Investigators have released the 911 calls that led Las Vegas police to the hotel room of Tawnia McGeehan and Addi Smith, where the Utah mother and daughter were found dead from a murder-suicide.
Addi’s father, Bryan Smith, was among those who called the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on February 15, asking for a welfare check on the pair, who were in town for a cheerleading competition.
Addi’s dad first called at about 10:43 a.m. that morning, and asked LVMPD to send police to check on his daughter and his ex-wife, who were staying at the Rio Hotel just off the Las Vegas Strip.
Bryan told the dispatcher he spoke to other cheer moms, who said they had not heard from McGeehan or Addi that morning. He was also concerned after being unable to reach them himself.
He told the dispatcher he’d spoken with them the day before and everything seemed fine.
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Bryan was assured police were going to check and updated him when several knocks at their room’s door went unanswered. Bryan said in the call McGeehan was taking a prescription, but he did not believe she had problems with illegal drugs or alcohol or had a gun.
After clearing the scene, dispatchers called Bryan back to ask if he believed Addi was in danger, and he told them he did not.
As the casino was being searched for any sign of the mother and daughter, friends and coaches from Addi’s dance team contacted security and told them the 11-year-old failed to show up for her competition that day.
McGeehan didn’t arrive, said the cheer coach in the call, and said she “doesn’t necessarily have custody of her child.” The dispatcher told the coach they already had a request to check on them, but the coach called back a few minutes later, suggesting the mother may have fled with the girl.
“Her mom has a bunch of medical issues,” the coach said. “They’re staying at the Rio, but no one can get ahold of them. We think the child, because she doesn’t have custody, we think the child possibly is in imminent danger. So — but the hotel won’t give us any information on if they’re in the room or not. It has to go through you guys.”
Just before 2:30 p.m., security forced the door open and found both bodies lying in the hotel room’s bed. That is when security called 911.
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The Clark County Fire Department also called LVMPD to let them know a security officer found the bodies as well as a note on the door. The fire department called back not even 10 minutes later to confirm the murder-suicide.
Bryan and McGeehan had been embroiled in a bitter custody dispute over Addi that dragged on for nine years. During that time, she lost custody of Addi when a judge determined she took deliberate actions to try to alienate the girl from her father. The parents, though, had ironed out a coparenting agreement in recent years which split physical custody of Addi.
Addi was a member of the Utah Xtreme Cheer (UXC) team.
McGeehan, according to reports, had been having personal issues with some of the other women with daughters on the UXC team.
“There’s one or two ladies that she never got along with and it got really bad a month ago,” said Tawnia’s mother, Connie McGeehan, speaking to the New York Post. “In the last comp[etition] they had, another girl got dropped and some of the moms were saying it was because of Addi. They were texting [Tawnia] mean stuff and blaming Addi. Cheer was her and Addi’s life. I think something happened the day before [they died] that made her spiral.”
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Kory Uyetake, the UXC team owner, explained to the Post he was aware there had been “comments back and forth” between Tawnia and some of the other moms, but said all seemed normal Saturday, after the team traveled from Utah to Nevada for the competition.
Connie added that Tawnia also struggled with depression but noted that things seemed to be improving, after regaining custody of Addi.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
