The dance mother in an obvious murder-suicide along with her 11-year-old daughter at a cheer competitors in Las Vegas had been getting “imply” texts from different mother and father of their workforce, The Submit has realized.
Tawnia McGeehan, 38, had been having issues with “one or two” different girls with daughters within the Utah Xtreme Cheer (UXC) workforce, of which her daughter, Addi Smith, was an element, in response to her mom.
“There’s one or two girls that she by no means obtained together with and it obtained actually unhealthy a month in the past,” Connie McGeehan, 61, claimed to The Submit.
“Within the final comp they’d, one other lady obtained dropped and among the mothers had been saying it was due to Addi. They had been texting [Tawnia] imply stuff and blaming Addi.
“Cheer was her and Addi’s life. I assume one thing occurred the day earlier than [they died] that made her spiral.”
A supply near UXC confirmed there had lately been a “confrontation” between Tawnia and one other of the cheer mothers within the workforce ready room.
Tawnia had “struggled with melancholy her complete life,” in response to her mom, however gave the impression to be “turning a nook,” particularly since ending a nine-year custody battle for Addi with ex-husband, Brad Smith, in 2024.
UXC workforce proprietor Kory Uyetake advised The Submit he was conscious there had been “feedback forwards and backwards” between Tawnia and among the different mothers, however that all the pieces appeared regular on Saturday after the workforce traveled from Utah to Nevada for the competitors.
Addi was in her first season as a member on the workforce and “cherished it”, he stated, including she “was the primary [to practice] each time … She was an attractive lady and he or she didn’t deserve this.”
Tawnia and Addi’s our bodies had been found on the Rio resort and on line casino Sunday together with a notice after they failed to look on the cheer competitors and fearful household referred to as for a welfare test.
Connie, who has a seven-bedroom dwelling in Salt Lake Metropolis, stated Tawnia and Addi had been dwelling along with her and different members of the family for a while.
“Addi cherished her gymnastics, she cherished her mates, she all the time appeared pleased it doesn’t matter what,” she stated.
In line with Connie, Tawnia appeared in good spirits once they left for the cheer competitors and had made items for the cheer workforce members, purchased new garments for the journey and posted pleased snaps of “Addi doing backflips” of their resort room at 5am Sunday.
“They only appeared like they had been pleased however then there was one pic of Addi and Tawnia collectively and I believed one thing doesn’t appear to be proper. The look was off, one thing had occurred. One thing was off,” she advised The Submit by means of tears.
Law enforcement officials and resort safety first went to the mother and daughter’s room at about 10:45 a.m. Sunday after a welfare test request.
They knocked a number of instances however left when nobody answered, police stated. Lodge safety personnel then returned after repeated requests to test the room and made the grim discovery round 2.30 p.m.
The alarm was additionally raised by Addi’s stepmom, McKennly Smith, who shared a lacking poster and a notice saying: “My daughter Addi and her mother [are] lacking please share submit and name or textual content with any data thanks!”
Connie advised The Submit authorities haven’t but shared the contents of the notice they discovered along with her.
“We had no thought [Tawnia] was considering this,” she stated, including: “I believed she was doing OK, she’d been having among the cheer mothers over and making issues with the children.
Connie stated she wasn’t conscious Tawnia owned a gun, not to mention carried it interstate.
“[We’ve since learned] she purchased it over a 12 months in the past,” she stated.
Murder detectives are nonetheless probing the case. The Submit has reached out to the Las Vegas Metropolitan police division for added data.
In case you are scuffling with suicidal ideas or are experiencing a psychological well being disaster and reside in New York Metropolis, you’ll be able to name 1-888-NYC-WELL at no cost and confidential disaster counseling. In the event you reside outdoors the 5 boroughs, you’ll be able to dial the 24/7 Nationwide Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org
