Footage Shows Mom Whose Baby Died Home Alone While She Went on Vacation Calmly Lying to Police

Law&Crime published bodycam video of Candelario speaking with officers on June 16, 2023, the day she came home from a trip to Detroit, Michigan and finally Puerto Rico without her 16-month-old daughter Jailyn.

In the video, she made it seem as if she had been home with her daughter the whole time, saying the little girl "didn't want to eat" for two days. "She was with no food, because she was refusing," she continued, "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.'"

Candelario then went on to claim the girl was "Crying out loud" and "screaming" the previous night, telling police she thought her daughter was possibly in "pain" -- despite her not actually being back home yet. "This morning when I wake up ... she was really, really dry," added Candelario.

The outlet also played some of Candelario's 9-1-1 call after coming home to find her child dead, in which she's heard emotionally screaming for help.

Candelario left her daughter "alone and unattended" in a Pack-N-Play playpen on June 6 and didn't return home until June 16, said prosecutors previously. After finding the child unresponsive when she returned home, she called 9-1-1; Jailyn was pronounced deceased at the scene. An autopsy revealed she died of starvation and severe dehydration.

During her sentencing hearing after Candelario pled guilty to a murder charge and one count of endangering children, prosecutors showed travel receipts and pointed to photos on both her Facebook page and phone to indicate she was "having a good time with friends and that there is not a care in the world about the 16-month-old that was left alone in the Pack N Play."

One of the photos is still up on her page, showing her on the beach -- apparently in Puerto Rico -- on June 8 with the caption, "Time enjoyed is the true time lived."

Her attorney argued the pictures "didn't show the entire story," claiming she was hiding depression from the time. He said that while her actions were "narcissistic, selfish, abhorrent" and "absolutely worst parenting imaginable," he tried to explain them before she was sentenced.

According to her lawyer, Candelario was struggling with being a single parent and had been experiencing medical issues allegedly stemming from stress and anxiety in the months before her daughter's death. He also claimed she was put on anti-depressants, but then stopped taking them, cold, without tapering off.

"When you're in that state, off medication, you're not thinking clearly. She had to get out, if she was having fun in her mind, Jailyn was okay," he said, saying her emotion on the 9-1-1 call proved her child's death was not something she wanted to happen.

The judge, however, wasn't buying it and sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"You committed the ultimate act of betrayal, leaving your baby terrified, alone, unprotected, to suffer what I heard was the most gruesome death imaginable, with no food, no water, no protection and laying in her own feces," said the judge to Candelario. "You simply chose not to be here because you wanted to have fun. You decided you needed a vacation and what followed was absolute depravity. It didn't look like you were too concerned about your child."

Candelario also addressed the court -- saying, "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," she said, adding, "God and my daughter have forgiven me."