An Ohio woman has been charged with murder after police say she left her toddler alone in her Cleveland home for more than a week and returned to find her daughter dead.
Officers with the Cleveland Division of Police were called to the woman’s home at 7:51 a.m. last Friday, where they found the 16-month-old child unresponsive, according to an incident report. Medics pronounced the girl dead at the scene.
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The child’s mother, 31-year-old Kristel Candelario, was arrested and charged with murder. She appeared Tuesday morning in Cleveland Municipal Court and has another appearance scheduled for Wednesday, an online court docket shows.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting a full autopsy, though police said they did not observe any overt signs of physical trauma, according to the incident report. Investigators did determine that the child had been left alone and unattended for approximately 10 days, during which time she died, Cleveland police said.
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Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @EricLagatta.
