A Cleveland woman who left her 16-month-old daughter home alone for 10 days while she went on vacation was sentenced to life in prison.
On Monday, a judge sentenced Kristel Candelario to life in prison without parole.
The judge said Candelario, 32, had committed “the ultimate act of betrayal” when she left her 16-month-old daughter, Jailyn Candelario, alone in a playpen for 10 days.
Jailyn died from starvation and severe dehydration, according to an autopsy report.
The judge said Candelario left little Jailyn, “trapped in a tiny prison,” while she traveled to Puerto Rico and Detroit on vacation last June.
Candelario told police she returned home from vacation on June 16, 2023 to find her daughter unresponsive in the house.
At her sentencing hearing on Monday, prosecutors played security video of Candelario leaving her home on June 6 with a suitcase and returning on June 16.
Prosecutors said she called 911 and redressed the dead toddler in clean clothes.
First responders found the deceased child in a playpen with “soiled blankets and a bottom liner, saturated with urine and feces,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Candelario was arrested on June 18, 2023 and charged with murder.
She pleaded guilty to pediatric neglect and child endangerment.
According to WEWS-TV, Candelario was terminated from Citizens Academy Glenville, an elementary school in Cleveland, where she worked as a substitute teacher since November 2022.
