A 16-month-old baby has died in his home in Cleveland, US, more than a week after his mother left him alone for a trip to Puerto Rico.
Kristel Candelario, 31, faces murder charges after the child went without treatment for more than a week, according to local authorities. The girl was pronounced dead after first responders attended her home in Ohio on June 16, the New York Post.
The mother reportedly confessed to police that she left her daughter, Jailyn, “home alone and unsupervised”, according to the police report.
Candelario said when she arrived home her daughter was “extremely dehydrated.”
The environment around the baby “consisted of soiled blankets and a bottom covering, saturated with urine and feces,” according to the report.
A neighbor also mentioned to the American television station WEWS that this was not the first time that the child had found herself alone in the residence.
“We, the other neighbors and I always told her not to leave her alone, but she did it anyway,” he said.
The young woman lives in the house with her two daughters and her parents. The latter, however, had gone on vacation with the eldest daughter of Candelario, according to the neighbors.
“There were so many people here; she could have knocked on any door to ask us to take care of Jailyn,” another neighbor told police.