An Ohio woman who left her 16-month-old daughter home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation has pleaded guilty to aggravated murder.
Kristel Candelario, 32, also pleaded guilty Thursday to child endangerment as part of a plea deal with Cuyahoga County prosecutors, WHIO reported.
According to prosecutors, Candelario left her daughter, Jailyn, in their Cleveland, Ohio, home when she went on vacation to Detroit and Puerto Rico in June 2023.
Kristel Candelario has pleaded guilty in the death of her 16-month-old daughter, whom she left home alone for 10 days. https://t.co/lPRPESj2nE
— Court TV (@CourtTV) February 22, 2024
When she returned 10 days later, she found the girl in the playpen, not breathing, and called 911. Emergency responders found the child was “extremely dehydrated” and pronounced her dead shortly after they arrived, according to The Associated Press.
The toddler died of starvation and severe dehydration, an autopsy by the Cuyahoga County medical examiner’s office showed.
Prosecutors agreed to dismiss two murder counts and a felonious assault charge. Candelario faces a life term when she’s sentenced on March 18, according to WHIO.
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