A 31-year-old mother in Ohio named Kristel A. Candelario took a vacation to Puerto Rico and Detroit, allegedly leaving her 16-month-old daughter Jailyn alone in the house for eight to ten days, finding the child was dead when she returned.

(Video Credit: NBC News)

Candelario has been arrested and charged with murder after reportedly admitting that she left the toddler by herself while she went on vacation. She was taken into custody on Saturday and faces one count of first-degree murder in the tragic death of the little girl, court documents show, according to Law & Crime.

A probable cause affidavit shows that officers with the Cleveland Police Department and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel responded to a call at the home around 8 am on June 16 regarding a deceased child. The caller claimed she was the mother of the child and that she returned home and found the toddler unresponsive.

EMS personnel found the child and pronounced her dead when they arrived on the scene of the tragedy. In a press release, police said investigators found “no signs of trauma.”

“A preliminary investigation revealed that Jailyn was extremely dehydrated,” police wrote in their report. The child was left with no food or water. It only takes three days for a human being to die if they have no water.

TERRIBLE—A mother in Ohio has been charged with murder after she left her 16 month old baby at home for a week while she vacationed in Puerto Rico and Detroit.

Kristel Candelario of Cleveland, left her baby home alone in a Pack and Play from June 8 to June 16.

When Candelario… pic.twitter.com/t2fDTDjRzM

— Amiri King (@AmiriKing) June 21, 2023

In Jailyn’s Pack-N-Play bin, police found “soiled blankets and a bottom liner” which was “saturated with urine and feces.”

The mother confessed to leaving the child alone when she went on vacation for 10 days, according to authorities. The incident report noted that by “Candelario’s very own admission,” she stated that she left Jailyn “at home, all alone and unattended” from June 8 until June 16 “while she was vacationing in Puerto Rico and Detroit, Michigan.”

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office received the little one’s remains in order to conduct an autopsy and a more in-depth examination. The medical examiner determined “the child had been left alone and unattended for approximately 10 days and subsequently died.”

In an interview with Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC, neighbors said that Candelario was known as an absentee mother. They had previously told the station in August 2022 that Candelario would drop Jailyn off at their apartment and ask them to watch the child for a weekend. She would then disappear for several weeks, either refusing to answer her phone or offering excuses about why she was unable to pick up her baby.

As a father of two girls, this has broken my heart. That poor girl suffered all way up until the end. This woman should be left to die the same way.

— Dominic Ignelzi (@DominicIgnelzi) June 21, 2023

“I was the one calling her saying, ‘Look I need milk. I need money. I don’t have money to buy milk for your baby. What am I supposed to do?’” one of the women recounted.

Jailyn was with the woman for so long that she started calling her “mama.”

After six weeks, Candelario finally picked up Jailyn. The woman told the station that she wished Candelario would have left the baby with them instead of abandoning her to die all alone. The neighbors want the woman to pay for what she did to the little girl.

Candelario appeared in court for arraignment Tuesday morning. She is currently being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail on a $1 million bond, with her next court date scheduled for June 28 at 8:30 am.

The neighbors aren’t the only ones who want justice for little Jailyn:

I can’t imagine what that poor baby went through.

— Gracelyn (@Gracelyn72) June 22, 2023

She should be charged with a hell of a lot more than murder, how about pre-meditated murder, child neglect, child abuse, etc., so she can get the death penalty.

— Gail (@MaloneyG15) June 22, 2023

Sad fact is she could’ve left that baby with a hospital, police station, fire station, public school, library and not be criminally charged! There is no reason for this when there are so.many options!

— Terry (@terrydamics) June 21, 2023

The agony that child suffered is too much to even contemplate. My God.

— Kevan Huston (@kevanhuston) June 21, 2023

In tears. I’m in Ohio. I have a baby this age. My sister wants a baby so bad.

I’m absolutely sick that this happened in my state and we could’ve and would’ve loved that angel.

— CryptoKarens (@crypto_karens) June 22, 2023

This is unimaginably horrific. That poor child.

— Creature of Habit2 (@CreatureHabit2) June 22, 2023

Here I’m struggling to have my first and monsters like this allowed to have kids? ‍♀️ that poor baby.

— Nadia (@NerdDollface) June 21, 2023

When you live in a culture that doesn’t value life at any age this is what you get.

— ProtoSpud (@SpudProto) June 21, 2023

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