A Utah mother fatally shot her 11-year-old daughter before turning the gun on herself in a Las Vegas hotel room after the pair failed to show up for a cheerleading competition, authorities confirmed Monday.
The bodies of Tawnia McGeehan, 38, and her daughter Addi Smith were discovered Sunday afternoon at the Rio Hotel & Casino alongside a suicide note, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Investigators believe the shooting occurred late Saturday night.
McGeehan and her daughter had traveled from West Jordan, Utah, to Las Vegas for a cheerleading competition with Utah Xtreme Cheer. When they failed to arrive at the event Sunday morning, the cheer team contacted authorities and reported them missing.
Utah Xtreme Cheer posted an urgent plea on social media early Sunday, stating that one of their athletes and her mother were missing and had not arrived at competition.
Officers and hotel security first responded to the mother and daughter’s room at approximately 10:45 a.m. Sunday after someone requested a welfare check. They knocked several times and called out their names but received no response. After 15 to 20 minutes, officers left the scene.
Hotel security returned to the room around 2:30 p.m. following repeated requests from family members to check again. When no one answered, security entered the room and made the grim discovery.
Homicide detectives recovered a note at the scene but declined to elaborate on its contents. Lt. Robert Price told reporters that no hotel guests reported hearing gunfire or any disturbance from the room. “It is a sad and tragic incident, and our hearts go out to the family,” Price said.
Following confirmation of the deaths, Utah Xtreme Cheer posted an emotional tribute to the young cheerleader. “We are completely heartbroken. No words do the situation justice,” the team wrote.
The tragedy comes after years of bitter custody battles between McGeehan and Addi’s father, Bradley Smith. Court documents reveal the former couple divorced in 2015 and spent nine years locked in contentious legal fights over their daughter.
The depth of their animosity led judges to impose extraordinary restrictions on custody exchanges. A court ruling from May 2024 ordered the parents to park five spots apart during handovers, with Addi required to walk between the two cars by herself.
When school was not in session, handovers were ordered to occur outside the Herriman Police Department in Utah at 9 a.m. each Monday. Both parents were banned from filming custody exchanges and prohibited from approaching one another at Addi’s school events.
Court documents show there were 350 submissions related to the couple’s divorce and custody battle, with the vast majority of papers placed under seal. The judge warned both parents not to criticize each other in front of Addi and ordered them to use the Family Wizard app for communication.
The court also mandated scheduled FaceTime calls on Tuesday and Friday nights at 6 p.m., giving each parent a 15-minute window to make the call or forfeit it. Parents could only text one another in the event of an emergency involving Addi.
Bradley Smith was awarded sole custody in December 2020. He married his second wife McKennly in 2020, who referred to Addi as “my daughter” on social media. Court records show McGeehan owed $9,600 in child support arrears and was ordered to pay $288 monthly.
In previous court findings, a judge determined McGeehan engaged in “behavior that is on the spectrum of parental alienation” and ruled she “has committed domestic abuse in the presence of the minor child.”
Smith had even listed his old wedding ring for sale on Facebook in August 2016, writing pointedly in the advertisement: “I only wore the ring for a year.”
The mother and daughter were last seen alive around 8 p.m. on February 14 at their hotel. Authorities initially reported they were staying at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino, but their bodies were ultimately found at the Rio, located on the 3700 block of West Flamingo Road near South Valley View Boulevard.
Police confirmed the mother and daughter were in Las Vegas specifically for the cheer competition. Homicide detectives continue to investigate the case, though authorities have not identified a specific motive for the murder-suicide.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or experiencing a mental health crisis, call the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or visit SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.