LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A Utah mother shot and killed her 11-year-old daughter before turning the gun on herself inside a Las Vegas hotel room after the pair failed to show up for a cheerleading competition, police said.
Tawnia McGeehan, 34, and her daughter Addilyn “Addi” Smith were found dead Feb. 15 at the Rio Hotel & Casino following multiple welfare checks requested by family members and coaches. The tragedy unfolded over several hours as concerned relatives and teammates grew increasingly worried when the mother and daughter missed Addi’s scheduled performance at the JAMZ Nationals cheer competition. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police determined McGeehan shot her daughter before killing herself, with both victims discovered after hotel staff found a note on their door warning of a possible suicide attempt.
The first 911 call came at 10:43 a.m. from Addi’s father, who told dispatchers he was trying to locate his daughter and her mother after they failed to appear at the competition. “I’m trying to figure out where my daughter and her mom is,” the father said in recordings obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “They were supposed to be at a dance competition this morning. They didn’t show up.” Police officers knocked on the hotel room door for 15 to 20 minutes but received no response. With no immediate signs of danger, officers cleared the call around 10:45 a.m. The father told dispatchers he had spoken with McGeehan and Addi the previous day and “everything seemed just fine.”
Additional calls flooded 911 dispatchers throughout the morning as concern mounted. Addi’s cheerleading coach called at 11:18 a.m., reporting that McGeehan’s car remained in the hotel parking lot but no one could reach the pair. The coach called again nine minutes later, telling dispatchers he feared the child could be “possibly in imminent danger.” Addi’s stepmother also placed a frantic call at 11:36 a.m., urging authorities to investigate immediately. “We really believe something might be really wrong,” she told dispatchers. “So do the coaches. They believe, as well, that somebody really needs to get there right now.” Fire officials advised dispatchers at 2:26 p.m. that a note had been found on the door indicating a possible suicide attempt. Hotel staff entered the room one minute later and discovered both victims deceased.
Court records reveal McGeehan and Bradley Smith, Addi’s father, were locked in a contentious custody battle for nearly a decade following their 2015 divorce. Judges imposed detailed protocols governing how and where the parents could exchange their daughter. McGeehan temporarily lost custody of Addi in 2017 but was granted joint custody in 2020 after a judge initially ruled she had “committed domestic abuse in the presence of a minor child.” The custody arrangement at the time of the deaths remains unclear. McGeehan had also recently been receiving hostile text messages from other parents on Addi’s Utah Xtreme Cheer team, according to family members. “In the last comp they had, another girl got dropped and some of the moms were saying it was because of Addi,” McGeehan’s mother, Connie McGeehan, told the New York Post. “They were texting [Tawnia] mean stuff and blaming Addi.”
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Homicide Lt. Robert Price confirmed investigators found a note at the scene but declined to discuss its contents. “The mother shot her daughter and then shot herself,” Price said at a news conference. The Clark County coroner ruled McGeehan’s cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head and listed the manner of death as suicide. Addi’s cause and manner of death remain pending. James Watts, who represented McGeehan in custody proceedings, confirmed he is aware of the note but has not seen it. “It is the family’s hope at some point, when it’s no longer required by law enforcement, that it will be returned to [McGeehan’s] mother, [who] would like to know what was being said at the time,” Watts told People magazine. Authorities have not publicly identified a motive, and the investigation remains ongoing.
Utah Xtreme Cheer owner Kory Uyetake described Addi as a positive influence on the team who embodied the gym’s values. “Addi was kind of that positive influence that the team needed always willing to be a leader,” Uyetake told reporters. “She was an athlete that just embodied everything that we strive to have and we strive to do and teach our kids at my gym.” One cheer parent confirmed tensions existed among some team parents but said the focus now is on helping children grieve. The parent’s daughter plans to launch a mental health awareness and suicide prevention program at her school next year in honor of Addi. Valerie Krystine Muniz, who identified herself as Addi’s aunt, urged the public to stop speculating as the family grieves. “I have never known a man to love and fight for his daughter like he has done all of Addi’s life,” Muniz wrote on social media about Bradley Smith. “The system failed him and her.”
Police said they have no new updates on the investigation and have not released additional details about possible motives. A GoFundMe campaign has been established to cover funeral expenses for Addi.
