Police: Infant girl dies after mother left her alone for 8 days to go on vacation

CLEVELAND (WOIO/Gray News) – A mother in Ohio has been charged with murder after police said she left her infant daughter alone for eight days while she went on vacation.

Officials said 31-year-old Kristel Candelario told them she went on vacation to Puerto Rico and Detroit from June 8 to June 16. She returned home last Friday to find her daughter unresponsive.

Investigators said the 16-month-old child was extremely dehydrated.

WOIO spoke with neighbors who said they would have gladly watched the child if they had been asked.

Neighbor Suleym Gonzalez said Candelario was not the typical caretaker of her daughter, and the baby was usually cared for by the grandmother.

“Her (the baby’s) mom always wanted to go out and just left her with her grandma and all that,” she said.

Police said Candelario is currently being held on a $1 million bond, which was set during her arraignment Tuesday.

Candelario is scheduled to be in court for a pre-trial hearing on June 28.

She is the second Cleveland mother to be charged with murdering their child in as many days.

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