Father charged with murder after 2-year-old is left in car during 109-degree heat wave for 3 hours, police say

An Arizona man was arrested and charged with murder, accused of leaving his 2-year-old daughter in the car outside the family's home for three hours when temperatures climbed to 109 degrees, authorities said.

Christopher Scholtes, 37, was arrested Friday and booked at the Pima County Adult Detention Center on second-degree murder and child abuse charges, Marana police said in a news release.

Scholtes told police that when he arrived home Tuesday afternoon, his daughter was asleep in her car seat and he did not want to wake her, the release says. It says he said he left her inside the car seat with the vehicle running in the driveway and the air conditioner turned on.

He then went into the home, police said.

The girl's mother came home shortly afterward, police said, and found the toddler in the vehicle. The car was no longer running, and the air conditioner was off, authorities said.

Despite lifesaving measures by the mother and law enforcement officers, the girl was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Police obtained video from nearby homes and determined that Scholtes had left his daughter in the car for about three hours, the release says.

A history-making heat wave has been gripping parts of the country, with temperatures climbing to 109 degrees Tuesday.

An affidavit alleges that Scholtes told authorities that it was not unusual for him and his wife, a medical doctor, to leave their daughter in the running car while it was parked in the garage, NBC affiliate KVOA of Tucson reported. He said he parked in the driveway because there was exercise equipment in the garage.

He also said that he usually gets alerts if his car becomes too hot or shuts off but that he did not get any the day of the incident, according to the affidavit.

Police said the incident is a "stark reminder of the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles."

"The temperature inside a vehicle can rise rapidly, even on relatively mild days, leading to potentially fatal outcomes within minutes," police said. "We urge all parents and caregivers to remain vigilant and take every precaution to ensure the safety of their children."

It was not clear whether Scholtes has an attorney.