OAN’s Avril Elfie
1:19pm – Sunday, February 25, 2024
An Ohio mother has pleaded guilty to starving her 16-month-old daughter to death for 10 days during a vacation trip to Puerto Rico.
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Christel Candelario, 32, pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated murder after leaving her daughter Jaylin alone to go on a 10-day vacation.
Three days after the trip, Candelario posted a photo on Facebook from a beach in Puerto Rico with the caption, “Time spent having fun is time spent truly living.”
Several days later, Candelario finally returned to her home in Cleveland, where she found her daughter unconscious in her playpen and immediately called 9-1-1.
According to the affidavit, the infant “[ed of] Dirty blankets and bottom liners were saturated with urine and feces. ”
A subsequent autopsy determined Jaylin’s cause of death was starvation and dehydration.
Candelario entered guilty pleas this week to aggravated murder and child endangerment charges as part of a plea deal that also included the dismissal of two murder charges and one felony assault charge.
“This is one of those truly unimaginable cases that will stay with me for years to come,” Cuyahoga County Attorney Michael O’Malley said Thursday. “This guilty verdict today is the first step toward justice for Jaylin.”
Candelario currently faces life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 18th.th.
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