A 34-year-old Utah dance mom drugged and fatally shot her 11-year-old daughter in a Las Vegas hotel room before turning the gun on herself, according to an autopsy report.
Tawnia McGeehan, 34, and her daughter, Addilyn Smith, 11, of Utah, were found dead at the Rio Hotel and Casino, according to police records.
Officers discovered the pair after Smith’s father asked police to perform a welfare check on them, authorities said.
The mother and daughter had traveled to Las Vegas for Smith’s cheer competition in February with Xtreme Cheer, according to the report.
The findings were confirmed seven months after the deaths in a Clark County Coroner’s investigative report obtained by The New York Post.
Both deaths were formally caused by gunshot wounds, according to the coroner’s office. Despite those injuries, toxicology testing showed both ingested multiple drugs before the fatal shooting, the report stated.
Testing revealed Smith had quetiapine, an antipsychotic medication, in her system at the time of her death, the report stated.
The 11-year-old also had gabapentin, an anticonvulsant used to treat seizure disorders, alongside lorazepam and the antihistamine diphenhydramine, according to the records.
McGeehan’s toxicology report listed those same substances in her system, records show.
The mother also tested positive for eszopiclone or zopiclone, citalopram or escitalopram, desmethyl loperamide and cannabinoids, according to the report.
Caffeine was also detected in both of their systems, records show.
McGeehan fatally shot the child after Smith ingested the substances, investigators said. The mother then died by suicide, the report stated.
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Responding officers discovered several handwritten suicide notes inside the hotel room, police said.
One note was taped to a chair that partially blocked the room’s entrance, according to the report.
“Call 911 before walking in. Two dead bodies and one is an 11-year-old,” McGeehan wrote on the shred of paper, records show.
Another note stated that Smith was “very medicated” before her death and that “she slept cuddled with” her, according to the report.
McGeehan also left her mobile phone intentionally unlocked, according to the records. She wrote that she did so so that Smith’s photographs and videos could be easily accessed, the report noted.
Police searched the room and found luggage alongside a food bag, investigators said.
Officers also recovered multiple prescription bottles with McGeehan’s name and “an opened package” of THC gummies, records show.
Investigators found multiple broken or empty gabapentin capsules, according to the report. A clear cup with white residue was also recovered, police said.
McGeehan carried out the murder-suicide because she was “severely depressed over breakups and on-going custody battle with her ex-husband,” the report stated.
Family members told investigators that the mother had “a history of severe depression” and “past suicidal ideations,” records show.
Relatives said she had previously taken prescription medication to treat the condition, according to the report.
At the time of the killings, McGeehan was embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with her ex-husband, records show. The battle had been ongoing since the pair divorced in 2015, according to the report.
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