Disturbing footage captured the moment an Ohio mother calmly lied to cops that she found her baby girl dead in her crib – after secretly abandoning the child to go on a tropical vacation.
Kristel Candelario, 32, was confronted after her 16-month-old daughter Jailyn was found starved to death in her own filth after being stranded for 10 days.
The mother, sentenced to life in prison this week, was seen in police body camera footage telling officers that her daughter had been “vomiting” all week in June 2023.
Candelario frolicked on a Puerto Rican beach.
In the shocking clip, she calmly told officers: “She didn’t have any food, she refused.” »
As her daughter starved, Candelario shared vacation snaps of her smiling on a beach, with the caption: “Time spent is time lived.”
Kristel Candelario, 32, was seen in police body camera footage lying to officers about finding her daughter dead, and made up a story that the baby was “refusing” to eat.
As her daughter starved to death, Candelario beamed as she posed on a beach in Puerto Rico in an image captioned: “The time we enjoy is the real time we live.”
A medical examiner ruled the infant died of starvation and severe dehydration, and a prosecutor said the sight “will stay with me for many years.”
A medical examiner ruled the infant died of starvation and severe dehydration, and a prosecutor said the sight “will stay with me for many years.”
Although she later pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and child endangerment, new body camera footage shows she initially lied to cops as they questioned her about the death suddenly from his daughter.
While she claimed that the child “refused to eat” before dying, a police officer asked her: “And how was she on Wednesday and Thursday?”
“She was refusing, maybe because she hadn’t eaten two days before,” she replied, before shrugging her shoulders to feign confusion in the chilling clip.
“But that’s why I was scared, because I’m like, oh my God, we have to go to the hospital because she’s not eating anything.”
This week, Candelario was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for leaving her child to die alone at home.
In another photo taken during her cold-blooded vacation, Candelario wore denim shorts and a Star Wars “Mandalorian” t-shirt as she appeared to visit a Star Wars theme park.
Candelario, who appeared neither upset nor moved by her daughter’s death, said the baby looked “tiny” and was “losing weight,” and continued to make up a story about being at home. house all the time.
“This morning when I woke up, she was sleeping,” she said. “She sleeps every day, 12 hours.”
“She sleeps from 9 p.m. to 9 or 10 a.m., 12 p.m., so this morning I was sleeping too, she never wakes up.”
A police officer interrupted her to ask what happened the night before, to which the murderer replied: “Last night she was crying a lot.
“And I see one moment, when I was taking a shower, she was screaming like ‘Aaah,’ I don’t know, she’s probably in pain, maybe.”
“I came to pick her up this morning and she looks really dry,” she continued before speaking a few sentences in Spanish.
At the same time as she was vacationing in the tropics, her 16-month-old baby, Jailyn, was lying dead in a pile of her own trash.
At her sentencing this week, a judge condemned her actions in the strongest terms, with the mother sent behind bars for life without the possibility of parole.
County Common Pleas Court Judge Brendan Sheehan told Candelario she committed “the ultimate betrayal” by leaving her daughter alone without food.
“Just as you did not let Jailyn out of custody, you should also spend the rest of your life in a cell without liberty,” Judge Sheehan said.
“The only difference will be that the prison will at least feed you and give you some cash that you refused them.”
Candelario, who suffers from depression and related mental health issues, said she prays daily for forgiveness.
“I am in so much pain over the loss of my baby, Jailyn,” she said. “I am extremely hurt by everything that happened.
“I’m not trying to justify my actions, but no one knew how much pain I was in and what I was going through… God and my daughter forgave me.”
Strangely, she made the trip with her eldest daughter, and it is unclear why Candelario did not ask anyone to help take care of her child during her trip.
She pleaded guilty last month to aggravated murder and child endangerment. At his sentencing this week, a judge said: “Just as you did not let Jailyn out of custody, you should also spend the rest of your life in a cell without liberty.” »
The Ohio mom returned from her 10-day getaway to her home in Cleveland, Ohio (pictured) to find that Jailyn was no longer breathing.
After 10 days of sunbathing on the beach and enjoying local attractions, she returned home on June 16 to find that her daughter was not breathing.
Paramedics and Cleveland police tragically pronounced the 1-year-old dead at the scene, and prosecutors said the child was discovered “on a liner soiled with urine and feces with soiled blankets.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley, announcing the plea in February, said, “This case is one of those truly unimaginable cases that will follow me for many years.”
“As prosecutors, our job is to represent victims and today we spoke on behalf of 16-month-old Jailyn – who is no longer with us – because of the selfish decisions her mother made.”
After the news of the gruesome death made headlines, a neighbor also revealed that this was not the first time Candelario left his little girl home alone.
An acquaintance told News5 Cleveland, “We keep telling her not to leave her alone, not just me, my friend across the street too, but she always leaves her alone.”
Another neighbor, who was not identified, told CNN that Jailyn was “always a happy baby” and “always smiling.”
The neighbor’s daughter said there were “lots of people” around who could have been watching the baby, saying: “She could have knocked on any of our doors and asked us to take care of Jailyn and we l ‘would have done.’
“When they told us the condition they found her in, I was heartbroken,” the teenage neighbor told CNN.