Justice for Jason: Guilty plea brings finality, not peace, to Dayton mother

For nearly three years, Ryyan Bossett of Dayton has carried two burdens.

One is the unimaginable grief of losing her 9-month-old son, Jason Robert Tucker Jr. The other is the weight of trusting the man who admitted this week to killing her son.

On Wednesday, July 15, Jeffrey Maddox Dailey, 31, pleaded guilty to murder in Liberty County’s 75th District Court in connection with Jason’s 2023 death. Under the terms of a plea agreement, Dailey was sentenced to 45 years in prison, waived his right to appeal and must serve at least half of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Eligibility does not guarantee release, but allows his case to be considered by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

The case was prosecuted by the Liberty County District Attorney’s Office, with District Court Chief Steven Denman and Assistant District Attorney Kayla Hebert representing the State.

For Bossett, the plea brought something she said she has been waiting three years to hear.

“There’s a finality to it because he cannot appeal it,” she told Bluebonnet News. “He can’t say he didn’t do it.”

First Assistant District Attorney Anna Emmons said that finality was a significant factor in the plea agreement.

“The most important thing is the waiver of appeal,” Emmons said. “So even a technical issue that may occur in voir dire can’t even be raised. It gives a lot of finality to this case.”

District Attorney Jennifer Bergman added, “The loss of a child under these circumstances is a tragedy beyond words. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the victim’s family as they continue to navigate this unimaginable loss.”

The conviction closes a criminal case that began on Aug. 11, 2023, when Dayton police responded to what was initially reported as a medical emergency involving a non-responsive infant. Investigators were told by Dailey that the baby had drowned in a bathtub.

An autopsy later determined the baby had died from acute blunt force trauma, suffering multiple skull fractures and bleeding on the brain. Dailey, who was dating Bossett at the time, was initially arrested on a charge of Injury to a Child before prosecutors with the Liberty County District Attorney’s Office ultimately pursued a Murder conviction.

For Bossett, the hardest part wasn’t sitting through court hearings or facing Dailey, though both were difficult. The hardest part has been living with the questions that haunt so many grieving parents: How did I not know? Why did I trust him?

Bossett said she had known Dailey for eight years before they began dating. She described him as her childhood sweetheart—someone she believed she knew and someone she trusted with her children.

“He treated Bub like his own child,” she recalled. “I never had to ask for diapers. If I needed formula, he would help me find it. I just thought he was being a dad.”

That trust—and her confidence in her own judgment—is something she says was stolen along with her son.

“He took my sense of trusting myself,” Bossett said. “I always ask myself now, ‘How did I not see this in him? How did I not know?'”

At the time of her son’s murder, Bossett was carrying Dailey’s child. Instead of celebrating a gender reveal for the baby she was carrying, she buried her oldest son. Her second son, Kolston, was later born with autism.

In the courtroom this week, Bossett delivered an emotional victim impact statement describing how Jason’s death forever changed every part of her life.

“My heart is empty,” she told Dailey. “There’s a hole—one that will never be filled.”

She spoke about the milestones Jason will never reach—his first day of kindergarten, little league games, learning to drive, graduating, falling in love, becoming a father—and the memories forever stolen from their family.

“I don’t get anything,” she said. “All of these things are gone—because he’s gone. Because of you.”

Bossett also described the effect Jason’s death has had on his siblings.

Her daughter, Emmaleigh, still talks about her “Bubba.”

“She says she loves him, that he’s her best friend,” Bossett said. “She wishes for him on dandelions.”

Although she believes no prison sentence could ever equal the life that was taken, Bossett said she hopes Jason’s case encourages other victims to find their voices.

“If you’re a victim, stand up for yourself,” she said. “No matter how uncomfortable it gets… if you don’t tell your story and encourage others, then others won’t tell theirs.”

She said the fight for justice lasted three years, but it was one she never considered giving up.

As she closed her statement to the court, Bossett reminded the judge that while Dailey will spend decades in prison, Jason’s family faces a sentence with no end.

“While he serves a prison sentence, the family of Jason Robert Tucker III will serve a lifelong sentence—grieving, surviving and finding a way to carry on without him,” she said.

Bossett said she also hopes Jason’s story will encourage other victims to keep fighting, even when the path to justice feels overwhelming.

“No one knows what you lived through unless they stood beside you and lived it with you,” she said. “Never let anyone convince you that your story is too much, that your voice is too loud, or that standing up for yourself is something to be ashamed of. You survived what they only heard about.”

Throughout the nearly three-year legal process, Bossett said her faith in God carried her through moments when she questioned whether she could continue.

“From the very beginning, I kept telling myself, ‘God is here somewhere,’ even on the days I felt completely abandoned by Him. Looking back, I can see He never left. He was carrying me through the moments I didn’t think I would survive,” she said. “Don’t let the enemy use your pain to steal your faith. God understands your heartbreak. He is not afraid of your anger, your questions or your grief. Sometimes He asks us to be still and to wait, even when every part of us wants answers right now. And while it may feel like He is silent, He is never absent.”