Kristel A. Candelario (Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office) and Jailyn Candelario (WKYC screenshot)
A 32-year-old mother in Ohio is facing a lengthy stretch of time behind bars for killing her 16-month-old daughter after she left the toddler all alone at home to die of starvation and dehydration while she went on vacation in Puerto Rico.
Kristel A. Candelario formally pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of aggravated murder and one count of endangering the life of a child in the death of Jailyn Candelario, court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show.
In exchange for pleading to the murder charge, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office agreed to drop additional charges Candelario had been facing, including two counts of murder and one count of felonious assault.
Based on the charges she pleaded to, Candelario faces a possible sentence of life in prison on the murder charge and up to 12 years on the child endangerment charge, records show. Candelario will face between 18 months and three years of probation if she’s ever released.