An Ohio toddler died after her mom left her home alone while she took a 10-day vacation.

A
judge called it the ‘ultimate act of betrayal’
By Faith Karimi, CNN

Jailyn’s cries echoed through the quiet streets of Cleveland in the dead of the night. The toddler whimpered and
howled, but no one came to her rescue. Her mother, Kristel Candelario, was away on a 10-day summer vacation
and had left Jailyn alone in a playpen with a few bottles of milk, prosecutors said. A neighbor’s doorbell camera
captured the 16-month old’s frequent screams, including one around 1 a.m. two days after her mother left. But
Candelario was hundreds of miles away in Puerto Rico with a male friend, authorities said. After a few days at the
beach and another stop in Detroit, she returned home on June 16 last year to find her daughter dead. She’d been
gone for about 10 days. Candelario pleaded guilty last month to one count of aggravated murder and one count of
child endangering. At her sentencing Monday, forensic pathologist Elizabeth Mooney told a Cleveland courtroom
that children experience the most extreme separation anxiety between nine and 18 months. She recounted
Jailyn’s excruciating final days. “The pain and suffering she endured lasted not only hours, not days, but possibly
even a week,” Mooney said, fighting back tears. “This feeling of abandonment for days on end, coupled with the
pain of starvation and extreme thirst is a type of suffering I don’t think any of us could ever fully fathom.”

The toddler was found dehydrated and emaciated

A judge sentenced Candelario on Monday to life in prison, marking a final chapter in a case so grim that the
investigators involved described it as the most horrific they’ve witnessed in their careers. Law enforcement
officials, including Cleveland Police Sgt Teresa Gomez, fought back tears as they described the baby’s condition.
“This is a case that … we’ll have branded in our minds and in our hearts forever,” Gomez said at the sentencing.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Anna Faraglia played security video of the mother hauling her suitcase to a
car on June 6 and returning home on June 16. Minutes after she returned, Candelario called 911.
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