in the past few months alone, a client in Florida received $12 million when insurance offered just $350,000. Out in Pennsylvania, another client was awarded $26 million. That is 40 times the insurer's offer.

Morgan and Morgan, they make it so easy to fight for what you deserve. You can start a claim from your phone. So if you're injured, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash LC sidebar. You can click the link below or you can scan the QR code on screen. She was sleeping at the car and I had the car on, but it has a sensor where every 30 minutes or so it'll turn off if I haven't moved. I swore she was in the house playing with her sisters like she always does. In July 2024, Christopher Schultes left his car running in his driveway in Marana, Arizona,

with his two-year-old daughter Parker asleep in her car seat inside. He would tell police that the car would automatically shut off after 30 minutes if it hadn't moved, but he only planned to leave her there for a few minutes so he didn't have to wake her right then. He then allegedly forgot about her while he played video games and watched porn. This is according to prosecutors. By the time his wife Erica, a doctor, returned home from work, Parker had been in that car for hours, temperatures rising to 109 degrees, and she ultimately died. And this apparently wasn't the first time that Schultes had forgotten about one of his children. The complaint filed against him, said, quote, Christopher received text messages from his wife while the two-year-old was being transported to the hospital, stating,

I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you? He responded, babe, I'm sorry. She said, we've lost her. She was perfect. He responds, babe, our family, how could I do this? I killed our baby. This can't be real.

Now, Sheltes was indicted on first-degree murder and child abuse charges. And he originally rejected a plea deal that was offered up by the Pima County Attorney's Office. But then, as the trial date got closer, he apparently changed his mind, agreeing to plead guilty to second-degree murder and child abuse. But then we go to November 5th, and there was this shocking news. We expected to be in court this morning because the father had accepted a plea agreement to second-degree murder, which could have carried as much as 30 years in prison.

But 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. And in yet another twist, we have learned that in the days before Christopher Shultus ended his life, another one of his children filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of everything from battery to sexual abuse. That is what we want to get into as we're still trying to learn more about this man, his life, the accusations, his choices, how it led to the death of his baby. What is the background here? All right, so to talk about this latest legal maneuvering what we should make of all this. I want to welcome Arizona trial attorney Dwayne Cates. Dwayne, thanks so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it. Before we even

get into the complaint here, I mean, we were shocked, shocked by the news of what happened to Christopher Schultes. I mean, on the eve of what had happened with his criminal case. What was your reaction to that? Well, it's not unheard of. I mean, again, like I said previously, that, you know, normally when you're going to be doing a long prison sentence, at the change a plea, they take you into custody because for this very reason, because people skip, they kill themselves, all kinds of crazy things happen. So they usually take them into custody. In this case, they didn't. And so, you know, we're living with the aftermath. Okay, so this lawsuit was filed in Maricopa County Superior Court on October 28th by Schultes's biological daughter. By the way,

she's still a minor right now. So we won't be identifying her. She turns 18. apparently later this month. But this action is being brought by Lindsay Eisenberg. She is acting as her, quote, next friend, apparently a person filing on behalf of somebody else. So the lawsuit names Christopher Schultes and his wife, Erica, as defendants. And when talking about Erica, she seemingly showed support for her husband during this very turbulent court case, even speaking out in court on his behalf. Take a listen. 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 with 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 significance 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 process together as a family.

Now, according to this lawsuit, according to Shelton's daughter, Erica, is complicit. allegedly complicit alongside Christopher in a pattern of repeated physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, which she claims, which she alleges, happened when she was in their custody from 2016 to 2021. So from the age of 8 to 13. Dwayne, this teen can still sue Erica, but if Christopher's gone, what is that, what kind of impact does that have on the lawsuit? Well, I mean, you know, she can sue anybody she wants, okay? And the question is, is, is there is there money out there for her to get okay and and i'm guessing there's a homeowner's policy or something that that they found that they can go after so they just have to have a

plaintiff you know or a defendant they they don't have to have you know this specifically him and they can go after erika saying she should have known or she saw this going on or she knew this was happening and it's her and it's her negligence also and because it happened at the house I'm guessing the homeowner's policy is going to be in effect. Now, the lawsuit states, quote, the abuse included physical assault, verbal degradation, intimidation, neglect, and exposure to unsafe and traumatic living conditions. And the complaint also addresses multiple reports to the Arizona Department of Child Safety, which it says, quote, failed to take any protective action.

We're going to get into that in just a minute. But first, but again, the lawsuit notes what happened in the criminal case, that Schultes entered that guilty plea to second degree murder. Dwayne, does the criminal action affect the civil case in any way? Well, they do because if you're convicted of something, you can't come back in a civil suit and say, I didn't do it. Okay. So because it's a higher standard, it's beyond a reasonable doubt. So if you're convicted, you know, it holds up in a civil case.

And in this case, he specifically pled guilty and went through a plea qualically where he admits he did it. he understands, you know, so that, that'll hold up in a civil case. Well, the difference being right, he pleads guilty to essentially the murder of his two-year-old daughter, this lawsuit is about his other child. So could she come out and say, listen, he just pled guilty to murdering this child, that substantiates my allegations against him about what happened to me? It's not going to substantiate the allegation so much the conviction, but it's going to be, it's going to be all the evidence that was brought in.

It's like the text message from the wife that said, you know, I told you over and over again to quit leaving the kids in the car, you know, that's going to substantiate her claims. And it's going to be hard to deny it after all the evidence that came out. Now, according to this lawsuit, it then reads, quote, defendant Erica Schultes, aided, abetted, and or directly participated in the abuse of plaintiff and in maintaining a violent and unsafe home environment. The murder of Parker Schultes was the culmination of a long pattern of abuse, neglect, and violence that defendants inflicted upon the children in their care. And according to Schultes's daughter, he actually had her placed in a conservatorship in 2020,

which she claims was fraudulent, that it was done so he could control her finances. According to the lawsuit, at the time, Maricopa County Superior Court had ordered plaintiff returned to the custody of her biological mother, but defendant Christopher, ignored the order and continue to hold himself out as her conservator. Defending Christopher unlawfully collected government benefits and financial support in plaintiff's name under the false conservatorship and for his own personal gain. Defendant Erica Schultes aided abetted and or benefited from the proceeds of the fraudulent scheme. Yeah, Dwayne, I wanted to ask you about this.

You have Schulte's daughter who is still a minor. Her guardians already have control over pretty much everything I would imagine. So why get a conservatorship? Is it related to the custody issues? And what do you make of this claim? Well, a conservatorship means that he can control her finances and collect her government benefits on her behalf. Okay. And so he wanted that so that he could control the money.

Now, the problem is once he no longer had custody of her, then he should not have been the conservator anymore. And it should have been changed. He didn't go back in and change it. He didn't notify the courts that he was no longer. longer, you know, that she was no longer in his custody. And so, you know, it technically is fraudulent, and he shouldn't have been the conservator at that point. And by the way, if you're Erica, what do you do as a defense? I mean, again, what an interest, what a difficult time for her,

right, dealing with the loss of her child, Christopher's going, you know, Christopher's dead, being sued. What is her defense going to be? Is she going to put the impetus on him? Is she going to say, I don't have any knowledge of any of this whatsoever. These allegations are without merit. What do you imagine a defense from her? And then I'll get into the causes of action. Well, absolutely. She's going to be pointing the finger at the dead guy because, you know,

the problem is it's a community property state. And the assets that they're going to go after are the community property assets. And so she's going to say, well, you know, the text messages I had were about, you know, the daughter that died, not this daughter. I didn't say he left her in the car all the time. So she's going to, she's going to defend herself saying, I had no idea. I had no idea what he did with this girl. And it's going to be up to the trier of fact to try to figure out what happened.

I want to just go back to the next friend who's filing the lawsuit, Lindsay Eisenberg, on behalf of this daughter. She told the Daily Mail, quote, she has made allegations that Chris drugged her so he could sexually assault her. He was physically abusive multiple times, constantly called her a mistake, and a piece of bleep, would limit her food, which was dangerous, and had her locked in a room most of the time. Now, this teen is suing under five causes of action in this lawsuit. Intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and battery, child abuse, fraud, financial exploitation, and conversion, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Dwayne, which of those stand out to you?

well the intention intentional infliction of emotional distress is is a bit is a bit hard to prove the conversion is is the simplest one that's just saying that hey he was taking her government benefits and she and and not for her benefit so he was stealing her money basically is is the conversion claim so you know and then negligence you know just causing her her uh pain and suffering and negligence is is another good one. Yeah, it's especially good for Erica because, you know, she was negligent in knowing that this was going on and stopping, and not stopping it. And Eisenberg, again, the person who is filing this lawsuit on behalf of this daughter, also told the Daily Mail that this teen wants to fight for custody of her half-sisters when she turns 18, which, again, seems to be happening about 10 days. So Schultes and his wife, they had two surviving daughters, six and 10.

Dwayne, according to the Daily Mail, the teen also has a child of her own. And when you think about that, what are the chances that she would be able to get custody of her half-sisters? Well, it's going to be a bit difficult because the system favors the parent. Okay. Now, now this parent, you know, the surviving parent has some issues, okay, because she wasn't very, you know, all this happened on her watch. And so it's possible. But the problem is she's, you know, 18 years old, you know, and she's going to be, she's going to be raising three children at 18 years old, not that she can't or not capable of doing it. But it's going to be a bit of a stretch for the court to do that.

But you never know. I mean, if she wins a big chunk of money in a lawsuit, then she can say, hey, I've got the means, you know, to help raise these children, you know. But at 18 years old, you know, I don't know that she has them, the means to. do it at this point. Now I want to dig into something I mentioned before, this Department of Child Safety reports that were included as Exhibit 3 in the lawsuit. And they lay out the multiple allegations of abuse, which DCS apparently chose not to take further action on for one reason or another. We'll talk about why. Because the Schultes children are minors, though, they're of course not named in the DCS reports, but based on the dates, it's our understanding, it's our belief

that these allegations were made in connection with Schultes's eldest daughter. However, we do not know who made these reports to the ECS. We don't have all the information. They were included as part of the department's investigation into Parker's death. So let's talk about it. The document reads, quote, on June 28, 2014, a report was received alleging physical abuse to a child by their father, Mr. Schultes. The report alleged that Mr. Schultes slapped the child and squeezed her arm causing bruising. There were no bruises observed on the child by the DCS specialist. The DCS investigation did not find evidence to support the allegations, and the child was assessed as safe. Next report from January 2017 makes similar claims. On January 23rd, 2017, a report was received

alleging physical abuse to a child by their father, Mr. Schultes. The report alleged that the father hit the child and left bruises. The father admitted to spanking the child, but there were no bruises left or observed by the DCS specialist. And while there was a wide gap between the first and second reports to DCS, the third came just a few months later, quote, on September 26, 2017. A report was received alleging neglect, physical abuse, and emotional abuse to a child by their father, Mr. Schultes, and neglect to the child by their stepmother. The report alleged that Mr. Schultes slapped the child, causing them to lose their breath,

and that the child is left to manage their diabetes without parental oversight. The next official report of neglect came in February of 4,000. 2019. Quote, the report alleged the father yells at the child excessively and tells the child things to break them mentally, such as calling them by foul names and referring to them as a mistake. So you're seeing the pattern of allegations here. Then we jump ahead to December of 2019, where it says the report alleged that the father has not allowed the child to engage in therapy and calls them derogatory names. During the investigation, Mr. Schultes disclosed not being able to afford the therapy services and the child expressed the desire to reside with their mother.

few months later, April 2020, we have this. The report alleged that the child was kicked out of the father's home and sent with family. And then in September of 2020, another report alleging emotional abuse by both Schultes and Erica. Quote, the report alleged that the child was experiencing suicidal ideation due to their father and stepmother treating them differently than the other children in the home and calling the child names. November of that year, quote, the report alleged the father and stepmother were verbally abusive towards the child and called them derogatory names. And almost every allegation listed in this report ends with a variation in these lines. The DCS investigation did not result in evidence to support the allegations,

and the child was assessed as safe in Mr. Shelters' home. The allegations were unsubstantiated, the family was provided with information on services available in the community, and the case was closed. I got to ask, do we, did, you know, did DCS, did they drop the ball here? And also you have to wonder why are they not named in the lawsuit? And that's an interesting question. Partially because they have qualified immunity, and it's really hard to pierce that. And there's also a requirement that you have to send them a notice of claim within six months of you knowing that you have a claim. So, you know, it's difficult.

It's onerous to get into that. And I've tried before. But the thing with DCS, they probably dropped the ball, but DCS seems to swing back and forth in Arizona. Sometimes they will bring claims, I mean, on the flimsyest claim, they'll go after somebody. And sometimes there can be claim after claim after claim, and they can be unsubstantiated and they end up in a tragedy. And that happens. When there's that many claims, it usually ends up in a tragedy. And they've got to come up with a better system.

Well, these reports in and of themselves, if they didn't lead to the children being taken away or anything of that nature, if you have these reports as an exhibit, is that enough in a civil case to prove like child abuse, right? One of the claims that they're suing for, is it enough to prove intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress? If you have a documented history of reports, yes, they didn't lead to further action. Yes, they might not have been substantiated. Is that enough for a jury in a civil case to say that Erica and Christopher Schultes are liable? Well, again, it's a preponderance of the evidence in a civil court. It just means it's more likely than not that the claim is true, not that proven beyond a reasonable doubt. And so the fact that the reports were made and there were so many of them, I think it's going to weigh heavy on a jury.

I think that the jury's going to go, you know, what was CPS doing? They should have known. And what does it mean when something's unsubstantiated? I imagine if you're talking about verbal abuse, emotional abuse, sometimes, I mean, how do you prove that? Is it the children's words against the guardian or parents? When you hear that it wasn't able to be substantiated or unsubstantiated, what does that mean?

It just means that they looked into it and they couldn't find any hard evidence that it happened. And by looking into it, they usually interview the parents. They usually interviewed the kid. They interviewed any other kids in the household. And after their investigation, they're saying, you know, we can't, they're not saying it didn't happen. They're just saying that we can't prove that it happened.

Now, the final claim that was referenced in the DCS report is from December 2020. And it reads, quote, the report alleged that the father never filled prescriptions and medications for the child and was refusing to set up behavioral health services for the child. The DCS investigation did not result in evidence to support the allegations, as the medications were filled. Their distribution was being overseen by the parents and the child was enrolled in services. The allegations were unsubstantiated. The child transitioned to their mother's care. The family was referred for in-home services and the case was closed in April 2021. Now, according to the lawsuit, the teen went to live with her mother at this point and sadly

her mom apparently passed away in 2024, leaving her without a caregiver or guardian, which is where Lindsay Eisenberg comes in. Also, Dwayne, Christopher, he might be gone. still here from a criminal point of view, could the DA potentially pursue charges, I mean, against her based on these reports, based on these allegations? Is that a possibility? Well, it's always a possibility. You can charge anybody with anything. However, she can probably be charged with child neglect. Okay. So there's a child abuse charge that she could probably be charged with, you know, simply based on her, her text message where she said, I told you over and over again to not do that. And again, that would be, the text message would be in

her defense saying, listen, I told him not to do it. I was mad at him for doing it. I didn't just let him do it. I was trying to stop it. And so, but again, they could. I doubt they will. Now, the DCS paperwork provided an update on that teen's half siblings in the wake of two-year-old Parker's death. It says, quote, following an assessment of child safety, the siblings in the home were assessed as safe in their mother's care. The allegations of neglect to Parker by her father Christopher Schultes were substantiated. The family was provided with information on services available in the community and the case was closed. Now, this also includes details of a new claim that was submitted to the department. And this includes, this alleges, sexual abuse.

A subsequent report was received on June 27, 2025, with allegations of neglect and physical abuse to a sibling by their father and stepmother. The report also includes an allegation of sexual abuse to the sibling by the father, Christopher Schultes, that was alleged to have occurred in 2020. The investigation resulted in the removal of one child from the father's home, but the other siblings were determined to not be in present danger and remained in the home. The case remains open and the department is providing services to the child. And DCS says a, quote, multi-disciplinary team, known as an MDT, is reviewing the Schultes case to, quote, assess and guide future changes and our recommendations to, quote, improve the quality of outcomes for children

and families, and it expects a report on the MDT's findings to come out in December. Dwayne, what should we take away from that? Well, you know, I mean, it's an allegation. He's dead, so they can't prosecute him for it. And, you know, and DCS is basically admitting that they have. have some problems and that they drop the ball and they're going to look into it and they're going to try to figure out what they did wrong and how to do better, which is what they should do. Final point about this lawsuit. So the lawsuit doesn't provide, at least as far as I can see,

maybe you saw different, but it doesn't provide a clear dollar amount of the damages that she's seeking here. It says that the amount exceeds $50,000, that she's apparently looking for damages related to severe emotional distress, mental anguish, PTSD, economic loss from the alleged. fraudulent conservatorship, past and future therapy expenses. What are we looking at here in terms of a number? What are we looking at in terms of potential settlement number? And what are we looking at if this does go to trial and there is a full accounting of liability, right? The Schultes, Erica and Christopher, they're found liable.

What are numbers we might be looking at here? Well, number one, the numbers are going to be what the policy limits of the insurance claim are. okay it's also going to depend on the shaltese uh what assets they have now there's their their home is most likely a certain amount is exempt you know certain things they have there's exempt property and most people if you just sue them don't have the kind of funds to go after now i they might okay and so that might add to it but again it you know you could come up with a you know five million dollar, you know, number, but that makes no difference if there's no money out there to pay it. So these things usually settle for what the insurance company is willing to pay. And again,

if the insurance company believes they're on the hook for this, they're going to offer policy limits. And it's usually around, you know, 300,000, could be a million. Is it tough to prove those kind of damages, though? Well, yes and no. I mean, again, you don't have to prove it if it's a settlement. You only have to prove it if you go to trial. Right. And 95, 98% of cases don't go to trial. But if you go to trial, you know, she gets up on the stand and she cries and she says how horrible her life is and how bad things are. And they use her psychologist. Her psychologist will come in and testify about how this has affected her life. And, you know, and they'll put on it, they'll put on a big show. And, you know, you'll see what, you know, we'll see what the jury comes up with.

But, you know, this case will never see a jury. Why do you say that? Well, because the insurance company is going to pay, okay, you know, they want no part of this, okay? And so they're going to offer policy limits. And then again, it just comes down to the amount that's, that's, of money that's collectible from the Schultes. And if they, if they're, if they're not collectible, then it'll end, it'll end there. But wouldn't Erica want to, you know, if she might want to deny all these allegations, these are very serious allegations against her and Christopher, wouldn't she want to fight it?

Well, yeah. And again, if you, you know, if you fight it and your insurance company, you know, tenders policy limits, then, you know, then you're on the hook for anything over that. Okay. You're on the hook. So, so, you know, in order to protect that what assets. they have left, it's generally, you know, worth settling. And again, 95, 98% of these cases settle. Only two or three percent go to trial. There's only two reasons to go to trial.

If you got nothing to lose or you think you can win. Dwayne Cates, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Thank you for having me on. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. podcast. You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.