An Arizona man entered a not guilty plea on Thursday in connection with last month’s hot-car death of his 2-year-old daughter.

Christopher Scholtes remains out of custody despite being charged with first-degree murder and child abuse for his daughter’s July 9 death. KOLD reported that Schlotes was initially charged with second-degree murder, but a grand jury indicted him for first-degree murder on August 1.

Schlotes allegedly left his sleeping daughter in his car despite knowing the car had an automatic shut-off feature which would also turn off the air conditioning after 30 minutes.  According to police, Scholtes claimed the toddler was in the car for 45 minutes — but surveillance footage indicated that she remained in the car for three hours until his wife got home.

According to KOLD, Scholtes’ wife texted him, “I told you to stop leaving them in the car, How many times have I told you,” while their daughter was being transported to the hospital.

Text messages between the pair reportedly also indicated that Schlotes was distracted by a video game when his daughter was left in a hot car. Scholtes’ surviving children, ages 9 and 5, allegedly told authorities that their father routinely left them in the car.

It was 109 degrees on the day Scholtes’ daughter died. KOLD reported that the vehicle was parked in direct sunlight, as Scholtes said he did not park in the garage because exercise equipment was in the way.

A case management hearing is scheduled for next month, prior to a pretrial hearing that is set for October.

Eighteen children have died in hot cars this year, including Scholtes’ daughter. According to No Heat Stroke, 29 children died of vehicular heatstrokes in 2023.

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