An Arizona father hung his head in shame while making his first court appearance since being charged in the careless death of his toddler daughter, who was left in a hot car to die.

Christopher Scholtes, 37, faced charges in court on Thursday of first degree murder leveled by a grand jury after originally being arrested on a lesser charge of second degree murder.  He pleaded not guilty.

He was arrested last month after his two-year-old daughter Parker was found unresponsive in his car outside their home in Marana, Arizona, on a day when temperatures reached 109F.

Scholtes’ other children, aged five and nine, told police that he spent the afternoon playing video games, and investigators said neighborhood surveillance showed Parker may have been left for over three hours.

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Christopher Scholtes seen in court on Thursday, where the charges against him were escalated from second degree to first degree murder over the death of his daughter

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His daughter Parker Scholtes, 2, died in a hot car in front of her home on July 6 after she was left there for allegedly three hours on a 109F day

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The escalation of Scholtes’ charges from second degree to first degree murder are significant, and show that prosecutors believe the father intentionally killed his daughter.

While second degree murder usually stands on reckless behavior leading to death, first degree murder requires the death was premeditated and deliberate.

At his first court appearance Thursday, Scholtes, wearing a grey suit, appeared to hang his head in shame but remained silent as the formal notice of charges were brought against him.

He only briefly spoke a few words in court and refused to speak to reporters after the hearing, per KGUN9.

On the day Parker died, July 6, Scholtes told police he arrived home around 2:30pm, and left his daughter in the car because she was sleeping. She was discovered by his wife when she returned from work at 4pm.

However, Arizona detectives said they obtained neighborhood surveillance that showed Scholtes’ Honda Acura SUV actually arrived around 12:50pm.

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Scholtes told police that when he arrived home, Parker (pictured together) was asleep in the back seat and he didn’t want to wake her

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Scholtes’ wife Erika, a medical doctor, found her daughter unresponsive after arriving home from work, and Parker was tragically pronounced dead after being rushed to hospital

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Parker in a family photo taken in March with her parents and two older sisters, who reportedly told police Christopher had often left them in the car with the air conditioning on

Scholtes’ children reportedly said he would routinely leave them in the car with the air conditioning running, and police claimed that he understood that the vehicle automatically turned off after 30 minutes.

When Parker’s mother, medical doctor Erika Scholtes, 35, returned home, she asked her husband where their daughter was, and Christopher reportedly searched for her around their home before remembering she was in his car.

Temperatures that afternoon reached 109F in Arizona, and Parker was rushed to her mother’s hospital, Banner University Medical Center Tucson, where Erika worked as an anesthesiologist.

Tragically, Parker was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Text messages sent between Christopher and Erika at the time showed her berating her husband, telling him: ‘I told you to stop leaving them in the car. How many times have I told you?’

He responded: ‘Babe, I’m sorry!’

‘We’ve lost her. She was perfect,’ Erika texted back.

Scholtes responded: ‘Babe, our family. How could I do this? I killed our baby. This can’t be real.’

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Parker with her mother Erika and her two sisters at the front of their home in Tucson on Halloween, a few feet from where she died

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In heartbreaking text messages, Erike Scholtes berated her husband over the tragedy and said: ‘We’ve lost her. She was perfect’

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Scholtes posted adorable photos of the girl online, including one his wife took in February this year of him asleep while snuggling with the little girl, which he captioned: ‘A Fathers Comfort’

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Scholtes posted a photo of his wife in the operating room on International Women’s Day with a post celebrating her achievements

Scholtes is facing life in prison if found guilty of first-degree murder, and although the death penalty is on the table under state law, KGUN9 reports that the Pima County Attorney typically does not ask for the death penalty.

Scholtes and Erika started dating on October 19, 2012, according to a post Scholtes made on their 10th anniversary.

‘Ten amazing years with this woman. Can’t wait for the rest!’ he wrote.

The couple appear to have taken a number of vacations together in the year before Parker’s death.

They shared a number of smiling selfies from these trips, including skiing in Banff in February, with their older daughters in tow, and a beach holiday to Cancun in March with the whole family.

The couple also traveled through Europe in June, Seattle in October, and Sedona in June last year, just the two of them.

Parker was born at the end of October 2021, and within weeks had her first trip to Disneyland with her parents and two older sisters.

Scholtes posted adorable photos of the girl online, including one his wife took in February this year of him asleep while snuggling with the little girl.

‘I call this one A Fathers Comfort,’ the dad, who also coached his daughter’s softball team, wrote next to the photo.

Another photo showed a crayon drawing she made, captioned ‘struggling artist’, and another with her dressed up.

‘Raising a menace to society, hat tilted like her attitude, and her vicious pit bull ready to attack,’ Scholtes wrote.