A Wyoming mother wanted in a custody dispute is accused of shooting her 11-month-old son in the face with a 9 mm pistol during a confrontation with deputies near Silver City on Dec. 23, 2025, authorities said. The woman, identified as 35-year-old Madaline Daly, was arrested at the scene and jailed on counts including first-degree murder and abandonment of a child resulting in death.
The case spans two states and months of court filings. Officials in Washakie County, Wyo., had been seeking Daly since November after she failed to appear for a visitation hearing and allegedly fled with the infant, Basil Daly. The boy’s father, Jake Stoner, had recently secured temporary emergency custody as part of an ongoing parenting dispute. New Mexico authorities say Daly was located at an RV park in the rural Mimbres area of Grant County, where deputies tried to persuade her to surrender the child. The confrontation ended with the baby mortally wounded, fueling renewed scrutiny of how alerts and custody warrants are handled across jurisdictions.
According to investigative records summarized in court filings, deputies responding to a tip on Dec. 23 found Daly living in worker housing near an RV park southeast of Silver City. When officers approached, Daly retreated into an RV with the child and refused to come out, negotiators reported. As deputies attempted to keep her engaged, she allegedly raised a 9 mm handgun toward the boy’s face and fired once. Medics pronounced the infant dead a short time later. Daly was taken into custody without officers firing their weapons, authorities said. “A mother absconded with her child from Wyoming … ended up here being confronted by law enforcement and chose to murder her child with a 9 mm gun,” Grant County prosecutor Mark Abramson said after the arrest.
Records from Wyoming and New Mexico describe a turbulent period before the killing. Stoner and Daly separated in mid-2024 while she was pregnant, and he later sought court-ordered access after the birth. By fall 2025, a Wyoming judge approved shared custody and set a visitation plan, according to case summaries referenced by local outlets. When Daly missed an October hearing, the court granted Stoner temporary emergency custody and a felony warrant issued for Daly on custody-interference allegations, authorities said. Investigators tracked her movements from Ten Sleep, Wyo., to Worland and then south through Colorado to New Mexico, where she took lodging connected to a ranching operation outside Silver City.
Law enforcement in at least two counties weighed whether the circumstances met criteria for an Amber Alert, but none was issued before Dec. 23, according to statements cited in fundraising posts and court documents. Stoner hired a private investigator while pressing for help on social media. Text messages described in filings show Daly taunting him about the case and writing “awww you snitched” after he notified authorities. Deputies say Daly told investigators she believed the child would be in danger if she stepped out of the RV and that she ran because she “knew her time was up.” Officials have not publicly released ballistic or autopsy reports. The handgun’s origin and whether it was lawfully possessed were not detailed in the charging papers available Monday.
Community outlets in Grant County reported that Daly’s first appearance came shortly after her arrest at the county detention center. A combined detention and preliminary hearing was set for Jan. 12, 2026. At that hearing, a judge ordered Daly held pending trial, citing the nature of the allegations and flight risk. Separate fugitive proceedings tied to the Wyoming warrant remain open. Prosecutors in New Mexico have signaled that additional charges could be considered as evidence is reviewed by a grand jury. Defense counsel was appointed but had not filed a detailed response by Tuesday afternoon. Extradition to Wyoming on the earlier custody case would occur only after the New Mexico charges are resolved or by agreement among authorities, according to standard procedure.
The RV park and bunkhouse area where the shooting occurred sits in the forested Mimbres Valley east of Silver City, a region of ranch land and seasonal work sites. Residents said state and county vehicles converged on the property the evening of the arrest. “We saw lights up and down the road for hours,” said Manuel Ortega, who lives nearby. “Then word spread that a baby was hurt. It was quiet after that.” In Wyoming, friends of Stoner posted photos of candles and a child’s toy set outside a courthouse. “Jake believes if the alert standards were different, his son would be alive,” a family statement said in an online fundraiser. Authorities in both states have not addressed calls to change alert thresholds, and no formal policy proposals had been filed as of this week.
As of Tuesday, Daly remained at the Grant County Detention Center on the murder and child-abandonment counts, with a New Mexico grand jury review expected in the coming weeks. Court calendars showed no trial date. Wyoming’s custody-interference case remains pending in Washakie County. Officials said they would release additional records, including body-camera video and forensic reports, after prosecutors complete initial charging steps.
Author note: Last updated January 13, 2026.