What to Know
Madeline Daly was embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with her son’s father, Jake Stoner, in the fall of 2025. Daly took off from Wyoming with their young son Basil after a court granted Stoner custody. Daly and Basil disappeared on November 16, 2025, and it wasn’t until December 23 that police learned of her location in New Mexico.
When local law enforcement went to talk to Daly, she allegedly barricaded herself inside an RV and fatally shot her son. When police apprehended Daly, she reportedly confessed to killing 11-month-old Basil and said it was “worth it” to keep the baby from Stoner.
Daly took extreme measures to keep Basil from his father.
According to court documents obtained by the Cowboy State Daily, Daly told Detective Lt. Jason Jordan of the Grant County Sheriff’s Office in New Mexico that she would do anything she had to do to keep Basil away from Stoner and his family. She apparently intended to shoot herself after she shot her toddler, but police intervened before she had the chance. Daly told investigators that she ran away to keep her son “safe.”
She claimed Basil “would have been in danger and molested if she had stepped out of that trailer.” She also alleged that Stoner “never wanted anything to do with Basil, financially, physically, emotionally ever.”
Police found Daly after she applied for a job in New Mexico.
Jordan stated in the affidavit that the owner of a local business did a background check on Daly and discovered something strange. The owner reportedly “was going to hire Madeline, but before making that decision did some investigating of his own and saw that Madeline was currently wanted in Washakie County, Wyoming, for kidnapping.”
The business owner called the sheriff’s office, and deputies found Daly and Basil a short time later.
Daly had a devastating story for police.
The 35-year-old reportedly ran toward the RV she and Basil had been living in when deputies spotted her. Following her arrest, she reportedly told police, “I saw the sheriffs, and I knew my time was up.”
She told investigators that all she could think about in the moment was keeping Basil away from Stoner. When asked why she did it, Daly allegedly told the police, “F–k it, it’s worth a shot,” and killed her son.
The mother pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
According to his obituary, Basil passed away just shy of his first birthday.
“Basil was born on January 8, 2025, in Worland, Wyoming. His father, Jake, was as proud as can be to finally have the son he always wanted. He was a happy and alert child. Never missing a thing. Basil was happiest outdoors and loved watching animals, and he really liked blueberries,” the passage reads.
Per a news release from the Silver City, New Mexico District Attorney Norman R. Wheeler, Daly pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges. She faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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