Ohio mother sentenced to life in prison for death of toddler left home alone

March 19 (UPI) -- An Ohio mother, whose 16-month-old daughter died after she left her home alone for more than a week while she vacationed, was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Brendan Sheehan called it "the ultimate act of betrayal," as he sentenced Kristel Candelario.

"Just as you didn't let Jailyn out of her confinement, so too you should spend the rest of your life in a cell without freedom," Sheehan said. "The only difference will be, the prison will at least feed you and give you liquid that you denied her."

Candelario, 32, pleaded guilty last month to aggravated murder and endangering a child, in connection with Jailyn's death after she was left "alone and unattended for 10 days," the Cuyahoga County prosecutor said.

According to investigators, Candelario left the child alone at her Cleveland home on June 6 to vacation in Puerto Rico and Michigan, as she posted photographs on the beach and with friends. She did not return home until June 16, when she found her daughter unresponsive and called police, who pronounced the toddler dead.

Investigators said while there was no sign of trauma, the toddler was found in a Pack-N-Play pen on a liner soiled with urine and feces.

An autopsy revealed that Jailyn died of starvation and severe dehydration due to pediatric neglect, according to Dr. Elizabeth Mooney, the deputy Cuyahoga County medical examiner.

"This was a type of suffering that not any of us could fully fathom," Mooney said Monday, adding that the child was emaciated during her last doctor's visit, weighing 7 pounds less than at her previous check-up two months earlier.

While Candelario's defense attorney, Derek Smith, made no excuse for her actions, calling them "narcissistic, selfish, abhorrent and absolutely the worst parenting imaginable," he said Candelario was overwhelmed as a single mother of two children.

"I am not trying to justify my actions, but nobody knew how much I was suffering and what I was going through," Candelario told the court through an interpreter, as she asked forgiveness from Jailyn and her other daughter.

Sgt. Teresa Gomez, who questioned Candelario during the investigation, reminded the court that "Jailyn died a long and agonizing death, afraid and alone, while her mother enjoyed the beach and sunshine."