An Ohio mother faces charges in connection with the death of her 16-month-old daughter, who died after she was allegedly left home alone for 10 days while the mom went on vacation, authorities said.
Kristel Candelario, 31, of Cleveland, was arrested on June 18 and charged with murder, online court records state.
On June 16, Candelario found her daughter, Jailyn, unresponsive at their home on West 97th Street, Cleveland police said in an affidavit cited by WKYC, WEWS-TV, and NBC News.
She allegedly told investigators she had left the 16-month-old “at home, all alone and unattended,” while she traveled to Michigan and Puerto Rico, the affidavit states. When she returned, she allegedly found her daughter to be “extremely dehydrated,” according to the affidavit.
Authorities alleged that Jailyn’s playpen was filled with “soiled blankets and a bottom liner, saturated with urine and feces,” according to the affidavit.
Emergency responders pronounced the girl dead at the scene and said that “no signs of trauma were observed,” according to a press release from the Cleveland Police Department.
An investigation by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that “the child had been left alone and unattended for approximately 10 days and had subsequently died,” the press release alleges.
Following the news of the death, neighbors who spoke with WKYC said they had previously taken care of the girl and wished Candelario had asked them to watch her instead of allegedly leaving her home alone.
“Jailyn really didn’t deserve what happened to her. She was amazing and really adorable and I miss her a lot,” a 13-year-old neighbor told the outlet.
According to WEWS-TV, Candelario had worked at Citizens Academy Glenville, an elementary school in Cleveland, since November 2022. In light of her arrest, the school released a statement to the outlet announcing that Candelario had been terminated from her position as a building substitute.
Candelario is being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail on a $1 million bond, online court records show. It wasn’t immediately clear if Candelario had entered a plea or retained an attorney to comment on her behalf.
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Ok – WTF?!? Leaves a 16 month old baby alone for ten days, and thinks this is OK? I can’t believe I’m reading this.
Industrial wood chipper, toes first, for this heartless monster.