An Ohio mother who left her daughter for dead shared insensitive holiday snaps as her baby suffered in misery in the playpen.
Kristel Candelario, 32, is now facing life in prison after pleading guilty to the aggravated murder of her daughter Jailyn, but didn’t seem overly concerned as she flew to Puerto Rico.
In an image shared three days after her daughter’s fatal abandonment, she is seen smiling on a white sandy beach wearing sunglasses and a white shirt, with the caption: “Time enjoyed is time truly lived.”
At the same time, her 16-month-old baby lay dead in a pile of her own filth, and the Cayuhoga County medical examiner’s office determined that the toddler had died of starvation and severe dehydration.
At the end of her plea deal this week, prosecutors described her actions as “one of those truly unimaginable things that will stay with me for many years to come.”
Kristel Candelario, 32, beamed as she posed on a Puerto Rican beach in an image posted three days after her daughter’s 10-day abandonment, captioning it, “Time enjoyed is time truly lived.”
In another photo from her cold-blooded vacation, Candelario wore jean shorts and a ‘Mandalorian’ Star Wars t-shirt as she appeared to visit a Star Wars theme park.
During her tropical vacation, her 16-month-old baby Jailyn was found dead in a pile of her own filth, and medical examiners determined the toddler had died of starvation and severe dehydration.
In another photo from her cold-blooded vacation, Candelario wore jean shorts and a ‘Mandalorian’ Star Wars t-shirt as she appeared to visit a Star Wars theme park.
She beamed from ear to ear in the image, despite the horror she later admitted to leaving behind in her home in Cleveland, Ohio.
Prosecutors said she left little Jailyn in her Pack-N-Play cubicle in June 2023, en route to Detroit and Puerto Rico.
She made the trips with her eldest daughter, and it is unclear why Candelario asked no one to help her care for her child while she was traveling.
After ten days of sunbathing on the beach and enjoying the local sights, she returned to her home on June 16 to find her daughter not breathing.
Paramedics and Cleveland police tragically pronounced the one-year-old dead at the scene, and prosecutors said the child was discovered “on a liner soiled with urine and feces with soiled blankets.”
Following the shocking autopsy on her daughter’s condition, Candelario was indicted on charges of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, criminal mischief and child endangerment.
The two counts of murder and assault were dropped in her plea deal this week in exchange for pleading guilty to aggravated murder and child endangerment.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley announced the plea Thursday, saying, “This case is one of those truly unimaginable cases that will stay with me for many years to come.
“As prosecutors, our job is to represent victims and today we spoke on behalf of 16-month-old Jailyn – who is no longer with us – because of the selfish decisions her mother made.
“Today’s sentencing is the first step toward justice for Jailyn.”
Candelario, 32, now faces life in prison after pleading guilty to the aggravated murder and endangerment of her infant daughter
The Ohio mom returned from her 10-day getaway to her home in Cleveland, Ohio (pictured) to find Jailyn not breathing
Prosecutors said the child was found dead ‘on a liner soiled with urine and feces with dirty blankets’
Candelario’s attorneys, Derek Smith and Patrick Milligan, declined to discuss details of the settlement. cleveland.com.
‘This was a very emotional day for our customer. She has taken responsibility for what she did and regrets it,” Milligan said.
“There will be mitigating issues raised at sentencing that we will address.” Hopefully people realize she’s not the monster some people see her as.”
Defense attorneys said Candelario had mental health issues but declined to provide further information.
A neighbor also revealed that this wasn’t the first time Candelario left her daughter home alone.
An acquaintance told me News5 Cleveland: ‘We keep telling her not to leave her alone, not just me, my friend across the street too, but she always leaves her alone.’
Another female neighbor, who was not identified, told CNN that Jailyn was “always a happy baby” and “always smiling.”
A neighbor revealed that this wasn’t the first time Candelario left her daughter home alone, claiming she would ‘always leave her alone’
At the end of her plea deal this week, prosecutors described her actions as “one of those truly unimaginable things that will stay with me for many years to come.”
The neighbor’s daughter said there were “plenty of people” in the area who had been watching the baby. She said, “She could have knocked on one of our doors and asked us to take care of Jailyn, and we would have.”
“When they told us the condition they found her in, I was just heartbroken,” the teenage neighbor told CNN.
Candelario had previously worked as a construction substitute at Citizen Academy Glenville, an elementary school in Cleveland.
She had served in that role since November 2022, but was fired after her arrest.
The school released a statement announcing her termination, WEWS-TV reported.
According to Children and Family Services officials, there are no records of previous cases involving Candelario.