A 16-month-old baby has died at his home in Cleveland, United States, more than a week after his mother abandoned him on 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 visited her home in Ohio on June 16, the New York Post reported.
The mother has reportedly confessed to police that she left her daughter Jailyn “at home alone and unattended,” the police report said.
Candelario said when she got home her daughter was “extremely dehydrated.”
The baby’s environment “consisted of soiled blankets and a floor covering saturated with urine and feces,” according to the report.
A neighbor also told the American television network WEWS that it was not the first time that the child was alone in the apartment.
“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. However, according to the neighbors, the latter had gone on vacation with Candelario’s eldest daughter.
“There were so many people here; She could have knocked on any door and asked us to take care of Jailyn,” another neighbor told police.