CLEVELAND, Ohio – A woman has been arrested for murder after police said she left her 16-month-old daughter home alone for more than a week while she went on vacation.
Following her arrest on June 18, Kristel Candelario, 31, told officers that she left her daughter “at home, all alone and unattended,” while she traveled to Detroit and then Puerto Rico.
PEOPLE reported that Candelario, who worked for a local school district, returned from her vacation and found her daughter Jailyn extremely dehydrated.
According to a press release, Cleveland police were called to Candelario’s home on June 16 and EMS at the scene pronounced the girl dead.
“An investigation revealed that the child had been left alone and unattended for approximately 10 days and had subsequently died,” the press release states.
WKYC reported that investigators found Jailyn’s play bin packed with “soiled blankets and a bottom liner, saturated with urine and feces.”
Neighbors told WKYC they would sometimes watch Jailyn and at one point Candelario left the child with them for weeks and wouldn’t pick up the phone.
“I was the one calling her saying, ‘Look I need milk. I need money. I don’t have money to buy milk for your baby.’ What am I supposed to do?” the neighbor told WKYC.
The neighbors told the news outlet that they wish Candelario had asked them to watch the baby rather than leave her alone.
“I wish for her to pay for what she did to her daughter,” the neighbor said.
Court records show Candelario’s bond is set at $1,000,000.