Chelsea Mother Sentenced to Prison After 3-Year-Old Dies While She Was Out Drinking

Stop me if you've heard this, or a variation of it, before: a Massachusetts mother couldn't cope with her three young kids any longer, so she went out for the night, leaving the children home alone. One of them died.

Jennifer Prudencio of Chelsea recently pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment and was sentenced to four to six years at MCI-Framingham. She'd originally pleaded not guilty.

The 27-year-old Prudencio left the children, ages 8, 7, and 3, alone on April 6, 2024, to drink at a bar in Revere. After leaving the bar, she slept at her boyfriend's Somerville apartment, finally returning home about 10 a.m. the following morning.

While Prudencio was away, her 3-year-old son, Yael Guardado Prudencio, who suffered from hemophilia and a seizure disorder, passed away.

"In the week before his death, he had suffered a fall during a seizure that left a bloody wound on his face that would not heal," reported Mass Daily News. "He had vomited blood in the days before his mother left."

"The defendant also admitted that during the night, she received a video and text from her 8-year-old son communicating concerns for the alleged victim's well-being. And despite that, she chose to stay out all night," prosecutor Audrey Mark said during Prudencio's initial arraignment, according to CBS News Boston.

Prudencio's sentence includes 284 days of credit for time served and three years of probation to begin after her release.

Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Joshua Wall sentenced Prudencio above the Massachusetts sentencing guidelines.

Court TV reported, "Prudencio's two surviving children now live with Prudencio's mother; prosecutors said the Department of Children and Families indicated its goal was to reunify the family at some point."