Seven months after allegedly kidnapping her 11-month-old son, fleeing the state, then shooting and killing the infant during a brief standoff with law enforcement, a trial has been set for Madeline Daly.
It will be another six months before a Grant County, New Mexico, jury trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 11, 2027, which was set during a July 21 pretrial hearing.
While the wheels of justice take time, there’s no amount of time that can make Jake Stoner feel much better since the death of his son, reportedly at the hands of his mother.
“There’s a special kind of evil at work here,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday as Daly, 35, sits in a southwest New Mexico jail cell facing charges of first-degree murder and intentional abuse of a child resulting in death.
Stoner said he’s still “pretty much” shellshocked.
He declined to discuss the legal and court process much ahead of the trial, but Stoner did say he would have preferred if she were facing a federal prosecution instead of state.
With a federal court, “she would face the death penalty,” Stoner said.
In New Mexico, there is no death penalty and life in prison also can mean a convicted felon could be up for parole after 30 years.
If convicted, Daly could face 30 years to life for first-degree murder and life for intentional abuse, according to New Mexico statutes.
“This is the most God-awful thing I’ve ever experienced,” Stoner said.
‘She Would Do It Again’
Already wanted on a Wyoming warrant for kidnapping her infant son Basil, Daly was located near Silver City, New Mexico, just before Christmas last year.
As Grant County Sheriff’s Office deputies moved in around an RV she was staying at, Daly, who lived at an RV park in Ten Sleep before leaving the state, realized they were closing in on her, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in her case.
She allegedly shot her son, then tried to turn the gun on herself, but by then officers were able to subdue her, according to the affidavit written by Detective Lt. Jason Jordan.
She also reportedly told investigators afterward that she didn’t know why she shot and killed the boy, but that in her mind, she couldn’t let Stoner or his family have him.
“Even if the rest of life is worthless, she would do it again just so to make sure that the (family) didn’t touch him,” the affidavit says.
Daly told investigators that after officers stormed into the RV when she shot the boy, she “wasn’t fast enough killing herself after is all she can say about that,” the affidavit says.
Daly was wanted on a warrant out of Washakie County, Wyoming, after the boy’s father reported the infant missing Nov. 19.
Stoner, from Kilgore, Nebraska, shared custody of the boy with Daly and said she resisted him visiting their son. He last saw Basil on Sept. 28.
Lands In New Mexico
Daly had disappeared until she applied for a job near Silver City, New Mexico, the affidavit says.
The Wyoming warrant for her arrest popped up during a background check, the affidavit says.
For her part, Daly told agents after her arrest that she was keeping Basil “safe,” and that she knew she was breaking the law, but felt it was worth it for the sake of her child.
She said that’s why she ran into a nearby RV with Basil when she realized the law was closing in on her, the affidavit says.
She also made unsubstantiated claims that Basil “would have been in danger and molested if she would have stepped out of that trailer” and that his father “never wanted anything to do with Basil, financially, physically, emotionally ever.”
When questioned about why she kidnapped her own son, Daly replied that “she was not going to allow her (then) 8-month-old baby go back and forth from Nebraska to Wyoming twice a month,” the affidavit says.
Daly said she wound up in New Mexico because she had worked in that area 10 years ago. She began working for some people there who “ended up ratting her out because they knew she was running from something,” Jordan wrote.
Daly apparently had been trying to blend into an unincorporated area near Silver City, Jordan writes in his affidavit.
She was living in a rented bunkhouse, and an officer who had a contact living near the bunkhouse was alerted and began “keeping an eye out for her return home,” Jordan wrote.
Coincidentally, another deputy saw Daly and her son earlier that day at a local restaurant, but at the time didn’t know she was wanted by the law.
“Madeline was last seen this morning by Cpl. Deputy (William) Mize at the Three Questions Café in Mimbres, but he was not aware of the kidnapping at the time,” the affidavit says.
The document goes on to recount that the deputy observed that “she was a bit evasive as she sat down with her son to have breakfast this morning.”
‘I Knew My Time Was Up’
After getting the call from Washakie County, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office developed a plan to retrieve Basil, the affidavit says.
That included sending out five deputies to the bunkhouse. They had been tipped off that Daly had returned there.
“On arrival, Cpl. Deputy Mize saw a female subject running with a small child towards a motorized RV,” the affidavit says. “When deputies arrive to the motorized RV, they were confronted by a female subject later identified as (the owner of the RV).”
Daly later told investigators why she ran with Basil into the RV.
“I saw the sheriffs and I knew my time was up,” she said, according to the affidavit.
“When asked what went through her mind when she saw law enforcement walking up, she replied, ‘Jake can’t get Basil,’” the affidavit said.
Daly reportedly told investigators she assumed they had a felony warrant for kidnapping because she didn’t follow a judge’s custody order.
“So she said, ‘F*** it, it’s worth a shot,’” the affidavit says, adding that she considered her actions “worth it” if it meant keeping Basil away from his father and his family.
Deputies wanted to go into the RV and get the boy, but the owner “would not give deputies permission to enter her residence without a search warrant,” the affidavit says.
While authorities were telling Daly that she was surrounded and calling her out of the house, other agents were preparing to get a search warrant “just in case Madeline did not comply and come outside,” the affidavit says.
It was then at least one gunshot was heard from inside the RV.
One deputy then reported that the 11-month-old had been “shot in the chest by his mother, Madeline Daly,” the affidavit says, adding that she was in custody.
It’s not clear from the affidavit how many times the infant was shot.
The document references a gunshot to the chest, but then also reports that “medical staff worked on the child, but they were unable to save his life due to the gunshot wound to the face.”
It’s not clear from Daly’s public-facing court file if a mental evaluation has been asked for or ordered leading up to the trail. There are four documents that have been sealed from public view.
She remains in the Grant County Detention Center without bond.
In the meantime, she also faces a potential felony charge in Wyoming of interference with custody, which could get her up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
