An Ohio mother posted a photo of herself smiling on a sunny beach at the same time her infant daughter returned home and lay dying in a dirty playpen.
Christel Candelario, 32, pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated murder for abandoning her 16-month-old daughter, Jaylin, when she left for a 10-day vacation in Puerto Rico in June.
Three days into the trip, the seemingly carefree mom shared a photo of herself snatching a camera on a sandy beach.
“Time spent having fun is time spent truly living,” she captioned the Facebook post.
When Candelario finally returned to her home in Cleveland several days later, she found her daughter not breathing in her playpen and called 911.
The baby languished in a pile that “consisted of a dirty blanket and bottom liner and was soaked with urine and feces,” the affidavit states.
A subsequent autopsy determined that Jaylin died of starvation and dehydration.
Candelario pleaded guilty this week to aggravated murder and child endangerment charges as part of a plea deal that included the dropping of two additional murder charges and one felony 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 a step toward justice for Jaylin,” he added.
Candelario will be sentenced on March 18 and faces life in prison.
