Ohio mother sentenced for leaving toddler alone to die while she went on vacation

An Ohio mother who left her 16-month-old daughter in a playpen while she went on vacation last summer was sentenced on Monday to life in prison without parole for the toddler's death.

Kristel Candelario, 32, pleaded guilty in February to one count of aggravated murder and one count of endangering children in a deal with prosecutors that dropped two murder counts and a felonious assault charge.

Prosecutors said on June 6, 2023, Candelario left her daughter, Jailyn Candelario, "alone and unattended" in a playpen at her home in Cleveland for 10 days while she traveled to Puerto Rico and Detroit. When she returned, Candelario found her daughter deceased and called 911. Investigators soon found that Jailyn was "extremely dehydrated at the time of her death."

On Monday, Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Anna Faraglia presented a PowerPoint, showing the court photos of Candelario smiling and partying with friends in Puerto Rico. The prosecution also played a recording from a Ring doorbell camera of Jailyn screaming more than two days after being left at the house alone. Candelario lied to police about her vacation, and evidence later showed that she redressed her daughter before police initially came to the scene, the prosecution said.

Candelario's attorney Derek Smith said she struggled with mental health issues and had tried to kill herself by overdose in 2023, after which she was given antidepressants. Smith said she stopped taking the medication and that that influenced her judgment at the time that she left Jailyn and went on vacation.

In a statement to the court, Candelario said, "there’s so much pain that I have in regards to the loss of my baby" and that "every day I ask forgiveness from God and from my daughter, Jailyn."

“I’m extremely hurt about everything that happened," she said. "I am not trying to justify my actions, but nobody knew how much I was suffering and what I was going through."

Cuyahoga County Judge Brendan Sheehan said Candelario, through her actions, "committed the ultimate act of betrayal."

"Leaving your baby terrified, alone, unprotected to suffer what I heard was the most gruesome death imaginable with no food, no water," he said. "The evidence that I've witnessed here before this court shows that this time you simply chose not to be here because you wanted to have fun. You decided you needed a vacation and what followed was absolute depravity."

“Just as you didn't let Jailyn out of her confinement until she died … you should spend the rest of your life in a cell without freedom."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kristel Candelario sentenced to life in prison for toddler's death