Found Deceased NV - Mother and young daughter: Tawnia McGeehan and Addi Smith missing in Las Vegas after not arriving for cheer competition. February 14, 2026

[nhmemorymaker]

I
i also wonder if Addi's father came to Las Vegas for this special event.
Clearly not with Mom and Addi..... but perhaps he was there to support his daughter....

 

[HoneyBunOne]

I think we might all agree on is that this mother was having a crisis of some sort, and in the middle of that she decided that the only solution was this particular course of action.

I don't judge, but I honestly feel crushed by this. Everyone, at one point or another, feels close to the end of their tether. We've had parenting moments that have been difficult; my first marriage, well, that ended with my ex-husband holding his gun and saying he was dirt and wanted to end it all, and I told him -absurdly calmly- to just take the bullets out and put it down on the pillow. He's the ex for a reason...I still (nearly 30 years later) do not trust him for a reason.

Poor child. I always go back to the horror the child must have felt in that split second when the trust is broken. And all the other children who are now experiencing the realization of what has happened... This hurts my heart.

I'm sorry you went through this, it's a horrible situation nobody should ever endure.

Can you imagine all these young children, pre teens, who now have to deal with the fall out and likely start to question their own mothers? To a young, developing brain, if they can see that one mother killed her own child, they have to wonder what's to stop their own mothers doing the same. The ripple effect of this is huge.

 

[Athos65]

I'm sorry you went through this, it's a horrible situation nobody should ever endure.

Can you imagine all these young children, pre teens, who now have to deal with the fall out and likely start to question their own mothers? To a young, developing brain, if they can see that one mother killed her own child, they have to wonder what's to stop their own mothers doing the same. The ripple effect of this is huge.

It breaks my heart to think of children having to face this sort of fear. It's bad enough that they feel overwhelmed by all the influences around them through social media, special backpacks that stop bullets, active shooter drills...and now, Lord Jesus, thinking a girl just like them was killed by her own mother...

It's more than my brain can process. Children deserve better. I don't know what this mom was going through; I can't make assumptions, but maybe some help was needed, and she either didn't seek it out, or no one saw the signs because she masked them well.

For all we have so many gadgets to communicate with each other, we've lost the art of actually communicating with each other.

 

[airportwoman]

From her FB Page, her grandpa almost a year ago to the date. Wonder if that had a bearing on this.

Whose grandpa what?

 

[keek]

‘Dance mom’ who killed daughter at Vegas cheer contest won control of 11-year-old after nasty court battle

Addi Smith, 11, was found shot dead alongside her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, 38, at the Rio Hotel & Casino on Sunday.

nypost.com

"Court papers reveal McGeehan and her ex-husband, Brad Smith, spent a bitter nine years fighting for custody of Addi following their divorce —'

"Under their split custody arrangement, the court played a hand in orchestrating every detail of how the young girl was handed off between the parents after visits at their respective homes.

The couple was ordered to park their cars a full five spaces apart during custody handovers at Addi’s school, and she was made to walk between the parents’ vehicles by herself."

"At times, school wasn’t in session, the parents were ordered to conduct the handover outside the Herriman Police Department in Utah at 9 a.m. every Monday."

"The divorce decree documents, first reported on by Daily Mail, gave McGeehan decision-making authority over Addi as the divorce petitioner. "


Sounds very toxic IMO.

Ends up killing her after providing a nightmare sounding life for about all of her years. IMO

 

[airportwoman]

Those rules are insane! I can't be the only person who wonders if Addi said she wanted to live with her dad, and her mother took the most extreme measures to prevent this.

I've certainly heard of couples who were prohibited by court order from being in the same room together with their child(ren), and for drop-offs, they had to use a designated center. A local church did that for a while, and they had ZERO tolerance for any funny stuff.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Ends up killing her after providing a nightmare sounding life for about all of her years. IMO

We don't know which parent was responsible for the nightmare custody battle and arrangements, but it sounds horrible for the little girl.

 

[IminSyd]

We don't know which parent was responsible for the nightmare custody battle and arrangements, but it sounds horrible for the little girl.

Agree, what a volatile and stressful environment for this poor child to be living across. Sounds like both parents lost their minds if they couldn’t be at least baseline civil for her sake. And it’s culminated with this alleged murder by the mother, potentially to keep the child from the father. Devastating RIP little one.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Local all-star cheer coach Cabria Kirby said news of the deaths spread quickly among athletes and coaches across the country.

“It definitely shakes the community because it is so small, like, and every region has probably encountered them at some point,” Kirby said.

“I can't even imagine as a coach, what would I even do, like, the feelings towards that you just have an athlete that probably missed a call time. But, you know, it happens, but that ended up raising a red flag. And, you know, you hear the devastating news, and it's just heartbreaking,” Kirby said.

Kirby said the tragedy has led many in the sport to reflect.

“It's just a reminder that you know we're all here and different things happen in life and you never know what one person's going through,” she said.

“You have to be vigilant, you have to be aware, you have to remember how precious life is and to just savor every moment because you just don't know when the last one will be,” Kirby added.

Las Vegas cheer community mourns 11-year-old found dead at Rio during competition

Las Vegas Metro say the mother shot and killed her pre-teen daughter before taking her own life inside a room at the Rio Hotel & Casino on Sunday.

cbs12.com

 

[sunspun]

Did anyone ever hear where the rest of her team were staying? Also at the Rio or different hotel? Seemed odd to me that it took the hotel so long to decide it was ok to enter the room to check on them.

Normally, if a guest doesn't answer the door, housekeeping or other hotel staff would assume they were out of the room, and they have no qualms about entering the room with their key to clean or drop off clean towels or whatever.

Exception would be if the mother had placed the Do Not Disturb sign on their door. That may be why they hesitated to enter the room.

 

[*LD*]

Did anyone ever hear where the rest of her team were staying? Also at the Rio or different hotel? Seemed odd to me that it took the hotel so long to decide it was ok to enter the room to check on them.

Normally, if a guest doesn't answer the door, housekeeping or other hotel staff would assume they were out of the room, and they have no qualms about entering the room with their key to clean or drop off clean towels or whatever.

Exception would be if the mother had placed the Do Not Disturb sign on their door. That may be why they hesitated to enter the room.

My guess is that her team had already left their hotel to head to the site if the cheerleading competition. If Addi and her mother were staying at a different hotel, there may have been nobody onsite, at the hotel, to advocate.

Hypothetical Timeline
- 9am Team arrives at competition to warm up
- Addi and mother don't show and can't be reached
- 10am Coaches call hotel and ask them to call and check on their room
- Hotel calls police/security. They go to room, "no answer".
- Cheer team tries to continue competition but they are worried. They are also reworking their entire routine sans one athlete. Not a small task.
- Cheer gym posts Missing Persons notice on their FB page
- Cheer parents continue to call police and hotel
- 230pm LE enters the hotel room

Cheer competitions are very regimented and involved. There are a lot of people, a lot of athletes, and a lot of working parts and schedules. All of this had to continue while the coaches and parents were still worried and trying to locate Addi and her mother. Within 4 hours or so of them alerting the hotel that they could not contact a guest, the police entered the room and found them. This is relatively quick when you think about it.

 

[Athos65]

Did anyone ever hear where the rest of her team were staying? Also at the Rio or different hotel? Seemed odd to me that it took the hotel so long to decide it was ok to enter the room to check on them.

Normally, if a guest doesn't answer the door, housekeeping or other hotel staff would assume they were out of the room, and they have no qualms about entering the room with their key to clean or drop off clean towels or whatever.

Exception would be if the mother had placed the Do Not Disturb sign on their door. That may be why they hesitated to enter the room.

I am struck by the fact that two shots were reportedly fired, and they went unnoticed. I don't know if this speaks to the fact that the hotel itself is noisy, that the floor where the room is located was empty when it happened, or that people assumed it was a movie or some other banging noise coming from the room.

If a wellness check was requested, and I believe that is what happened here, the hotel should be given the ability to check on guests. In this case it was, well, THESE tragic circumstances, but it might as well have been some other sort of tragic circumstances.

That being said, in my opinion, nothing would have stopped this from happening. I think, regrettably, mom's mind was made up and their fate was sealed. Very tragic.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

LVMPD Homicide Lt. Robert Price confirmed police were initially alerted when they were asked to check the welfare of a mother and her daughter at the Rio Hotel & Casino around 10:45 a.m. on Sunday.

Price says police knocked on the hotel room door several times and called the room without any answer. Hotel security was advised, and officers left the hotel, Price said.

Las Vegas police investigate suspected murder-suicide at Rio Hotel & Casino

Police have confirmed a woman and her preteen daughter were found dead inside a hotel room at the Rio Hotel & Casino on Sunday.

www.ktnv.com

 

[Athos65]

LVMPD Homicide Lt. Robert Price confirmed police were initially alerted when they were asked to check the welfare of a mother and her daughter at the Rio Hotel & Casino around 10:45 a.m. on Sunday.

Price says police knocked on the hotel room door several times and called the room without any answer. Hotel security was advised, and officers left the hotel, Price said.

Las Vegas police investigate suspected murder-suicide at Rio Hotel & Casino

Police have confirmed a woman and her preteen daughter were found dead inside a hotel room at the Rio Hotel & Casino on Sunday.

www.ktnv.com

I am curious as to why they left if it was a welfare check involving a child. In my opinion, they should have persisted. Do we know if they tried to verify if they could be at the competition venue, or if their vehicle (rental or otherwise) was in the hotel parking lot?

Poor girl. Taking her across the country to do this doesn't make it any less horrible to the rest of the family.

 

[FL Wannabe]

Had the hotel personnel, security or LVPD gained access to the room upon their earlier check, it wouldn't have changed the outcome as it's believed they were already gone. Perhaps it's a blessing that the team didn't know earlier and could try to compete as best they could without one member.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

On February 15, 2026, at approximately 10:43 a.m., LVMPD Communications received a request for a welfare check on a mother and daughter who were staying in the 3700 block of West Flamingo Road. Patrol officers along with security personnel for the property attempted to contact the two. Officers knocked on the door and called into the room several times but did not get a response. Based on the details at the time, there was no belief that either was in danger and officers cleared.

As the day progressed, security personnel got additional requests to check on the mother and daughter. At approximately 2:27 p.m., security personnel made the decision to enter the room. Upon entry, they located the two females unresponsive and called 911.

https://www.lvmpd.com/Home/Components/News/News/2627/263

A note was found at the scene, though the motive remains under investigation.

“Patrol officers along with security personnel for the property attempted to contact the two,” the release stated. Officers left the scene because there was “no belief that either was in danger,” police said. Hotel security later entered the room after receiving additional requests to check on the mother and daughter.

Cheer competition absence leads to tragic hotel discovery

Las Vegas police are investigating the deaths of a mother and daughter found at the Rio Hotel & Casino.

www.cleveland.com

 

[sls314]

We don't know which parent was responsible for the nightmare custody battle and arrangements, but it sounds horrible for the little girl.

Although court documents may not tell the whole story, there is documentation that the courts did find problematic behavior from the mom:

Docs reveal longtime custody dispute after mother, daughter found dead in Las Vegas hotel

A mother shot and killed her 11-year-old daughter before turning the gun on herself in a Las Vegas hotel room over the weekend in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.

www.fox5vegas.com

McGeehan temporarily lost custody of Addi in 2020 after the court determined she had acted in ways that could alienate the child from the father. Documents also revealed she had committed domestic abuse in front of Addi and said McGeehan’s ability to co-parent was in serious question.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Did anyone ever hear where the rest of her team were staying? Also at the Rio or different hotel? Seemed odd to me that it took the hotel so long to decide it was ok to enter the room to check on them.

Normally, if a guest doesn't answer the door, housekeeping or other hotel staff would assume they were out of the room, and they have no qualms about entering the room with their key to clean or drop off clean towels or whatever.

Exception would be if the mother had placed the Do Not Disturb sign on their door. That may be why they hesitated to enter the room.

Earlier there was an explanation of the particular locks on the doors. They could not just go in with a key, they had to break in..... so that was why there was a delay before the second attempt. As well as continued request for the welfare check.

added: From reading the most recent articles... it just states that LE "entered the room" the second time. So, I am not totally sure where exactly I read that they had "to break in". so must say mmoo

 

[Daphne1972]

Came across this post by accident and damn what a horrible outcome.

 

[SpicyFruit]

Although court documents may not tell the whole story, there is documentation that the courts did find problematic behavior from the mom:

Docs reveal longtime custody dispute after mother, daughter found dead in Las Vegas hotel

A mother shot and killed her 11-year-old daughter before turning the gun on herself in a Las Vegas hotel room over the weekend in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.

www.fox5vegas.com

McGeehan temporarily lost custody of Addi in 2020 after the court determined she had acted in ways that could alienate the child from the father. Documents also revealed she had committed domestic abuse in front of Addi and said McGeehan’s ability to co-parent was in serious question.

So she had lost custody of her before. But won her back at some point. Makes me wonder if she thought she was going to lose her again. No excuse to do what she did but people can react terribly when backed into a corner. Sound's like step Mom also caused Issues.