The Ohio mother who left her toddler home alone for ten days while she went out of town was sentenced last week to life in prison without the possibility of parole, CBS News reported.
Kristel Candelario, 32, was accused of leaving her 14-month-old daughter Jailyn alone in their Cleveland home on June 6, 2023, while she traveled to Michigan and then Puerto Rico.
When Candelario returned home ten days later, Jailyn was not breathing. Candelario called 911.
When police arrived at the scene, they found the toddler lying unresponsive in a filthy playpen. The child was pronounced dead at the scene. According to police, she was “extremely dehydrated.”
According to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, Jailyn’s cause of death was starvation and severe dehydration.
As part of a plea agreement reached in February, prosecutors dismissed two counts of murder and one count of felonious assault in exchange for Candelario pleading guilty to child endangerment and aggravated murder.
In a March 18 sentencing hearing, Judge Brendan Sheehan of the Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court said Candelario committed “the ultimate betrayal” when she left her young daughter home alone without food and water for ten days.
Judge Sheehan told the defendant that just as she did not let her daughter out of confinement, he would ensure that Candelario would “spend the rest of your life in a cell without freedom.” He said the only difference would be that Candelario would be provided with the food and drink she denied to her daughter.
In addressing the court, Candelario expressed pain and grief over the loss of her daughter and said she had prayed every day for forgiveness.
The 32-year-old Candelario, who has a history of depression and other mental health issues, said that while she wasn’t attempting to justify her actions, people were not aware of how much she had been suffering at the time or what she had been going through.
She claimed that she had been forgiven by both God and her daughter.
