An Ohio woman has pleaded guilty to murder after leaving her 1-year-old daughter alone for nearly 10 days last year while she vacationed in Puerto Rico.
According to NBC News, Kristel Candelario, 32, appeared at the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland Wednesday morning, where she pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and child endangerment.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Candelario told investigators she went to Puerto Rico and Detroit, leaving home on June 8, 2023, and returning on June 16. When she returned home, she found her daughter, Jailyn, unresponsive.
Investigators said the little girl was “extremely dehydrated” and the playpen had “soiled blankets and a bottom liner, saturated with urine and feces.”
An autopsy performed by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office indicated that Jailyn died of starvation and severe dehydration.
In 2023, a neighbor told WOIO that the baby’s grandmother usually cared for the baby, not the mother.
“(The baby’s) mom always wanted to go out and just left her with her grandma and all that,” neighbor Suleym said.
Suleym told WKYC that Candelario asked them to watch Jailyn for a weekend in August 2022, but did not return to get the baby for a month and a half.
According to Iris, Candelario would make up excuses for why she was not coming to get the child. Candelario was gone so long that Jailyn began to refer to her neighbor-turned-caretaker as “mama,” she claimed.
On Thursday, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said Candelario took a plea deal, which removed a felonious assault and additional murder charges.
“This case is one of those truly unimaginable cases that will stick with me for many years to come,” said O’Malley in a statement.
“As prosecutors, it is our job to represent the victims and today we spoke on behalf of 16-month-old Jailyn — who is no longer with us — due to the selfish decisions her mother made. This conviction today, is the first step towards justice for Jailyn.”
A sentencing date has been scheduled for March 18. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Jailyn/Handout via Telemundo]
Additional reporting by KC Wildmoon
