A mother sentenced to life in prison for leaving her 16-month-old daughter home alone while she went on holiday has spoken out from her cell. Kristel Candelario, 32, left Jailyn alone in a playpen with only a few bottles of milk at their home in Cleveland, Ohio, in June 2023.
Candelario travelled to Michigan and Puerto Rico for ten days. When she returned, she found the toddler unresponsive and called emergency services. Jailyn was pronounced dead at the scene, having been found 'extremely dehydrated' and covered in faeces and urine. Investigators described the case as the most harrowing they had encountered.
Candelario pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and child endangerment. She was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. In an interview from prison, she said she had been struggling with mental health issues and had been hospitalised earlier in 2023. She claimed her trip was an impulsive act driven by stress and depression.
During sentencing, Judge Brendan Sheehan told Candelario: 'The bond between a mother and a child is one of the most purest and most sacred bonds. ... You committed the ultimate act of betrayal.' He added that the child had been 'eating her own faeces in an attempt to survive' while Candelario was on holiday.
A neighbour's doorbell camera captured the toddler's screams. Forensic pathologist Elizabeth Mooney said the child's suffering 'lasted not only hours, not days, but possibly even a week'. Candelario expressed remorse, saying her 'world fell apart' when she found her daughter unresponsive.
