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A mother in Wyoming was convicted of fatally shooting her 11-month-old son in the face so that his father could never get custody of him.
The 6th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a statement that the infant died on December 23, 2025, after his mother, Madeline Veronique Daly, shot him inside an RV near Silver City, New Mexico.
The victim was not identified in the statement, but his name, Basil, was revealed in a GoFundMe set up to help his father, Jake Stoner.
Daly, 36, was arrested on the same day she killed her son. She was initially charged with first-degree murder and child abuse, but she ultimately pleaded guilty to just murder on Monday, August 24. It’s not currently clear what came of the child abuse or kidnapping charges she was facing.
Her sentencing is scheduled to take place at a later date.
Throughout the investigation, authorities learned that Daly had taken Basil from Wyoming to New Mexico despite a court order that granted Stoner emergency custody of the child.
Grant County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a rural property in New Mexico on December 23, 2025, after learning that Daly had kidnapping charges against her in Wyoming. Once officers located her at a bunkhouse, she attempted to flee the scene by running to a nearby RV.
Deputies then surrounded the RV and waited to get a search warrant before entering. However, they heard a gunshot from inside the vehicle before they were able to go inside. Officers then rushed into the RV, where they discovered that Daly had shot Basil with a 9mm handgun.
Investigators said that “medical staff worked on the child, but they were unable to save his life due to the gunshot wound to the face,” according to an affidavit obtained by Cowboy State Daily.
Authorities found Daly in New Mexico after she applied for a job. The interviewer contacted police after running a background check on her and learning she had a warrant out for kidnapping, per the affidavit.
After she was arrested, Daly allegedly told police that she thought it was “worth it” to kill her son so that his father and paternal relatives would not be granted custody of him.
Daly also said she believed her son “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 [him], financially, physically, emotionally ever,” according to the affidavit.
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