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Newly launched dispatch information present authorities have been alerted to a potential suicide try after a notice was discovered on the door of a Las Vegas hotel room — shortly earlier than an 11-year-old woman and her mom have been discovered shot to demise inside.
Addilyn “Addi” Smith, 11, and her mom, Tawnia McGeehan, have been discovered lifeless inside a room on the Rio Lodge & On line casino on Feb. 15 after resort personnel performed a welfare test, in response to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division.
Police have been first referred to as to the resort round 10:45 a.m. native time after the pair failed to point out up at a cheerleading competitors. Addi’s coach requested a welfare test when she didn’t arrive, in response to 911 name information obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Officers knocked on the door and referred to as into the room for 15 to twenty minutes however acquired no response. With no speedy indicators of hazard, police cleared the decision.
Addi Smith and her mom, Tawnia McGeehan, traveled to Las Vegas for a cheer competitors earlier than they have been discovered lifeless inside a resort room on the Rio Lodge & On line casino. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police are investigating the case. (FACEBOOK/ Tawnia Hope McGeehan)
Over the following a number of hours, resort personnel acquired extra requests for a welfare test. At roughly 2:26 p.m., hearth officers suggested dispatchers {that a} notice had been discovered on a door and that there might have been a potential suicide try, the Evaluation-Journal reported. Lodge employees entered the room one minute later.
By 2:35 p.m., ambulance officers instructed dispatchers they’d situated an grownup lady and a baby deceased, in response to the outlet.
“The mom shot her daughter and then shot herself,” LVMPD murder Lt. Robert Worth stated at a earlier information convention. He confirmed a notice was left behind however declined to debate its contents. Authorities haven’t publicly recognized a motive, and the investigation stays ongoing.
MOTHER SHOOTS DAUGHTER, THEN HERSELF IN APPARENT MURDER-SUICIDE AT LAS VEGAS HOTEL, POLICE SAY
A view of the Rio Lodge & On line casino exterior and surrounding panorama in Las Vegas on Nov. 11, 2025. (Las Vegas Evaluation-Journal/Tribune Information Service By way of Getty Photos)
The Clark County coroner dominated McGeehan’s reason behind demise as a gunshot wound to the pinnacle and listed the style of demise as suicide. Addi’s trigger and method of demise stay pending.
Though police haven’t formally recognized the victims, courtroom paperwork and relations have recognized them as McGeehan and Addi.
Court docket filings reviewed by Fox Information Digital present McGeehan and Addi’s father, Brad Smith, have been locked in a contentious custody battle for practically a decade following their 2015 divorce. Judges imposed detailed alternate protocols governing how and the place the dad and mom might hand off their daughter. Data present McGeehan briefly misplaced custody of Addi in 2017 however was granted joint custody in 2020.
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Addi Smith, 11, had traveled to Las Vegas for a nationwide cheer competitors earlier than she and her mom have been discovered lifeless on the Rio Lodge & On line casino. Authorities say the investigation stays ongoing. (GoFundMe)
McGeehan had additionally not too long ago been receiving “imply” textual content messages from different dad and mom on her daughter’s Utah Xtreme Cheer group, the New York Submit reported.
Connie McGeehan, Tawnia’s mom, instructed the outlet her daughter had been having points with “one or two” different moms on the group and that tensions escalated a couple of month earlier than the tragedy.
“Within the final comp they’d, one other woman bought dropped and among the mothers have been saying it was due to Addi,” Connie McGeehan instructed The Submit. “They have been texting [Tawnia] imply stuff and blaming Addi.”
The Submit cited a supply near the group who stated there had been a current “confrontation” between McGeehan and one other mom in a ready room. Utah Xtreme Cheer proprietor Kory Uyetake acknowledged to the outlet that there had been “feedback backwards and forwards” between McGeehan and some other parents however stated the whole lot appeared regular when the group traveled to Las Vegas.
One of many different cheer mothers who spoke with Fox Information Digital confirmed tensions amongst some dad and mom however stated the main target now’s on the kids grieving. She stated her daughter has struggled with the loss however plans to launch a psychological well being consciousness and suicide prevention program at her college subsequent 12 months in honor of her good friend.
The JAMZ Nationals cheer competitors on the Rio Lodge & On line casino in Las Vegas, the place Addilyn “Addi” Smith was scheduled to compete. (X@CheerTheory)
Valerie Krystine Muniz, who recognized herself on social media as Addi’s aunt and the sister of her father, urged the general public to cease speculating because the household grieves.
“We already see a lot hypothesis going round so please assist in simply spreading love and prayers whereas my brother tries to select up the items of what has occurred,” Muniz wrote.
“I’ve by no means identified a person to like and struggle for his daughter like he has executed all of Addi’s life,” she added. “The system failed him and her.”
Muniz didn’t elaborate.
James Watts, who represented McGeehan, confirmed to PEOPLE that he’s conscious of the notice however has not seen it.
“I have no idea what the content material is,” Watts instructed the outlet. “It’s the household’s hope in some unspecified time in the future, when it is now not required by legislation enforcement, that it is going to be returned to [McGeehan’s] mom, [who] want to know what was being stated on the time.”
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Fox Information Digital has reached out to Watts for added data.
Authorities haven’t launched additional particulars a couple of potential motive. When contacted, Metro Police stated they don’t have any new updates.
Stepheny Worth covers crime, together with lacking individuals, homicides and migrant crime. Ship story tricks to stepheny.value@fox.com.
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