Mother is charged over murder of her two-year-old son 'after leaving him with her boyfriend'

The mother of a two-year-old boy has been charged in connection with his death after she allowed her son to stay with her boyfriend, despite him telling her he wanted to 'cull' the boy, and had beaten the child in the past.

Little Jason Wilder McDaniel, 2, was found dead on October 11 of 2018 laying on the floor beside his crib at the Texas home of boyfriend James Staley III with blood smeared around his mouth, on the floor and on an adult-sized pillow inside the crib.

Staley is charged with murdering the toddler and is currently on bail.

Now Amber McDaniel, 31, has been charged with child endangerment and evidence tampering, after prosecutors found a series of disturbing text messages between the couple, according to an indictment filed on July 22.

Staley wrote that the two-year-old should be 'culled,' called him racial slurs, expressed a desire to strike the child and admitted to beating him on numerous occasions, according to the indictment.

Staley, who is currently free from jail on $1.2 million in bail bonds, pled 'not guilty.'

In one message, Staley said that he 'pushed [Wilder's] face in a dirty diaper and then... pushed his face in the commode.' In another, Staley expressed that he 'wanted to and/or had placed Wilder in a tinderbox,' the indictment states.

Yet, McDaniel continued to bring her son to Staley's home, where his body was ultimately found, despite noticing bruising on the toddler's face after he had been in Staley's care.

McDaniel turned herself in to police on July 8, and was booked at Wichita County Jail, the same facility where Staley had been booked for Wilder's murder.

Incredibly, Wilder's biological father, Robert 'Bubba' McDaniel - who is still married to McDaniel - says he doesn't blame his wife and said that Staley was a master manipulator.

'[Staley] tried to manipulate her into thinking that it was all just jokes... a lot of the things that I’ve read have an "lol" on them,' Bubba McDaniel told KDFX-TV. 'I can see how the manipulation would make her think its something different.'

He told KFDX-TV that he'd seen some of the disturbing messages that Staley had sent about their son, but that McDaniel had laughed them off as her boyfriend making a joke.

'[Staley] tried to manipulate her into thinking that it was all just jokes... a lot of the things that I’ve read have an "lol" on them... I can see how the manipulation would make her think its something different.'

'There were times that I was shocked that she kind of laughed about [the messages].'

Bubba explained that at the time of his son's murder, he and McDaniel were separated but said that his wife had been trying to leave Staley. But every time she tried, she was manipulated into staying.

'She did leave a couple of times,' he said. 'There was a time where she… blocked his number and blocked him on Facebook… he still found a way to get back to her, found ways to get in contact with her again

'He’s a master manipulator and a coward, that’s how they work.'

Bubba added that he 'stand[s] beside his wife' and that there is 'only one person who killed [Wilder].'

He also refuted allegations that Amber had intentionally obscured the text messages from investigators.

'Eleven days after they put out those new warrants to search the house, it was us that offered the phones we straight offered phones knowing that they’d be cracked open, that any message on there is going to be looked at,' he said.

'Every time she’s been talked to after that she goes in without a lawyer, she tells them to ask her anything - she'll tell them the truth. It’s not like she’s trying to hide things. I think this is one of those things where they need to pin something on her.'

Bubba said he and even McDaniel feared tragedy could happen if Staley kept coming round.

While the ultimate cause of Wilder's death was inconclusive, a Dallas County medical examiner reported injuries to the child in his autopsy report that she wrote were consistent with smothering by a pillow, while other injuries 'may have occurred during a struggle.'

Staley was indicted on capital murder charges in October of 2020. The text messages surfaced in a probe by the Wichita County District Attorney's office, which is determining whether Staley should face life in prison or the death penalty.

Currently, James Staley is free on $1.2 million dollars in bail bonds, according to the Times Record News, and a pretrial hearing is scheduled for August 6.

Staley has reportedly pled 'not guilty,' and evidence submitted thus far includes 911 calls, autopsy photos, a forensics expert’s report, Facebook files, surveillance footage, cell phone data, and two polygraph interviews with McDaniel.