A mother has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after shooting her 11-month-old son in the face inside a rural New Mexico RV as police closed in on her, telling investigators the killing was "worth it" and revealing a chilling explanation for why she did it.
Madeline Veronique Daly, 36, had taken baby Basil Stoner from Wyoming to New Mexico in violation of a court order that had granted emergency custody to the child's father, Jake Stoner. Authorities had been searching for the pair after the father reported he had last seen his son in September 2025.
Daly was tracked down in December after she applied for a job near Silver City, New Mexico, and a warrant for her arrest came up on her background check. The Grant County Sheriff's Office located her at an RV park and surrounded the vehicle while waiting for a warrant to enter.
Then they heard a single gunshot.
Officers rushed inside to find Daly had shot Basil with a 9mm handgun. She then turned the gun on herself, but officers were able to subdue her before she could fire. Basil died from his injuries. He was 11 months old.
After her arrest, Daly told police she believed she had been keeping her son safe. She made unsubstantiated claims that Basil would have been in danger if she had surrendered him. When asked what went through her mind as she saw law enforcement approaching, her response was recorded in police documents as: "Jake can't get Basil."
The reason she gave for taking her son across state lines in the first place was that she was not willing to allow her then eight-month-old baby to travel back and forth between Nebraska and Wyoming twice a month as required by the custody arrangement. She told investigators that the child's father had never wanted anything to do with Basil financially, physically or emotionally, a claim that was not substantiated by evidence.
When asked directly about killing her own child, Daly told police she thought it was "worth it" if it meant the boy's father and his relatives would never be able to see him.
Daly pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on Wednesday August 27. She is facing the maximum sentence of life in prison.
