Kristel Candelario, Cleveland, Ohio mom pleads guilty to aggravated murder after abandoning her 16 month old baby at home all alone while she went on 10 day holiday to Puerto Rico, where she posted pictures of herself enjoying idylic life on Facebook.
An Ohio mother who pleaded guilty to aggravated murder for abandoning her 16 month old baby so she could jet off to Puerto Rico for a 10 day vacation had posted a number of snaps of herself leading a carefree existence along pristine beaches.
Kristel Candelario, 32, of Cleveland, OH, pleaded guilty to aggravated murder Thursday for abandoning her 16-month-old daughter, Jailyn, when she jetted off on a 10-day vacation to the Caribbean getaway in June.
Three days into the trip, the seemingly carefree mom shared a photo of herself posing along a sandy beach.
Ohio mom who left toddler to die alone while on 10 day vacation gets life with no chance of parole
Abandoned child was found languishing in a pile of feces and urine
‘The time that is enjoyed is the true time lived,’ Candelario captioned the Facebook post.
When Candelario finally returned to her Cleveland home a few days later, she found her daughter not breathing in her playpen and called 911.
The child who had been left all alone and un-attended had languished in a pile of ‘consisted of soiled blankets and a bottom liner, saturated with urine and feces,’ an affidavit stated.
An autopsy later revealed that Jailyn succumbed to starvation and dehydration.
Astonished neighbors said they would have gladly watched the child if they had been asked. The whereabouts of the child’s father was not immediately clear.
‘Justice for Jailyn,’
Candelario pleaded guilty this week to aggravated murder and child endangerment as part of a plea deal that included dropping two additional murder charges and one count of felonious assault.
‘This case is one of those truly unimaginable cases that will stick with me for many years to come,’ Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said Thursday.
‘As prosecutors, it is our job to represent the victims and today we spoke on behalf of 16-month-old Jailyn — who is no longer with us — due to the selfish decisions her mother made. This conviction today, is the first step towards justice for Jailyn,’ he added.
Candelario now faces life in prison when she is sentenced on March 18.
