An Ohio mother whose 16-month-old daughter died after being left home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Kristel Candelario, 32, had pleaded guilty last month to aggravated murder and child endangerment as part of a plea deal with Cuyahoga County prosecutors, who dismissed two murder counts and a felonious assault charge.
Authorities have said Candelario left her daughter, Jailyn, in their Cleveland home when she went on vacation to Detroit and Puerto Rico in June 2023. When she returned 10 days later, she found the girl was not breathing in the playpen and called 911. Emergency responders found the child was "extremely dehydrated" and pronounced her dead shortly after they arrived.
An autopsy by the Cuyahoga County medical examiner's office determined that the toddler died of starvation and severe dehydration.
County Common Pleas Court Judge Brendan Sheehan told Candelario she committed "the ultimate betrayal" by leaving her daughter alone without food.
"Sentencing you to spend the rest of your days in a cell without freedom is the only fitting punishment for not allowing Jailyn to escape her confinement," declared Sheehan. "The only consolation is that unlike Jailyn, at least the prison will provide you with food and water that you cruelly denied her."
Candelario, who has battled with depression and associated mental health struggles, expressed that she prays daily for absolution.
"The pain of losing my child, Jailyn, is overwhelming," she revealed. "I am deeply pained by everything that transpired. I am not trying to excuse my actions, but no one understood the depth of my suffering and challenges... God and my daughter have forgiven me."
