An Ohio toddler died after her mom left her home alone while she took a 10-day vacation. A judge called it the ‘ultimate act of betrayal’

Kristel Candelario was sentenced to life in prison by a judge who scolded her for posing for photos on a beach in Puerto Rico while her 16-month-old daughter lay dying alone in a filthy playpen back in Cleveland.

Jailyn’s cries echoed through the quiet streets of Cleveland in the dead of the night. The toddler whimpered and howled, but no one came to her rescue. Her mother, Kristel Candelario, was away on a 10-day summer vacation and had left Jailyn alone in a playpen with a few bottles of milk, prosecutors said. A neighbor’s doorbell camera captured the 16-month old’s frequent screams, including one around 1 a.m. two days after her mother left. But Candelario was hundreds of miles away in Puerto Rico with a male friend, authorities said. After a few days at the beach and another stop in Detroit, she returned home on June 16 last year to find her daughter dead. She’d been gone for about 10 days. Candelario pleaded guilty last month to one count of aggravated murder and one count of child endangering. At her sentencing Monday, forensic pathologist Elizabeth Mooney told a Cleveland courtroom that children experience the most extreme separation anxiety between nine and 18 months. She recounted Jailyn’s excruciating final days. “The pain and suffering she endured lasted not only hours, not days, but possibly even a week,” Mooney said, fighting back tears.