Share and Follow
Editor’s Note: This article includes sensitive content about suicide. Please exercise caution while reading. If you or someone you know needs support, resources are available through the National Crisis Line website or by calling 988.
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The tragic deaths of a mother and daughter at the Rio Hotel and Casino in a murder-suicide have left their family desperately seeking answers. They repeatedly reached out to the police, anxious to confirm if authorities had entered the hotel room and whether their loved ones were still alive.
In 911 calls acquired by the 8 News Now Investigators, multiple relatives of Tawnia McGeehan, 34, and her daughter Addi Smith, 11, contacted Las Vegas Metro police and the fire department. Their calls were driven by the hope of finding out if McGeehan and Smith were in their hotel room.
On Sunday, February 15, authorities confirmed that McGeehan fatally shot her daughter, Smith, before taking her own life. Friends and family from Utah had reported the pair missing in Las Vegas after they were last seen at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino the previous Friday.
According to 911 calls the 8 News Now Investigators obtained Friday, several family members of Tawnia McGeehan, 34, and Addi Smith, 11, called Las Vegas Metro police and the fire department to see if their loved ones were in their hotel room.
On Sunday, Feb. 15, McGeehan shot and killed Smith, police, before dying by suicide, police and the coroner’s office said. The pair was reported missing in Las Vegas by friends and family in Utah after they were last seen at the New York New York Hotel and Casino on Friday.
The mother and daughter were in town for a cheer competition. Utah Xtreme Cheer posted to social media on Sunday night, announcing that Smith died. A yearslong custody battle preceded the shooting, though an actual motive remained unclear Friday.
On Sunday, around 10:45 a.m., Metro police responded to a welfare check for the pair at the hotel. When officers arrived, they contacted hotel security, knocked several times and called out to the mother and daughter without any answer, LVMPD Lt. Robert Price said during a news conference Sunday.
Around 2:30 p.m., security returned to the room to attempt to locate the mother and child again. They knocked several times and called out into the room without success. Security then decided to enter the room where they found a women and a girl deceased, police said.
Around the same time, several 911 calls flooded Metro dispatchers regarding the status of a missing persons report filed earlier in the day.
“There was a room check done around 3 o’clock,” a family member from Utah told a dispatcher. “We really don’t know where to start with all of this. They drove down for a cheerleading competition, and we believe they checked in because there was a room number assigned.”
Dispatchers repeatedly told the family that it appeared officers were present at the hotel, but that they could not provide official information to them.
“I need someone there looking in that room,” another family member told a dispatcher.
Police suspect the shooting happened Saturday night, Price said. Detectives found a note, though its contents were not yet publicly known.
A GoFundMe was set up to help Addi’s family cover funeral expenses, “providing much-needed support.”
Help is available 24/7 by calling the National Suicide Hotline at 988.