A New Mexico judge ruled Monday that the mother accused of shooting and killing her 11-month-old son will remain in custody as her case moves through the court system.
Madeline Daly, 35, is facing first-degree murder and other charges after kidnapping her son Basil in Wyoming and absconding with him to the Silver City, New Mexico, area.
She shot the boy on Dec. 23, 2025, rather than ceding custody to the biological father in compliance with a court order when she was confronted by New Mexico authorities in an RV park.
Daly was also wanted on a felony warrant out of Wyoming after the boy’s biological father, Jake Stoner of Kilgore, Nebraska, reported him missing on Nov. 19 after Daly ran off with the child following a missed court hearing, at which point he was granted emergency temporary custody.
Daly earlier waived her right to a preliminary hearing on the state charges with federal charges potentially pending.
‘Outrageous Circumstances’
Sitting alone at the defense table in a bright pink jail-issued jumpsuit, her posture erect and hands cuffed on her lap, Daly appeared before Grant County District Judge Thomas Stewart late Monday afternoon.
Daly’s attorney was inaudible on the livestream of the meeting as she sat quietly, staring forward at the judge.
Her attorney argued for Daly’s release from jail.
In a fiery opening, Mark Abramson with the Grant County District Attorney’s Office argued that given the “outrageous circumstances” of Daly’s actions, that there was no way she should be released.
“A mother absconded with her child from Wyoming, traveled around — we're not sure where — but ended up here being confronted by law enforcement and chose to murder her child, her own child, with a 9 mm gun to the face,” Abramson said.
“We are concerned that not only is the case strong, but the likelihood that this defendant would abscond again and would find herself outside of the jurisdiction of Grant County or New Mexico is just too great,” he added.
Abramson also argued that the crime Daly’s charged with is “as personal as you can get.”
“There are just too many red flags in this case, and there are no circumstances that would justify release of this defendant into our community,” he said.
Too Much Animosity
He also referenced Daly’s earlier comments to authorities after her arrest in which she told the Grant County Sheriff’s Office detective that she didn’t know why she shot the boy, but that in her mind it was a better option than allowing her ex and his family have custody, according to an affidavit filed in her case.
She also said she had planned to turn the gun on herself prior to authorities intervening.
Judge Stewart referenced these statements as he explained why he was denying her release.
“I'm concerned about your own personal safety, as well as the safety of others,” he said. “It also concerns the court that given the gravity of what's happened, and there seemed to be a considerable amount of animosity.”
He referenced Daly’s statement to the detective that “Jake can’t get Basil” in defense of her allegedly killing her son as well as her desire to keep him from the Stoners.
“I believe a reasonable inference from that is that there's also a lot of negative emotion directed towards the father and his family,” Stewart said.
The judge also said that there is reasonable concern for the court to infer that the Stoners may be in danger if she were released.
Stoner declined to comment following Monday’s hearing.
Rocky Past
In an earlier interview with Cowboy State Daily, Stoner said his relationship with Daly was rocky when it came to her allowing him to see his son.
The couple were not married but shared custody of Basil, which Stoner said Daly fought since the boy’s birth.
Stoner said that Daly resisted his attempts to visit with his son, forcing him to take her to court.
When Daly failed to show for a scheduled court hearing in October to discuss visitation, Stoner was granted temporary emergency custody by a Washakie County District Court judge.
He last saw his son during a scheduled visit in Wyoming on Sept. 28. He was looking forward to his next visit and getting to know his son.
Tracked To New Mexico
Daly had been on the run for about five weeks when a tipster in New Mexico alerted authorities that she was staying in an RV park near Silver City, New Mexico.
Daly had applied for a job at his business when he flagged the felony warrant out of Wyoming.
Grant County Sheriff deputies then tracked Daly to an RV park, where she was staying in a bunkhouse.
When Daly spotted the authorities, she ran and hid in a nearby RV belonging to a resident who refused to let authorities in after her.
As Grant County Sheriff’s Office deputies attempted to negotiate the boy’s release, Daly shot and killed the boy then turned the gun on herself before deputies intervened, according to court documents filed in her case.
After her arrest, she told detectives that she knew she was breaking the law, but she did it to keep her son safe and out of reach of Stoner and his family, court documents state.
She further made unsubstantiated claims that Basil would have been in danger if “she would have stepped out of that trailer” and that his father “never wanted anything to do with Basil, financially, physically, emotionally ever.”
After her arrest, Daly told authorities that she ran into the RV with Basil because she “knew her time was up,” according to the affidavit.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
