Deeply disturbing footage has emerged of 32-year-old Kristel Candelario, from Ohio, lying to law enforcement about the circumstances surrounding her 16-month-old daughter’s death.
Candelario’s daughter, Jailyn, was tragically found dead in June last year after she had starved to death and suffered extreme dehydration.
Candelario has now been sentenced to life in prison after it emerged she left her baby daughter alone for 10 days while she went on holiday.
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Lying to police
The released bodycam footage shows Candelario spinning a web of lies to police, telling them that Jailyn had been ‘throwing up all week’ after ‘she was refusing food’.
It later emerged that Candelario had actually been lazing around on Puerto Rican beaches, uploading selfies that she captioned: "The time that is enjoyed is the true time lived."
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When she was questioned by officers following the heartwrenching passing of her baby daughter, Candelario showed no emotion as she said: “She was refusing [food], maybe because she didn't eat two days before.
“But that's why I was scared, because I say, oh my God we have to go to the hospital because she doesn't eat anything.
“This morning when I wake up she was asleep. She sleeps everyday, 12 hours.
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“She sleeps from 9pm to 9 or 10am, 12 hours, so this morning I was sleeping too, she never woke up.”
She continued to add to her many lies, continuing: “Last night she was crying a lot.”
The reality was that Jailyn had been dead for several days.
Forensic pathologist Elizabeth Mooney said Jailyn could have lived for up to a week trapped in her playpen after her mother went on holiday.
"You should spend the rest of your life in a cell"
Earlier this week, Candelario was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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During the sentencing, Judge Brendan Sheehan said: “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.
“The only difference will be, the prison will at least feed you and give you liquid that you denied her.”
"Nobody knew how much I was suffering"
Candelario has reportedly struggled with depression and other related mental health conditions throughout her life and said she prays for forgiveness.
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She said: “There's so much pain that I have in regards to the loss of my baby, Jailyn.
"I'm extremely hurt about everything that happened.
“I am not trying to justify my actions, but nobody knew how much I was suffering and what I was going through.”
After it made headlines that Jailyn was found 'on a liner soiled with urine and faeces with soiled blankets’, the local community shared their grief.
One neighbour told 5News Cleveland that ‘it was not the first time’ Candelario left baby Jailyn by herself.
Another neighbour said: “She could have knocked on any of our doors and asked us to take care of Jailyn and we would have.”
Kya Buller