The American justice system sentenced 32-year-old Ecuadorian Kristel Candelario to life in prison without the possibility of parole for leaving a 16-month-old baby alone for 10 days to go on vacation.
Prosecutor Michael C. O'Malley of Cleveland recalled that the woman went on vacation to Puerto Rico, leaving the girl alone for 10 days, which caused the death of the minor, named Jailin, he reported.CNN.
"Today we remember Jailyn, a beautiful girl who was taken from this world due to her mother's unimaginable selfishness," said Cuyahoga County Representative O'Malley in astatement.
"The idea of going on vacation for 10 days and leaving your child to starve in your Pack-N-Play is a new low in parenting," he stressed.
The mother was charged with charges of aggravated manslaughter, two counts of murder, felonious assault and child endangerment.
Heevent occurred on June 6, 2023, when Candelario left her 16-month-old daughter alone and unattended in a playpen at her residence near Lorain Avenue and West 97th Street, in Cleveland, and went on a trip to Detroit and then to Puerto Rico.
When he returned, he found the girl unconscious and called the police.
When authorities arrived at the home, they declared the baby dead, as she was "extremely dehydrated," according to the statement.
Specifically, she was found in the Pack-N-Play pen "wrapped in a liner soiled with urine and feces with soiled blankets."
"Each and every homicide that occurs in our city is significant, but when it involves a child, it is even more devastating. One relief we have is knowing that the members of our Division, particularly our homicide unit, worked tirelessly to bring justice to Jailyn," said Cleveland Police Division Chief Dorothy Todd.
"Our hearts broke, we loved Jailyn very much," a neighbor declared last year when she learned of the minor's death to the WKYC network.
She also stated that a year earlier the defendant had asked her and her mother to take care of the baby for a weekend.
However, even though she had told them that she would only be gone for two days, the woman took several weeks to return and stated that she showed no interest in her daughter.
When he called her to find out when she was coming back, Candelario would make excuses to justify why she hadn't returned, she explained.
"I was the one who called her saying: I need milk, I need money. I don't have money to buy milk for your baby. What am I supposed to do?" the neighbor recalled.
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