The Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office has updated the cause of death for Christopher Scholtes as suicide by carbon monoxide toxicity (poisoning.)
Scholtes was slated to go to prison for allowing his 2-year-old daughter to die in a hot car, but failed to appear at a hearing to take him into custody in early November.
Scholtes moved to Maricopa County from Marana after the incident that left him facing murder charges in the death of his 2-year-old child.
After rejecting a plea deal, Scholtes agreed to accept one after all. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. The sentence was not to be imposed until later in the month, but it would have been between 20 and 30 years in prison with no chance of parole.
