October 27, 2025 • 44 mins
Christopher Scholtes runs errands, then heads inside once he's home just before 1 p.m.
He leaves his 2-year-old daughter, Parker, in the running car in the driveway with the air conditioner on Scholtes has a habit of leaving the children in the car alone and knows from previous experience his Acura MDX will automatically shut off the engine and air conditioner after 30 minutes.
Wife, Dr Erika Scholtes arrives home around 4pm and sees husband Chris and their two older daughters ages 9 and 5, but doesn't see Parker. Chris begins looking in all the rooms of the house, then suddenly runs outside. The outside temperature is 109 degrees when 2-year-old Parker is removed from the vehicle unresponsive, strapped in her child restraint system
Chris Scholtes calls 911 as Dr Erika Scholtes performs CPR on her daughter. Parker is transported to the same hospital her mother works as an anesthesiologist, Banner University Medical Center.
At 4:58 p.m. Parker is pronounced dead. Christopher Scholtes is charged with child abuse and second degree murder.
6 months before his trial is to start, Scholtes is offered a plea deal from prosecutors that would require him to plead guilty to second-degree murder, but he would be sentenced to no more than 10 years in prison. Scholtes turns it down.
Days before his trial is to start, a shocking announcement, Scholtes agrees to plead guilty. The Pima County Attorney's office says he will face 20 to 30 years behind bars and is ineligible for parole.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Josh Kolsrud - Criminal Defense Attorney and Former Assistant U.S. Attorney, Founder of Kolsrud Law Offices; Facebook and YouTube @KolsrudLawOffices
- Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker," and featured in hit show "Paris in Love" on Peacock; Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, X: @DrBethanyLive
- Chris McDonough – Director at the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective; Host of YouTube channel: “The Interview Room”
- Dr. Kendall Crowns - Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), NEW Podcast "Mayhem in the morgue" Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University)
- Erika Wurst - Public Safety Reporter for the Arizona Daily Star
- Dave Mack - Investigative Reporter, ‘Crime Stories’
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A little girl just two
years old bakes dead dies in a scorching hot car
while daddy, the doctor's husband, is inside in the air condition,
(00:22):
surfing porn and guzzling shotlifted beer. Okay, what I said
that correctly? I'm sure that I did. A female doctor's
husband they have money to buy beer, is guzzling shop
lifted beer and surfing porn while his two year old daughter,
(00:48):
strapped in a car seat facing the sun directly bakes
dead in a car while mommy is at work. I
Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I want to thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
In a shocking incident and Arizona father left his two
year old daughter in a car as temperature soared to
a deadly one hundred and nine degrees, resulting in a
heartbreaking tragedy.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Just imagine the heat in Arizona when little Parker is
strapped in her car taking a nap for what three
four hours while dad claims he's playing games. Turns out
he's surfing porn guzzling shotlifted beer. One thing I found
(01:41):
very effective when trying cases is to start the case
off right, and that is taking the jury to the
moment of the incident, whatever that incident might be. With
a nine to one one call the real thing, the
unvarnished truth, the unadded on fieltered reality. Let's listen.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
One, what's the address?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
My big was in the cars of Okay, hold on
in trency in the medical dispatches, Dana Line ook hour.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
It was when it burns off. I've been checking, my god,
she was in the car.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Three things, she's on the sponsor okay, and who is.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
My daughter?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
My daughter? And this was out in the driveway.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
Doctor Erica Schultz arrives home around four PM and sees
husband Chris, and two daughters, ages nine and five, but
doesn't see Parker. Chris begins looking in all the rooms
of the house, then suddenly runs outside the accurate and
the driveways off. The air conditioner is off. The outside
temperature is one hundred and nine degrees. Two year old
Parker is removed from the vehicle, unresponsive, strapped in her
(03:03):
child restraint system.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Hold on, because I'm hearing two people speaking to the
nine to one one dispatch operator. I hear a man
and a woman, and I hear the man saying, oh,
my god, Oh my god. I hear the woman saying,
how long has it been? And the man says an hour.
The woman says, you didn't have the car on, it was,
but it turns off right there. I'm looking down because
(03:28):
I'm reading verbat and what was said on that nine
one call right there? The dad acknowledges he knows that car,
that type of car, that making model, turns off after
thirty minutes. The engine turns off and so does the
air condition He knew that when he went inside to
(03:49):
watch porn. Yeah, listen, she still breathing.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
No, you're not breathing right now. Okay, we need to
start CPR right now. Yeah, we are red. The helpers
on the way to you. I need to hear CPR.
I need them to count it out for me one two,
one two. But my life, the doctor, my wife, the doctor.
Tom Okay, Oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
Christopher Schultz returns home from running errands and realizes his
two year old daughter, Parker, is a sleep in her
car seat, leaves her in the running car with the
air conditioner on.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
What in the world. Straight out to doctor Bethany Marshall,
renowned psycho analy's joining us out of LA. You can
see her now on peacock is. She is the author
of deal Breaker. She's at doctor Bethany Marshall dot com. Wow,
daddy has been living a good life. All he has
to do is watch porn and drink beer. Wait a minute,
(04:45):
while mom's out working, she's the doctor. She's making the living. Fine,
My mom made a living too. My dad also worked.
But all he has to do. But can I see Bethany, please, Bethany,
all he has is one job, and granted it's a
big job, the most important job. Forget the doctor. The
(05:10):
job of raising the three girls and ensuring their safety
day and day out. That's his job. He has one
thing to do. Does he have to cook a gourmet
meal at night?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
No?
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Does he have to clean the house?
Speaker 6 (05:23):
No?
Speaker 1 (05:24):
One job, one thing, and he didn't do it.
Speaker 7 (05:30):
Nancy, you know I have not treated or evaluated this guy,
But if this family was my patient, I would.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Wonder a couple of things.
Speaker 7 (05:38):
First of all, did this guy have children so that
he didn't have to work? Sometimes people hide behind children,
They have them to avoid responsibility. What about the shoplifted beer?
Is he shoplifting beer because he knows he's not supposed
to drink. And if he buys it and has a
receipt or it's on a credit card, his wife.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Is going to find out.
Speaker 7 (05:58):
And then finally that Parnaga financy. You know, pornography addiction
is such a problem. When men and sometimes women, but
mostly men watch pornography, they try to delay ejaculation as
long as possible. They do not use it for immediate
masturbatory purposes. And because of that, once they start watching pornography,
(06:19):
it can go on for hours and hours and hours.
So this guy knew that once he started watching, he
was not going to stop in a short period of time.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Bethday, look at your screen. Right there there is Schulte's
aka Doctor's hobby. There he is there, He's got the beer. Whoa, whoa,
whoa what did he go in the bathroom? He went
in the bathroom, I guess, and stuck it down his
pants and out he goes. Hey, Dave mac joining me,
I investigative reporter with crime stories. Dave is the stealing
(06:52):
the beer. By the way that videos for our friends
every cases we follow on YouTube, Dave is stealing the
beer the same day that Parker dies in the car.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
It is the exact same day.
Speaker 8 (07:05):
That's how they pulled the surveillance butage and we're.
Speaker 9 (07:07):
Able to build a timeline for him.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Okay, that leads me to a whole other thing. You
know what, doctor Bethany, let me go to Josh coles Rude,
a criminal defense attorney, former assistant US Attorney, and founder
of coles Rude Law Offices. That's quite a mouthful. Coals Rude.
Let's see him coles Rude. This leads me to where
are the children while he's inside shotlifting beer out in
(07:31):
the parking lot waiting to get kidnapped?
Speaker 6 (07:35):
Well, you know, the father in this case certainly failed
at his duties. Now you know what we want to do, though,
is really look at what's going on with you know,
try to take an emotion out of this.
Speaker 10 (07:51):
You know.
Speaker 6 (07:52):
So we have somebody who certainly is not good at
being a father.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Now you wait him, excuse me, I think I just
choked because of you not good at being a father.
I've got him on video going into shoplift beer stuffing
it down his pants in the bathroom. Where are the
children sitting out in the car in the heat again
(08:20):
just before and you say he's not good? Is that
a little bit of an understatement.
Speaker 10 (08:25):
Yes, you know, not good.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
He's a failure as a father, and that is true
to see for everybody there. It's inexcusable and it's indefensible,
you know, having your children in the car, especially when
you're shoplifting, it really goes to show not only negligence
but criminal conduct.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
He stole the beer at twelve oh seven. Just imagine
stuffing a cold one down your pants. He gets home
at twelve fifty three and leaves the daughter in the car,
this one, he says, is dozing off with the car
seat on, and he wants to let her sleep, that's
(09:07):
his story. So he takes his beer and goes inside,
leaving her outside. And you say, quote, he's not a
good father. Is that a tiny bit of an understatement,
Cols Rude?
Speaker 10 (09:21):
No, I think that it's not.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
You know, this isn't a case where a father did
something out of hatred or breed, or even.
Speaker 10 (09:32):
That he intended something bad to happen.
Speaker 6 (09:36):
This was simply a father who was distracted not only
in what he was doing in the moment, but also
through his arrogance.
Speaker 10 (09:47):
And because of.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
That, you know, we obviously know the result in this
case but it isn't more than that, and we shouldn't
make it into.
Speaker 10 (09:56):
Something that it's not.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
This is simply a who, through neglect and his own arrogance,
failed at his basic duties.
Speaker 10 (10:07):
Nothing more than that.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Let me just clear something up. Erica Wursey is joining
me with the She's the public safety reporter for the
Arizona Daily Star at Tucson dot com. Erica, thank you
for being with us. Erica. We just heard Josh Colesrude
stay that this was just a case of dad being negligent. Erica,
(10:33):
let me do a lightning round with you so we
can establish the actual facts in this case, not the
wonderland that Josh Colesrud would like us to believe to
enter in and get lost. Erica, Yes, no. Isn't it
true that the dad in this case, Chris Schultez, drives
home from the liquor store? Correct? Yes, no, then he
(10:59):
goes in with his beer, leaving his daughter pictured here
to your old Parker in the car, strapped in unable
to get out. Is that true? Erica wurst Absolutely correct.
He opens the door of the home, he goes back
to his computer, claiming that he is playing games while
his other two girls go somewhere else in the home
(11:21):
and he begins to surf porn and drink beer. Right, yes, no, yes,
absolutely crime stories with Nancy Grace Cole's rude. You see
one intentional act after the next. How are you coming
(11:44):
up with the defense of negligence. It just quote happened
through no one's fault. He has one intentional act after
the next. That's intentional, That is not negligence.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
Well, you know the way that the case was charged
with child abuse and first degree murder, you know you
have to prove that intentionally committed the act. And if
you look at his actions, you don't see the motive
or intent to cause the death. You certainly see recklessness.
(12:21):
That he was aware of the harm and he disregarded
the harm and forgot what time it was and by
the time he realized what happened, unfortunately his daughter had
passed away.
Speaker 10 (12:37):
That's not intentional. That is recklessness.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
And you can see that previous distances where he's done
this before. Right, So he was aware of the danger
and he disregarded the danger by being on the porn
website and playing the PlayStation COLSRD.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Do I look like I just fell off the turnip truck.
Speaker 10 (13:05):
No, you certainly don't, but I do know that you're reasonable.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
That was a yes and you care about it. Thank you.
Murder cals rude, That was a yes. No, Col's rude.
Isn't it true? Under the law the law presumes we
intend the natural consequence of our act. In other words,
(13:32):
if I pick up a beautiful, thin, fragile china plate
and I throw it to a cement floor, the law
presumes that I intend to break it. The law presumes
we intend the natural consequence of our act. Isn't that true?
Speaker 10 (13:49):
I respectfully disagree.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
You know, context matters, and here what we have is
a okay.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
You want me to read the black and white Arizona
law to you. Can you not admit that that is
the law in Arizona?
Speaker 6 (14:06):
There is a different men's raa for every crime on
the statute book.
Speaker 10 (14:12):
Not all of them are intentional.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
Many are a lesser men'sraa, which is what the what
you intended to happen? Or we're reckless about right? So
here you can either be reckless, knowing, intentional, or willful.
Those are four different states of mind. You're talking about
just one of them intentional. But here the actions speak
(14:36):
of recklessness, that he knew of the danger and he
disregarded that danger by his distraction and arrogance. That context matters.
There's nothing in the motive here that says that he
intended for this act to happen. There's no hatred, there's
no greed, there's nothing of that sort.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I tell you, I say, we're you're going calls thru.
But now you have forced me to read the black
and white letter of the Arizona law. I thought you
would can see that that is the law. But let
me read it. In Arizona law, a person is considered
to intend a natural and probable consequence of their act. Okay,
(15:21):
so you leave a child in the car, Chris McDonough.
The heat, the temperature on that day was one hundred
and nine degrees outside, and you know the car temperature
vastly increases in a stifling, hot, enclosed car in direct sun.
(15:45):
So have you ever heard of like serial killers when
they're little, they'll take a magnifying glass and put it
on an insect and they burn it dead. They know
what's going to happen. Right, you've heard of that? Correct?
Speaker 11 (16:00):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Okay, God bless you for a single syllable answer. So
McDonough leaving a child and one hundred and nine degree
outside strapped in a car with the windows up, what
do you assume the natural consequence would be death?
Speaker 12 (16:26):
Evident of the fact that he didn't leave his family
dog in the car. The child is an inconvenience for
this guy. I mean he goes earlier at the heat
of the day, between twelve noon and two pm, in
the middle of July, where the highest temperature in that
area is one hundred and fifteen degrees. He steals a beer,
(16:49):
brings the child home, and leaves her in the car.
If that's not intent, I don't know what is.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Under the law. Also, thank you for schooling the veteran
defense attorney. He's tried a lot of cases. Josh Coles rude.
I'm afraid to open his mic, but I'm going to
go out on a limb. Josh Coles rude. Isn't it
true that murder one can be proven under the theory
of the abandoned and malignant heart. Example, there's a street
(17:20):
festival and I get in my beat up mini van
and I sit on the break at the same time,
I guess it and I take off at one hundred
mph through that festival, and I mow down several people
and kill them. That is an abandoned, malignant heart, abandoned
to the suffering of others, And that can equal murder one.
(17:44):
It is a theory that supports murder one abandoned and
malignant heart. Isn't that true?
Speaker 6 (17:51):
Well, context matters, and what you're talking about is circumstantial evidence.
So you know, let's look at the circumstantial evidence too,
so determine what the defendant's state of mind is.
Speaker 10 (18:04):
So we know that he was drinking, and that he
was aware of the risk.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
That the car's air conditioning was shut off after thirty minutes,
and this hadn't happened before, and he left his daughter
in the car so he could go look at porn
and play on his PlayStation and allegedly play games with
his other kids.
Speaker 10 (18:27):
And during that time he lost track of time.
Speaker 6 (18:29):
There's no evidence that he intended for this act to
occur or that he had some okaylie.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Back to my question, if I can get us back
in the middle of the road. I was prepared for this.
I'm ready for you. I looked at the loss so
I could read it to you again. Verbatim out of Arizona.
Abandoned malignant heart is a legal concept known as depraved
heart murder. It is implied malice and a basis for
(18:56):
murder in Arizona. It is a killing that results from
extreme indifference to human life, even though defendant did not
specifically intend to kill. So that said, there are three lines,
three avenues under which the state can get a murder conviction.
(19:20):
One the law presumes you intend the natural consequence of
your act the plate of China to the cement floor.
Number two abandoned and malignant heart. He did something with
such extreme indifference to the life of his daughter that
it results in a murder charge. And three felony murder.
(19:44):
That is, when a death occurs during the commission of
a felony. The felony here would be child neglect. A
death occurred during child neglect. Now, I know what you're
about to do. You're about to throw some contextual argument
at me. But I know for a fact that those
three theories i've murder apply to this case. I'm not
(20:08):
arguing he intended to kill his daughter when he slammed
the door. I'm not arguing that. I don't believe that's true,
but I believe all of the other three avenues to
murder fit Shultice.
Speaker 10 (20:21):
Well, those three.
Speaker 6 (20:23):
Theories may or may not work in front of a jury,
but what does matter is circumstantial evidence, because in order
to prove that he had some malignant intent or that
this is a felony murder, you have to really delve
into his motivation.
Speaker 10 (20:44):
What was he doing at the time that this happened.
Speaker 6 (20:49):
He was drinking, He was distracted by watching porn on
the PlayStation and playing with.
Speaker 10 (20:57):
His other children. You know, there's notion.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
He wasn't playing with them. He sent them to another
room so he could watch porn, you know, naked ladies.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Oh my god, baby bpr is still going on. Yeah,
you're still going on. Okay, you're going to perform that
until the units arrive and take over for you.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Baby babe, Babe, babe.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
The child's mother returned home to a scene of unimaginable grief,
finding her daughter lifeless after being trapped in the sweltering
vehicle for over three hours.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
So daddy has the other two girls at a trampoline
part with friends. Okay, So they're at a kind of
a jumpy house type thing, and it's our understanding that
that trampoline park is indoors in an air conditioned facility
where literally the floors are all trampolines. Okay, so the
two older children five and nine are there, he only
(22:12):
has to take care of one child one. Okay, Welcome back, everybody.
Daddy under suspicion in the death of his two year
old little girl, Parker. Daddy's inside drinking stolen beer and
watching porn while this child dies out in a baking
(22:34):
hot car.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Listen Filter Scull's nine one one as Erica performs CPR
and her daughter. When responders arrived, the temperature is one
hundred and nine degrees and Parker is transported to Banner
University Medical Center or fifty eight PM to year old
Parker pronounced Debt. The medical examiner says the temperature inside
the car was one hundred and eight point nine degrees
when first responders arrived, confirming she died of heat exposure.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
How hot does it get in a car when the
tip is one hundred and nine outside? Watch this, So
let's start.
Speaker 11 (23:06):
A timer and let's see exactly how hot it gets
in here. I'm at five minutes in. It is unbelievably hot.
In here. We're nearing one hundred degrees already, and I
can tell you that it is stifling in here. Okay,
I'm at fifteen minutes now and it's about one hundred
(23:30):
and ten in my car. The temperature right now is
about one fifteen. What I really wanted to set out
to do is see how I felt to be left
in a parked car.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
He's talking about a pet in a parked car, not
a child, but the physics, the law, the law of
nature applies. And that is from our friend doctor Ernie
Ward joining us now dtor Kendall Crowns. He is a
renowned chief medical examiner in Terrent County. That's Fort Worth.
(24:02):
Never a lack of business in the morgue there. He's
the esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU,
and he is the star of a hit podcast series,
Mayhem in the Morgue. Doctor Kindle Crowns U Control Room.
Could you show me a picture of two year old Parker.
(24:26):
Every time I look at her, I think of my
twins at age two, age two. While we look at Parker,
Doctor Kindall Crowns, could you explain what happens to a
child in a stifling hot car temp out side one
o nine.
Speaker 13 (24:43):
Certainly, so when a child's left in a car that
it's at a high temperature of one oh nine, their
bodies heat up about three to five times faster than
an adult. So within minutes they're already starting to sweat,
and then their body becomes overwhelmed and they start feeling dizzy.
They start having had a and begin vomiting at about
a temperature of one hundred and four. When the core
(25:05):
body temperature of the child reaches one hundred and four,
they're starting to really feel the signs of heatstroke and
they're beginning to go even further, passing out going into
a coma. At about a body temperature of one hundred
and seven, their entire organ systems begin to fail and
shut down. They go to into a coma and die.
So it takes a matter of minutes, especially in a
(25:28):
temperature of one hundred and nine, for a child to
go from normal to fatal. It'd probably be about twenty
minutes tops.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
When they endure that. Doctor Kimdl crowns, what does the
child live through? Because in a case that we went
to the courtroom and watched gabble to gabble justin Ross Harris,
Baby Cooper dye in a hot car while he was
(25:58):
inside his workplace at home Depot corporate texting sexting with
underage women and other women. Baby Cooper died in the car,
and I recalled distinctly that his head was scratched in
the back and I think across his neck, but I'm
(26:20):
sure the back of the head where he was banging it,
banging it against his car seat, trying to get out
and trying to breathe. So that tells me, Doctor Kimdle Crowns,
that the child doesn't just pass out and die like
they told us in Brian Coburger that the four Ido
(26:43):
students went to sleep and they woke up in heaven.
That's not at all what happened. Killy gonsolve us was
dead like thirty times in the face alone. So I
know the child is awake based on what Baby Cooper's
body revealed and the way you said it. It just
gets hot and they die. That's not what happens, Doctor
(27:06):
Kendall Crowns.
Speaker 13 (27:07):
Well, that is I agree with you. That is not
what happens. And I did say that there is a
time period between the initial beginning of the heatstroke, where
the child is feeling hot, sweating, having to breathe in
this hot air, and begins to become confused, dizzy, starts vomiting,
and eventually, after several minutes, will pass out and then
(27:30):
go into a coma and die. But that time period
between the beginning and the coma is a very difficult
time period with the sweating, the vomiting of the dizzyness,
and it can even result in a seizure.
Speaker 10 (27:41):
At some point.
Speaker 13 (27:42):
Kids strapped into their car.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Seat it so they'll be when you were in a
hot car, it feels like there's air in there, but
it feels like you can't breathe.
Speaker 13 (27:56):
It's because the heated air actually is makes your co
of your mouth and your airway kind of swell and
become a demitus, and it's almost burning your airway to
breathe in this hot air, so it's.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Uncomfortable, Doctor Kimmel Crown's in preparation for tonight's show yesterday,
I sat out in the car and I turned it
off and let the windows were already up, and sat
there in the sun, and it got harder and harder
to breathe, and I up here I knew there was
(28:32):
air in the car, but it didn't feel that way.
It felt like all the air had been sucked out
of the car. How does that happen.
Speaker 13 (28:41):
It's your body's reaction to the heat, and it's starting
to decompensate because of the heat. You're sweating and you're
slowly becoming dehydrated, and your organs are starting to shut
down because the elevated temperature eventually would cause you to
go into multi organ failure and die.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Schultez claims he was putting up groceries and got distracted
playing video games on PlayStation. Investigators find out he was
drinking beer and watching porn on the internet while his
older daughters, nine and five are playing nearby.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Joining us. Erica Worst, a public safety reporter with the
Arizona Daily Star in tusaun dot com Erica. So at
the beginning, hey lied. He said that he was putting
away groceries and playing PlayStation.
Speaker 14 (29:27):
Yeah, he said he was home way after he actually
got home, and that was caught on neighbor's security camera.
So she was not in there for thirty to forty
five minutes, and they were able to prove that she
was in there for hours. Based on his life, which
(29:48):
they were absolutely able to prove. We're life well.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Christopher Schultez, the father, failed to rescue his daughter from
the scorching car reportedly consumed by video games and explicit
online content.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Police immediately, as you just heard Erica Werced from the
Arizona Daily Star in Tucson dot Com report, police were
first told and you hear him saying this in the
nine one one call. He's already saying this in the
nine to one one call that baby Parker was only
in the car for minutes minutes, but based on security
(30:27):
camp from neighbors videos, their ring cams, or surveillance videos,
he was actually in the home for hours and he
knew the vehicle cut off. The engine and air go
the air conditioner both cut off after thirty minutes.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Investigators began creating a timeline. Shelters tells them he got
home to thirty pm and Parker was asleep in the car.
Surveillance footage shows Sheltas did not arrive home at two
thirty as he claims he got home at twelve fifty
three pm. Shelts is seen walking into the house and
not coming back out again until after his wife gets
home at four oh eight pm when Shelters is seen
(31:05):
running out.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
To the car, running but too late. I want you
to see daddy. I don't when I compare him to
my daddy, he really doesn't deserve that title. Christopher Schultee,
speaking on bodycam to police.
Speaker 10 (31:21):
So any any.
Speaker 13 (31:22):
Death, they have to treat it like a crime scene.
I know this is extremely difficult for you.
Speaker 10 (31:32):
This is a normal process.
Speaker 13 (31:34):
That you have to follow through with.
Speaker 10 (31:36):
I don't want you to be blindsided by anything, but
that's that's.
Speaker 13 (31:41):
What's going to be going on for an of the friends.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I know, and I know this isn't easy for you.
Speaker 10 (31:50):
That's that's why I'm trying to be straightforward and honestly 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.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Then, all right.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Quite so, I'm being treated like a murderer. And he
starts crying because he's being treated like a murderer. Josh colsrude,
don't you hate it when your clients are caught completely
self absorbed?
Speaker 6 (32:20):
Well, this is a situation where a father is dealing
in grief. I think we can all see that he
just lost a two year old daughter, and he's reacting
like somebody.
Speaker 10 (32:35):
Who loves his child.
Speaker 6 (32:38):
He's not acting like somebody who intended for this to happen.
And you know there is an element here of mercy,
you know, you know, justice demands accountability, but it also
demands a dose of mercy. And we're looking at human
emotion at its most raw form. And you know, what
(33:02):
would you expect a father to do or act like
if he lost what you.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Mean, the father that's getting himself some cold water out
of the fridge right there, That father, he probably.
Speaker 6 (33:13):
Doesn't even know that he's doing that. He's lost in grief,
which is what you would expect for somebody who truly
loved their daughter. You're not seeing crocodile tears here. You're
seeing genuine emotion and love for somebody and.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Genuinely get himself a glass of cold water on ice
side of the fridge after his daughter just thirsted in
the heat in the car. Yeah, okay, fill up, and
that ain't all. Listen.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
You will keep.
Speaker 7 (33:46):
Family, our whole family.
Speaker 13 (33:55):
So we can't let you do that right now.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
We have to stand by with you, Okay, as soon
as he can't really.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Elect you stay in the room if you want under
that house.
Speaker 12 (34:04):
I know this isn't easy for you.
Speaker 10 (34:05):
But the quicker we get this son in fishelp so s.
Speaker 13 (34:09):
You can be with your wife, all right, so.
Speaker 7 (34:13):
I could go with my wife.
Speaker 10 (34:15):
We're not going to shower anymore.
Speaker 13 (34:16):
Now you need to stand by with it.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I don't understand why then crime stories with Nancy Grace,
doctor Bethany Marshall help me. He's saying, I have to
get to my wife at the hospital, but first I'm
(34:38):
going to luxuriate in hot shower. What this isn't fitting
together for me? Now, I'm just a trial lawyer. You're
the shrink. You're the renowned psychoanalyst out of LA. What
is going on? He's fighting about taking a shower.
Speaker 7 (34:53):
Parker is not a real person to him. He's stuck
her in the car so he could watch pornography while
the other girls wore away at a trampoline party. That's
what he wanted to do. He itified her, He treated
her like she was an it. I have watched all
the police surveillance and what I noticed he does not
get upset until they say it's a crime scene. Prior
(35:16):
to that he looks panicked, not sad. Getting into the
shower is to kind of pull himself together to go
to the hospital. If your baby died, you would be
rushing out the door. You would be saying to the
police officers, take me in the car now, I'm going
to run to the hospital if you will not put
me in the car. He is taking time to pull
(35:37):
himself together, which tells.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Me that he's a hardish minute. Dr Bethany, I have
a question which may bear on what you're saying. Erica
were joining us Arizona Daily Star. Erica wasn't maybe Parker
pronounced dad at the hospital? Yeah, so, Dave Matt Crime
(36:01):
Stories investigative reporter. Is it possible that he wanted to
take a shower before Parker had even been declared dead?
Speaker 9 (36:11):
Nancy, He actually gets a phone call from or a
text from Erica, and that's when he tells the police,
my wife wants me at the hospital. I'm guessing based
on the fact that he didn't start screaming my daughter's dead,
he actually is. You know, he says, I got to
get a shower, I got to rinse off before I
go to my wife at the hospital. I'm need to
(36:31):
be there with her.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
But look at him.
Speaker 9 (36:33):
He's not focused on anything except himself and the police
are going he's trying to wash off evidence.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Oh okay, I was wondering about the desire to watch
Chris McDonough. I've seen it in gunshot cases where the
defendant can't wait. He suddenly has to go to the
bathroom or take a shower to get that GSR gunshot
residue off his hands, which you can do really easily
with tap water. But here I was trying to figure
out why is he so held bit on taking a shower.
(37:01):
His wife and daughter are at the hospital. What's with
the hot shower?
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 12 (37:08):
I think Dave maybe onto something here. Is there something
else that we're just not aware of? But he is
in his mind and talk about malignant intent, right, the
one question where's Parker at that moment? That guy is
in a whole different world, and this video shows us
it's his world, it's not her world.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Okay. Doctor Bethany Marshall weighan.
Speaker 7 (37:31):
Nancy act is because he was watching pornography. He could
have lubricant all over himself and he's trying to clean
himself up because the evidence in this case would not
be gun shot residue. It would be evidence that he's masturbating.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
While his daughter's in the car.
Speaker 7 (37:47):
I think that would be the evidence he would want
to wash off.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
The investigators uncovered text messages hinting that this tragic over
saying was not an isolated incident, raising questions about a
history of.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Negligence, joining us an all star panel to make sense
of what we know tonight? Do I understand correctly? Dave
Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter that Daddy Schultics knew the
car would cut off, and he had been warned before
(38:20):
by his wife not to leave the girls in the car.
And we hear Mommy saying that when she gets home,
I told you not to do this.
Speaker 10 (38:30):
Yes, exactly, Nancy.
Speaker 8 (38:31):
He knew exactly how long that NBAC stayed on in
idle before it was cutting off automatically, and she had
continually warned him about leaving the children in the car unattended.
Speaker 9 (38:44):
This was a regular habit of his, and she warned
him not to do it.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
You know, over and over we learn he knew very
well not to do this. Look at this text mom
sent him. I told you to stop leaving them in
the car. How many times have I told you? And
he says, Babe, I'm sorry, but I want you to
hear what mommy does in court. He's charged with murder
(39:08):
and mommy insists the judge let him out on bond,
says he is a quote good dad and he needs
to come home out of jail so he can grieve. Listen,
I'm just asking if you can allow him to come
home to us. This was a big mistake, and I
think that this doesn't represent him that from our friends
(39:30):
at KVATV and eight fifty seven to two, son Erica
Wrest joining us Arizona Daily Star. Is it true that
when the judge lets him out on bond, he goes
with the family on a vacation to Hawaii? Is that true?
Speaker 14 (39:51):
Is one of the.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Weirdest things, jos Coles, Rude, How's that going to look
to a jury that mommy goes in front of a
judge and begs for a lower bond so he can
come out and grieve. And what he grieves at the
big island on the beach with one of those big
drinks in a pineapple, Well, I.
Speaker 6 (40:13):
Think it says a lot about the victims in this case.
Speaker 10 (40:18):
And the mother is a.
Speaker 6 (40:21):
Victim, and she's the next of kin, and she's grieving,
and she understands the context in which this happened, and
she knows her husband and she knows that he's not
a danger to her family anymore, and she wants to
(40:42):
forgive him. And the judge saw it the same way and.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Rules, Sorry, I don't understand what you're saying. You're talking
Christy talk, doctor Bethony Marshall. Can't she forgive him while
he's in jail? Does he have to be forgiven? On
the beach at the Big Island.
Speaker 7 (40:58):
You know Nancy on the bodycamp. You see her comforting him,
very calmly. It's the same woman. It's the doctor mother.
You can tell by the tattoos on her arms. And
she's calmly saying it's okay, babe, something that extent. So
she is more concerned about him than she is about
the baby. It's very, very perplexing, Nancy. She's an anesthesiologist,
(41:20):
you know what that means. She her profession is keeping
people alive while under surgery. She knows that these kids
have been left in the car. She knows the risk
to them. She may be one of these mothers. Again,
I've never treated or evaluated her, who is more bonded
with the father with the love object than with her
(41:42):
own children.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Shockingly, the hubby slash dad turns down a sweet heart
deal for maximum ten years. He would probably have been
out on in about five years. I don't know why
the yests of children are treated differently than deaths of adults.
(42:04):
Why did he turn down the deal because the judge
gutted the state's evidence.
Speaker 5 (42:13):
Listen, Shelton's face is a first degree murder trial, and
the prosecutors intend to introduce evidence of Shelton's porn surge
at trial, but the request was denied by Judge Kimberly Ortiz.
The judge decided the state is precluded from any eliciting
testimony in its case in chief regarding the defendant looking
for pornography on PlayStation before his daughter's body is discovered.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Well, thanks, judge. By doing that, you gutted the state's case,
showing his course of conduct, frame of mind, his motivation
at the time the child was killed. Did that really happen?
Dave Mack? The judge ruled out any evidence of pornsurfing.
Speaker 15 (42:54):
Absolutely, Nancy, and this is something that shocked everyone involved
in the case.
Speaker 10 (43:00):
That the judge said, you.
Speaker 9 (43:01):
Can't let anything in about it. You can't let anybody
talk about it. This is off the table.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Take a look at this bodycam video. Parker has been
brought into the home and you see everyone there. It
looks like some of the police know that Parker is dying,
while one person a minister CPR. In the end, Daves
mac as he approaches trial after he's turned out a
sweet heart deal, he suddenly pleads guilty when he looks
(43:28):
at the evidence against him. What's the sentence?
Speaker 10 (43:30):
Fancy?
Speaker 15 (43:31):
The sentence comes out as a flat time sentence of
twenty to thirty years without parole and with the sentences
for the various charges to run consecutively.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Shulti now facing a sentencing range of twenty to thirty
years flat time. What does that mean? Will he get
out early? Will there be a sudden turn of events
like there have been in the past, And what if
any duty does Mommy face? We wait as justice unfolds,
(44:05):
and we remember an American hero, Lieutenant Albert Stout, Robstown Police, Texas,
killed in the line of duty after thirty one years
on the force, leaving behind his wife and three children.
American hero Lieutenant Albert Stout, Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A little girl just two
years old bakes dead dies in a scorching hot car
while daddy, the doctor's husband, is inside in the air condition,
(00:22):
surfing porn and guzzling shotlifted beer. Okay, what I said
that correctly? I'm sure that I did. A female doctor's
husband they have money to buy beer, is guzzling shop
lifted beer and surfing porn while his two year old daughter,
(00:48):
strapped in a car seat facing the sun directly bakes
dead in a car while mommy is at work. I
Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. I want to thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
In a shocking incident and Arizona father left his two
year old daughter in a car as temperature soared to
a deadly one hundred and nine degrees, resulting in a
heartbreaking tragedy.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Just imagine the heat in Arizona when little Parker is
strapped in her car taking a nap for what three
four hours while dad claims he's playing games. Turns out
he's surfing porn guzzling shotlifted beer. One thing I found
(01:41):
very effective when trying cases is to start the case
off right, and that is taking the jury to the
moment of the incident, whatever that incident might be. With
a nine to one one call the real thing, the
unvarnished truth, the unadded on fieltered reality. Let's listen.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
One, what's the address?
Speaker 1 (02:08):
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (02:10):
My big was in the cars of Okay, hold on
in trency in the medical dispatches, Dana Line ook hour.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
It was when it burns off. I've been checking, my god,
she was in the car.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Three things, she's on the sponsor okay, and who is.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
My daughter?
Speaker 4 (02:38):
My daughter? And this was out in the driveway.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (02:42):
Doctor Erica Schultz arrives home around four PM and sees
husband Chris, and two daughters, ages nine and five, but
doesn't see Parker. Chris begins looking in all the rooms
of the house, then suddenly runs outside the accurate and
the driveways off. The air conditioner is off. The outside
temperature is one hundred and nine degrees. Two year old
Parker is removed from the vehicle, unresponsive, strapped in her
(03:03):
child restraint system.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Hold on, because I'm hearing two people speaking to the
nine to one one dispatch operator. I hear a man
and a woman, and I hear the man saying, oh,
my god, Oh my god. I hear the woman saying,
how long has it been? And the man says an hour.
The woman says, you didn't have the car on, it was,
but it turns off right there. I'm looking down because
(03:28):
I'm reading verbat and what was said on that nine
one call right there? The dad acknowledges he knows that car,
that type of car, that making model, turns off after
thirty minutes. The engine turns off and so does the
air condition He knew that when he went inside to
(03:49):
watch porn. Yeah, listen, she still breathing.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
No, you're not breathing right now. Okay, we need to
start CPR right now. Yeah, we are red. The helpers
on the way to you. I need to hear CPR.
I need them to count it out for me one two,
one two. But my life, the doctor, my wife, the doctor.
Tom Okay, Oh my god, oh my god.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
Christopher Schultz returns home from running errands and realizes his
two year old daughter, Parker, is a sleep in her
car seat, leaves her in the running car with the
air conditioner on.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
What in the world. Straight out to doctor Bethany Marshall,
renowned psycho analy's joining us out of LA. You can
see her now on peacock is. She is the author
of deal Breaker. She's at doctor Bethany Marshall dot com. Wow,
daddy has been living a good life. All he has
to do is watch porn and drink beer. Wait a minute,
(04:45):
while mom's out working, she's the doctor. She's making the living. Fine,
My mom made a living too. My dad also worked.
But all he has to do. But can I see Bethany, please, Bethany,
all he has is one job, and granted it's a
big job, the most important job. Forget the doctor. The
(05:10):
job of raising the three girls and ensuring their safety
day and day out. That's his job. He has one
thing to do. Does he have to cook a gourmet
meal at night?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
No?
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Does he have to clean the house?
Speaker 6 (05:23):
No?
Speaker 1 (05:24):
One job, one thing, and he didn't do it.
Speaker 7 (05:30):
Nancy, you know I have not treated or evaluated this guy,
But if this family was my patient, I would.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Wonder a couple of things.
Speaker 7 (05:38):
First of all, did this guy have children so that
he didn't have to work? Sometimes people hide behind children,
They have them to avoid responsibility. What about the shoplifted beer?
Is he shoplifting beer because he knows he's not supposed
to drink. And if he buys it and has a
receipt or it's on a credit card, his wife.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Is going to find out.
Speaker 7 (05:58):
And then finally that Parnaga financy. You know, pornography addiction
is such a problem. When men and sometimes women, but
mostly men watch pornography, they try to delay ejaculation as
long as possible. They do not use it for immediate
masturbatory purposes. And because of that, once they start watching pornography,
(06:19):
it can go on for hours and hours and hours.
So this guy knew that once he started watching, he
was not going to stop in a short period of time.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Bethday, look at your screen. Right there there is Schulte's
aka Doctor's hobby. There he is there, He's got the beer. Whoa, whoa,
whoa what did he go in the bathroom? He went
in the bathroom, I guess, and stuck it down his
pants and out he goes. Hey, Dave mac joining me,
I investigative reporter with crime stories. Dave is the stealing
(06:52):
the beer. By the way that videos for our friends
every cases we follow on YouTube, Dave is stealing the
beer the same day that Parker dies in the car.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
It is the exact same day.
Speaker 8 (07:05):
That's how they pulled the surveillance butage and we're.
Speaker 9 (07:07):
Able to build a timeline for him.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Okay, that leads me to a whole other thing. You
know what, doctor Bethany, let me go to Josh coles Rude,
a criminal defense attorney, former assistant US Attorney, and founder
of coles Rude Law Offices. That's quite a mouthful. Coals Rude.
Let's see him coles Rude. This leads me to where
are the children while he's inside shotlifting beer out in
(07:31):
the parking lot waiting to get kidnapped?
Speaker 6 (07:35):
Well, you know, the father in this case certainly failed
at his duties. Now you know what we want to do, though,
is really look at what's going on with you know,
try to take an emotion out of this.
Speaker 10 (07:51):
You know.
Speaker 6 (07:52):
So we have somebody who certainly is not good at
being a father.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Now you wait him, excuse me, I think I just
choked because of you not good at being a father.
I've got him on video going into shoplift beer stuffing
it down his pants in the bathroom. Where are the
children sitting out in the car in the heat again
(08:20):
just before and you say he's not good? Is that
a little bit of an understatement.
Speaker 10 (08:25):
Yes, you know, not good.
Speaker 6 (08:26):
He's a failure as a father, and that is true
to see for everybody there. It's inexcusable and it's indefensible,
you know, having your children in the car, especially when
you're shoplifting, it really goes to show not only negligence
but criminal conduct.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
He stole the beer at twelve oh seven. Just imagine
stuffing a cold one down your pants. He gets home
at twelve fifty three and leaves the daughter in the car,
this one, he says, is dozing off with the car
seat on, and he wants to let her sleep, that's
(09:07):
his story. So he takes his beer and goes inside,
leaving her outside. And you say, quote, he's not a
good father. Is that a tiny bit of an understatement,
Cols Rude?
Speaker 10 (09:21):
No, I think that it's not.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
You know, this isn't a case where a father did
something out of hatred or breed, or even.
Speaker 10 (09:32):
That he intended something bad to happen.
Speaker 6 (09:36):
This was simply a father who was distracted not only
in what he was doing in the moment, but also
through his arrogance.
Speaker 10 (09:47):
And because of.
Speaker 6 (09:48):
That, you know, we obviously know the result in this
case but it isn't more than that, and we shouldn't
make it into.
Speaker 10 (09:56):
Something that it's not.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
This is simply a who, through neglect and his own arrogance,
failed at his basic duties.
Speaker 10 (10:07):
Nothing more than that.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Let me just clear something up. Erica Wursey is joining
me with the She's the public safety reporter for the
Arizona Daily Star at Tucson dot com. Erica, thank you
for being with us. Erica. We just heard Josh Colesrude
stay that this was just a case of dad being negligent. Erica,
(10:33):
let me do a lightning round with you so we
can establish the actual facts in this case, not the
wonderland that Josh Colesrud would like us to believe to
enter in and get lost. Erica, Yes, no. Isn't it
true that the dad in this case, Chris Schultez, drives
home from the liquor store? Correct? Yes, no, then he
(10:59):
goes in with his beer, leaving his daughter pictured here
to your old Parker in the car, strapped in unable
to get out. Is that true? Erica wurst Absolutely correct.
He opens the door of the home, he goes back
to his computer, claiming that he is playing games while
his other two girls go somewhere else in the home
(11:21):
and he begins to surf porn and drink beer. Right, yes, no, yes,
absolutely crime stories with Nancy Grace Cole's rude. You see
one intentional act after the next. How are you coming
(11:44):
up with the defense of negligence. It just quote happened
through no one's fault. He has one intentional act after
the next. That's intentional, That is not negligence.
Speaker 6 (11:59):
Well, you know the way that the case was charged
with child abuse and first degree murder, you know you
have to prove that intentionally committed the act. And if
you look at his actions, you don't see the motive
or intent to cause the death. You certainly see recklessness.
(12:21):
That he was aware of the harm and he disregarded
the harm and forgot what time it was and by
the time he realized what happened, unfortunately his daughter had
passed away.
Speaker 10 (12:37):
That's not intentional. That is recklessness.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
And you can see that previous distances where he's done
this before. Right, So he was aware of the danger
and he disregarded the danger by being on the porn
website and playing the PlayStation COLSRD.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Do I look like I just fell off the turnip truck.
Speaker 10 (13:05):
No, you certainly don't, but I do know that you're reasonable.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
That was a yes and you care about it. Thank you.
Murder cals rude, That was a yes. No, Col's rude.
Isn't it true? Under the law the law presumes we
intend the natural consequence of our act. In other words,
(13:32):
if I pick up a beautiful, thin, fragile china plate
and I throw it to a cement floor, the law
presumes that I intend to break it. The law presumes
we intend the natural consequence of our act. Isn't that true?
Speaker 10 (13:49):
I respectfully disagree.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
You know, context matters, and here what we have is
a okay.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
You want me to read the black and white Arizona
law to you. Can you not admit that that is
the law in Arizona?
Speaker 6 (14:06):
There is a different men's raa for every crime on
the statute book.
Speaker 10 (14:12):
Not all of them are intentional.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
Many are a lesser men'sraa, which is what the what
you intended to happen? Or we're reckless about right? So
here you can either be reckless, knowing, intentional, or willful.
Those are four different states of mind. You're talking about
just one of them intentional. But here the actions speak
(14:36):
of recklessness, that he knew of the danger and he
disregarded that danger by his distraction and arrogance. That context matters.
There's nothing in the motive here that says that he
intended for this act to happen. There's no hatred, there's
no greed, there's nothing of that sort.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I tell you, I say, we're you're going calls thru.
But now you have forced me to read the black
and white letter of the Arizona law. I thought you
would can see that that is the law. But let
me read it. In Arizona law, a person is considered
to intend a natural and probable consequence of their act. Okay,
(15:21):
so you leave a child in the car, Chris McDonough.
The heat, the temperature on that day was one hundred
and nine degrees outside, and you know the car temperature
vastly increases in a stifling, hot, enclosed car in direct sun.
(15:45):
So have you ever heard of like serial killers when
they're little, they'll take a magnifying glass and put it
on an insect and they burn it dead. They know
what's going to happen. Right, you've heard of that? Correct?
Speaker 11 (16:00):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Okay, God bless you for a single syllable answer. So
McDonough leaving a child and one hundred and nine degree
outside strapped in a car with the windows up, what
do you assume the natural consequence would be death?
Speaker 12 (16:26):
Evident of the fact that he didn't leave his family
dog in the car. The child is an inconvenience for
this guy. I mean he goes earlier at the heat
of the day, between twelve noon and two pm, in
the middle of July, where the highest temperature in that
area is one hundred and fifteen degrees. He steals a beer,
(16:49):
brings the child home, and leaves her in the car.
If that's not intent, I don't know what is.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Under the law. Also, thank you for schooling the veteran
defense attorney. He's tried a lot of cases. Josh Coles rude.
I'm afraid to open his mic, but I'm going to
go out on a limb. Josh Coles rude. Isn't it
true that murder one can be proven under the theory
of the abandoned and malignant heart. Example, there's a street
(17:20):
festival and I get in my beat up mini van
and I sit on the break at the same time,
I guess it and I take off at one hundred
mph through that festival, and I mow down several people
and kill them. That is an abandoned, malignant heart, abandoned
to the suffering of others, And that can equal murder one.
(17:44):
It is a theory that supports murder one abandoned and
malignant heart. Isn't that true?
Speaker 6 (17:51):
Well, context matters, and what you're talking about is circumstantial evidence.
So you know, let's look at the circumstantial evidence too,
so determine what the defendant's state of mind is.
Speaker 10 (18:04):
So we know that he was drinking, and that he
was aware of the risk.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
That the car's air conditioning was shut off after thirty minutes,
and this hadn't happened before, and he left his daughter
in the car so he could go look at porn
and play on his PlayStation and allegedly play games with
his other kids.
Speaker 10 (18:27):
And during that time he lost track of time.
Speaker 6 (18:29):
There's no evidence that he intended for this act to
occur or that he had some okaylie.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Back to my question, if I can get us back
in the middle of the road. I was prepared for this.
I'm ready for you. I looked at the loss so
I could read it to you again. Verbatim out of Arizona.
Abandoned malignant heart is a legal concept known as depraved
heart murder. It is implied malice and a basis for
(18:56):
murder in Arizona. It is a killing that results from
extreme indifference to human life, even though defendant did not
specifically intend to kill. So that said, there are three lines,
three avenues under which the state can get a murder conviction.
(19:20):
One the law presumes you intend the natural consequence of
your act the plate of China to the cement floor.
Number two abandoned and malignant heart. He did something with
such extreme indifference to the life of his daughter that
it results in a murder charge. And three felony murder.
(19:44):
That is, when a death occurs during the commission of
a felony. The felony here would be child neglect. A
death occurred during child neglect. Now, I know what you're
about to do. You're about to throw some contextual argument
at me. But I know for a fact that those
three theories i've murder apply to this case. I'm not
(20:08):
arguing he intended to kill his daughter when he slammed
the door. I'm not arguing that. I don't believe that's true,
but I believe all of the other three avenues to
murder fit Shultice.
Speaker 10 (20:21):
Well, those three.
Speaker 6 (20:23):
Theories may or may not work in front of a jury,
but what does matter is circumstantial evidence, because in order
to prove that he had some malignant intent or that
this is a felony murder, you have to really delve
into his motivation.
Speaker 10 (20:44):
What was he doing at the time that this happened.
Speaker 6 (20:49):
He was drinking, He was distracted by watching porn on
the PlayStation and playing with.
Speaker 10 (20:57):
His other children. You know, there's notion.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
He wasn't playing with them. He sent them to another
room so he could watch porn, you know, naked ladies.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Oh my god, baby bpr is still going on. Yeah,
you're still going on. Okay, you're going to perform that
until the units arrive and take over for you.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Baby babe, Babe, babe.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
The child's mother returned home to a scene of unimaginable grief,
finding her daughter lifeless after being trapped in the sweltering
vehicle for over three hours.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
So daddy has the other two girls at a trampoline
part with friends. Okay, So they're at a kind of
a jumpy house type thing, and it's our understanding that
that trampoline park is indoors in an air conditioned facility
where literally the floors are all trampolines. Okay, so the
two older children five and nine are there, he only
(22:12):
has to take care of one child one. Okay, Welcome back, everybody.
Daddy under suspicion in the death of his two year
old little girl, Parker. Daddy's inside drinking stolen beer and
watching porn while this child dies out in a baking
(22:34):
hot car.
Speaker 5 (22:35):
Listen Filter Scull's nine one one as Erica performs CPR
and her daughter. When responders arrived, the temperature is one
hundred and nine degrees and Parker is transported to Banner
University Medical Center or fifty eight PM to year old
Parker pronounced Debt. The medical examiner says the temperature inside
the car was one hundred and eight point nine degrees
when first responders arrived, confirming she died of heat exposure.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
How hot does it get in a car when the
tip is one hundred and nine outside? Watch this, So
let's start.
Speaker 11 (23:06):
A timer and let's see exactly how hot it gets
in here. I'm at five minutes in. It is unbelievably hot.
In here. We're nearing one hundred degrees already, and I
can tell you that it is stifling in here. Okay,
I'm at fifteen minutes now and it's about one hundred
(23:30):
and ten in my car. The temperature right now is
about one fifteen. What I really wanted to set out
to do is see how I felt to be left
in a parked car.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
He's talking about a pet in a parked car, not
a child, but the physics, the law, the law of
nature applies. And that is from our friend doctor Ernie
Ward joining us now dtor Kendall Crowns. He is a
renowned chief medical examiner in Terrent County. That's Fort Worth.
(24:02):
Never a lack of business in the morgue there. He's
the esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU,
and he is the star of a hit podcast series,
Mayhem in the Morgue. Doctor Kindle Crowns U Control Room.
Could you show me a picture of two year old Parker.
(24:26):
Every time I look at her, I think of my
twins at age two, age two. While we look at Parker,
Doctor Kindall Crowns, could you explain what happens to a
child in a stifling hot car temp out side one
o nine.
Speaker 13 (24:43):
Certainly, so when a child's left in a car that
it's at a high temperature of one oh nine, their
bodies heat up about three to five times faster than
an adult. So within minutes they're already starting to sweat,
and then their body becomes overwhelmed and they start feeling dizzy.
They start having had a and begin vomiting at about
a temperature of one hundred and four. When the core
(25:05):
body temperature of the child reaches one hundred and four,
they're starting to really feel the signs of heatstroke and
they're beginning to go even further, passing out going into
a coma. At about a body temperature of one hundred
and seven, their entire organ systems begin to fail and
shut down. They go to into a coma and die.
So it takes a matter of minutes, especially in a
(25:28):
temperature of one hundred and nine, for a child to
go from normal to fatal. It'd probably be about twenty
minutes tops.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
When they endure that. Doctor Kimdl crowns, what does the
child live through? Because in a case that we went
to the courtroom and watched gabble to gabble justin Ross Harris,
Baby Cooper dye in a hot car while he was
(25:58):
inside his workplace at home Depot corporate texting sexting with
underage women and other women. Baby Cooper died in the car,
and I recalled distinctly that his head was scratched in
the back and I think across his neck, but I'm
(26:20):
sure the back of the head where he was banging it,
banging it against his car seat, trying to get out
and trying to breathe. So that tells me, Doctor Kimdle Crowns,
that the child doesn't just pass out and die like
they told us in Brian Coburger that the four Ido
(26:43):
students went to sleep and they woke up in heaven.
That's not at all what happened. Killy gonsolve us was
dead like thirty times in the face alone. So I
know the child is awake based on what Baby Cooper's
body revealed and the way you said it. It just
gets hot and they die. That's not what happens, Doctor
(27:06):
Kendall Crowns.
Speaker 13 (27:07):
Well, that is I agree with you. That is not
what happens. And I did say that there is a
time period between the initial beginning of the heatstroke, where
the child is feeling hot, sweating, having to breathe in
this hot air, and begins to become confused, dizzy, starts vomiting,
and eventually, after several minutes, will pass out and then
(27:30):
go into a coma and die. But that time period
between the beginning and the coma is a very difficult
time period with the sweating, the vomiting of the dizzyness,
and it can even result in a seizure.
Speaker 10 (27:41):
At some point.
Speaker 13 (27:42):
Kids strapped into their car.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Seat it so they'll be when you were in a
hot car, it feels like there's air in there, but
it feels like you can't breathe.
Speaker 13 (27:56):
It's because the heated air actually is makes your co
of your mouth and your airway kind of swell and
become a demitus, and it's almost burning your airway to
breathe in this hot air, so it's.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Uncomfortable, Doctor Kimmel Crown's in preparation for tonight's show yesterday,
I sat out in the car and I turned it
off and let the windows were already up, and sat
there in the sun, and it got harder and harder
to breathe, and I up here I knew there was
(28:32):
air in the car, but it didn't feel that way.
It felt like all the air had been sucked out
of the car. How does that happen.
Speaker 13 (28:41):
It's your body's reaction to the heat, and it's starting
to decompensate because of the heat. You're sweating and you're
slowly becoming dehydrated, and your organs are starting to shut
down because the elevated temperature eventually would cause you to
go into multi organ failure and die.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Schultez claims he was putting up groceries and got distracted
playing video games on PlayStation. Investigators find out he was
drinking beer and watching porn on the internet while his
older daughters, nine and five are playing nearby.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Joining us. Erica Worst, a public safety reporter with the
Arizona Daily Star in tusaun dot com Erica. So at
the beginning, hey lied. He said that he was putting
away groceries and playing PlayStation.
Speaker 14 (29:27):
Yeah, he said he was home way after he actually
got home, and that was caught on neighbor's security camera.
So she was not in there for thirty to forty
five minutes, and they were able to prove that she
was in there for hours. Based on his life, which
(29:48):
they were absolutely able to prove. We're life well.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Christopher Schultez, the father, failed to rescue his daughter from
the scorching car reportedly consumed by video games and explicit
online content.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Police immediately, as you just heard Erica Werced from the
Arizona Daily Star in Tucson dot Com report, police were
first told and you hear him saying this in the
nine one one call. He's already saying this in the
nine to one one call that baby Parker was only
in the car for minutes minutes, but based on security
(30:27):
camp from neighbors videos, their ring cams, or surveillance videos,
he was actually in the home for hours and he
knew the vehicle cut off. The engine and air go
the air conditioner both cut off after thirty minutes.
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Investigators began creating a timeline. Shelters tells them he got
home to thirty pm and Parker was asleep in the car.
Surveillance footage shows Sheltas did not arrive home at two
thirty as he claims he got home at twelve fifty
three pm. Shelts is seen walking into the house and
not coming back out again until after his wife gets
home at four oh eight pm when Shelters is seen
(31:05):
running out.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
To the car, running but too late. I want you
to see daddy. I don't when I compare him to
my daddy, he really doesn't deserve that title. Christopher Schultee,
speaking on bodycam to police.
Speaker 10 (31:21):
So any any.
Speaker 13 (31:22):
Death, they have to treat it like a crime scene.
I know this is extremely difficult for you.
Speaker 10 (31:32):
This is a normal process.
Speaker 13 (31:34):
That you have to follow through with.
Speaker 10 (31:36):
I don't want you to be blindsided by anything, but
that's that's.
Speaker 13 (31:41):
What's going to be going on for an of the friends.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I know, and I know this isn't easy for you.
Speaker 10 (31:50):
That's that's why I'm trying to be straightforward and honestly 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.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Then, all right.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Quite so, I'm being treated like a murderer. And he
starts crying because he's being treated like a murderer. Josh colsrude,
don't you hate it when your clients are caught completely
self absorbed?
Speaker 6 (32:20):
Well, this is a situation where a father is dealing
in grief. I think we can all see that he
just lost a two year old daughter, and he's reacting
like somebody.
Speaker 10 (32:35):
Who loves his child.
Speaker 6 (32:38):
He's not acting like somebody who intended for this to happen.
And you know there is an element here of mercy,
you know, you know, justice demands accountability, but it also
demands a dose of mercy. And we're looking at human
emotion at its most raw form. And you know, what
(33:02):
would you expect a father to do or act like
if he lost what you.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Mean, the father that's getting himself some cold water out
of the fridge right there, That father, he probably.
Speaker 6 (33:13):
Doesn't even know that he's doing that. He's lost in grief,
which is what you would expect for somebody who truly
loved their daughter. You're not seeing crocodile tears here. You're
seeing genuine emotion and love for somebody and.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Genuinely get himself a glass of cold water on ice
side of the fridge after his daughter just thirsted in
the heat in the car. Yeah, okay, fill up, and
that ain't all. Listen.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
You will keep.
Speaker 7 (33:46):
Family, our whole family.
Speaker 13 (33:55):
So we can't let you do that right now.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
We have to stand by with you, Okay, as soon
as he can't really.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Elect you stay in the room if you want under
that house.
Speaker 12 (34:04):
I know this isn't easy for you.
Speaker 10 (34:05):
But the quicker we get this son in fishelp so s.
Speaker 13 (34:09):
You can be with your wife, all right, so.
Speaker 7 (34:13):
I could go with my wife.
Speaker 10 (34:15):
We're not going to shower anymore.
Speaker 13 (34:16):
Now you need to stand by with it.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I don't understand why then crime stories with Nancy Grace,
doctor Bethany Marshall help me. He's saying, I have to
get to my wife at the hospital, but first I'm
(34:38):
going to luxuriate in hot shower. What this isn't fitting
together for me? Now, I'm just a trial lawyer. You're
the shrink. You're the renowned psychoanalyst out of LA. What
is going on? He's fighting about taking a shower.
Speaker 7 (34:53):
Parker is not a real person to him. He's stuck
her in the car so he could watch pornography while
the other girls wore away at a trampoline party. That's
what he wanted to do. He itified her, He treated
her like she was an it. I have watched all
the police surveillance and what I noticed he does not
get upset until they say it's a crime scene. Prior
(35:16):
to that he looks panicked, not sad. Getting into the
shower is to kind of pull himself together to go
to the hospital. If your baby died, you would be
rushing out the door. You would be saying to the
police officers, take me in the car now, I'm going
to run to the hospital if you will not put
me in the car. He is taking time to pull
(35:37):
himself together, which tells.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Me that he's a hardish minute. Dr Bethany, I have
a question which may bear on what you're saying. Erica
were joining us Arizona Daily Star. Erica wasn't maybe Parker
pronounced dad at the hospital? Yeah, so, Dave Matt Crime
(36:01):
Stories investigative reporter. Is it possible that he wanted to
take a shower before Parker had even been declared dead?
Speaker 9 (36:11):
Nancy, He actually gets a phone call from or a
text from Erica, and that's when he tells the police,
my wife wants me at the hospital. I'm guessing based
on the fact that he didn't start screaming my daughter's dead,
he actually is. You know, he says, I got to
get a shower, I got to rinse off before I
go to my wife at the hospital. I'm need to
(36:31):
be there with her.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
But look at him.
Speaker 9 (36:33):
He's not focused on anything except himself and the police
are going he's trying to wash off evidence.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Oh okay, I was wondering about the desire to watch
Chris McDonough. I've seen it in gunshot cases where the
defendant can't wait. He suddenly has to go to the
bathroom or take a shower to get that GSR gunshot
residue off his hands, which you can do really easily
with tap water. But here I was trying to figure
out why is he so held bit on taking a shower.
(37:01):
His wife and daughter are at the hospital. What's with
the hot shower?
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 12 (37:08):
I think Dave maybe onto something here. Is there something
else that we're just not aware of? But he is
in his mind and talk about malignant intent, right, the
one question where's Parker at that moment? That guy is
in a whole different world, and this video shows us
it's his world, it's not her world.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Okay. Doctor Bethany Marshall weighan.
Speaker 7 (37:31):
Nancy act is because he was watching pornography. He could
have lubricant all over himself and he's trying to clean
himself up because the evidence in this case would not
be gun shot residue. It would be evidence that he's masturbating.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
While his daughter's in the car.
Speaker 7 (37:47):
I think that would be the evidence he would want
to wash off.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
The investigators uncovered text messages hinting that this tragic over
saying was not an isolated incident, raising questions about a
history of.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Negligence, joining us an all star panel to make sense
of what we know tonight? Do I understand correctly? Dave
Matt Crime Stories investigative reporter that Daddy Schultics knew the
car would cut off, and he had been warned before
(38:20):
by his wife not to leave the girls in the car.
And we hear Mommy saying that when she gets home,
I told you not to do this.
Speaker 10 (38:30):
Yes, exactly, Nancy.
Speaker 8 (38:31):
He knew exactly how long that NBAC stayed on in
idle before it was cutting off automatically, and she had
continually warned him about leaving the children in the car unattended.
Speaker 9 (38:44):
This was a regular habit of his, and she warned
him not to do it.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
You know, over and over we learn he knew very
well not to do this. Look at this text mom
sent him. I told you to stop leaving them in
the car. How many times have I told you? And
he says, Babe, I'm sorry, but I want you to
hear what mommy does in court. He's charged with murder
(39:08):
and mommy insists the judge let him out on bond,
says he is a quote good dad and he needs
to come home out of jail so he can grieve. Listen,
I'm just asking if you can allow him to come
home to us. This was a big mistake, and I
think that this doesn't represent him that from our friends
(39:30):
at KVATV and eight fifty seven to two, son Erica
Wrest joining us Arizona Daily Star. Is it true that
when the judge lets him out on bond, he goes
with the family on a vacation to Hawaii? Is that true?
Speaker 14 (39:51):
Is one of the.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Weirdest things, jos Coles, Rude, How's that going to look
to a jury that mommy goes in front of a
judge and begs for a lower bond so he can
come out and grieve. And what he grieves at the
big island on the beach with one of those big
drinks in a pineapple, Well, I.
Speaker 6 (40:13):
Think it says a lot about the victims in this case.
Speaker 10 (40:18):
And the mother is a.
Speaker 6 (40:21):
Victim, and she's the next of kin, and she's grieving,
and she understands the context in which this happened, and
she knows her husband and she knows that he's not
a danger to her family anymore, and she wants to
(40:42):
forgive him. And the judge saw it the same way and.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Rules, Sorry, I don't understand what you're saying. You're talking
Christy talk, doctor Bethony Marshall. Can't she forgive him while
he's in jail? Does he have to be forgiven? On
the beach at the Big Island.
Speaker 7 (40:58):
You know Nancy on the bodycamp. You see her comforting him,
very calmly. It's the same woman. It's the doctor mother.
You can tell by the tattoos on her arms. And
she's calmly saying it's okay, babe, something that extent. So
she is more concerned about him than she is about
the baby. It's very, very perplexing, Nancy. She's an anesthesiologist,
(41:20):
you know what that means. She her profession is keeping
people alive while under surgery. She knows that these kids
have been left in the car. She knows the risk
to them. She may be one of these mothers. Again,
I've never treated or evaluated her, who is more bonded
with the father with the love object than with her
(41:42):
own children.
Speaker 1 (41:43):
Shockingly, the hubby slash dad turns down a sweet heart
deal for maximum ten years. He would probably have been
out on in about five years. I don't know why
the yests of children are treated differently than deaths of adults.
(42:04):
Why did he turn down the deal because the judge
gutted the state's evidence.
Speaker 5 (42:13):
Listen, Shelton's face is a first degree murder trial, and
the prosecutors intend to introduce evidence of Shelton's porn surge
at trial, but the request was denied by Judge Kimberly Ortiz.
The judge decided the state is precluded from any eliciting
testimony in its case in chief regarding the defendant looking
for pornography on PlayStation before his daughter's body is discovered.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Well, thanks, judge. By doing that, you gutted the state's case,
showing his course of conduct, frame of mind, his motivation
at the time the child was killed. Did that really happen?
Dave Mack? The judge ruled out any evidence of pornsurfing.
Speaker 15 (42:54):
Absolutely, Nancy, and this is something that shocked everyone involved
in the case.
Speaker 10 (43:00):
That the judge said, you.
Speaker 9 (43:01):
Can't let anything in about it. You can't let anybody
talk about it. This is off the table.
Speaker 1 (43:06):
Take a look at this bodycam video. Parker has been
brought into the home and you see everyone there. It
looks like some of the police know that Parker is dying,
while one person a minister CPR. In the end, Daves
mac as he approaches trial after he's turned out a
sweet heart deal, he suddenly pleads guilty when he looks
(43:28):
at the evidence against him. What's the sentence?
Speaker 10 (43:30):
Fancy?
Speaker 15 (43:31):
The sentence comes out as a flat time sentence of
twenty to thirty years without parole and with the sentences
for the various charges to run consecutively.
Speaker 1 (43:44):
Shulti now facing a sentencing range of twenty to thirty
years flat time. What does that mean? Will he get
out early? Will there be a sudden turn of events
like there have been in the past, And what if
any duty does Mommy face? We wait as justice unfolds,
(44:05):
and we remember an American hero, Lieutenant Albert Stout, Robstown Police, Texas,
killed in the line of duty after thirty one years
on the force, leaving behind his wife and three children.
American hero Lieutenant Albert Stout, Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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