Kristel Candelario.Photo:Cuyahoga County Police
Cuyahoga County Police
“Just as you didn’t let Jailyn out of her confinement, so too you should spend the rest of your life in a cell without freedom,” Sheehan told her, the AP reports. “The only difference will be, the prison will at least feed you and give you liquid that you denied her.”
Cuyahoga County prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley also had harsh words for Candelario.
“The thought of going on vacation for 10 days and leaving your child to starve to death in her Pack-N-Play is a new low in parental care," he said.
From June 6 to June 16, 2023, Candelario, 32, left her daughter Jailyn, alone in a playpen in their Cleveland home while she went on vacation to Detroit and Puerto Rico.
When she returned more than a week later, she called 911 when she found the child unresponsive in the Pack-N-Play, which had soiled blankets, prosecutors said.
The toddler was pronounced dead at the scene.
Candelario was arrested on June 17, 2023, and faced a slew of charges including two murder counts.
In a plea agreement with prosecutors, in February, Candelario pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and child endangerment, prosecutors said in a statement.
In exchange, prosecutors dismissed two murder counts and a felonious assault charge.
The toddler died of starvation and severe dehydration from pediatric neglect, Dr. Elizabeth Mooney, the deputy Cuyahoga County medical examiner, said in court Monday,NBC Newsreports.
The child was emaciated, “weighing 13 pounds, 7 pounds less than in her last doctor’s visit less than two months before,” Mooney said.
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“I’m extremely hurt about everything that happened. I am not trying to justify my actions, but nobody knew how much I was suffering and what I was going through … God and my daughter have forgiven me.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
