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Heartbroken family of Utah murder-suicide dance mother and daughter breaks silence: ‘The best mom’

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Cite

Worrell, G. (2026, September 18). Heartbroken family of Utah murder-suicide dance mother and daughter breaks silence: ‘The best mom’. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/09/18/us-news/kin-of-utah-murder-suicide-dance-mom-tawnia-mcgeehan-and-daughter-break-silence/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

New York Post · collected 2026-09-18 · by Georgia Worrell
Content note This article describes suicide or self-harm.

Quick Summary

Connie McGeehan, the mother of Tawnia McGeehan and grandmother to Addilyn Smith, speaks out about her family's tragic murder-suicide in Las Vegas during a cheerleading competition on February 15. Tawnia, who was undergoing severe depression due to custody battles with her ex-husband, gave Addilyn, 11, a mix of prescription drugs before fatally shooting the girl and then herself. Connie describes Tawnia as an incredibly loving mother devoted to Addilyn, emphasizing their close bond through shared activities like amusement parks and movie nights. The family struggles with the pain of losing both loved ones, exacerbated by recent autopsy details that reveal the grim circumstances of their deaths.
Written by AI on 2026-09-18, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On Feb 15, an 11-year-old cheerleader named Addilyn Smith and her 34-year-old mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead from gunshot wounds to the head in a hotel room at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Investigators discovered deranged suicide notes left by Tawnia, one of which instructed anyone entering the room to call 911 upon seeing two dead bodies, including an eleven-year-old. Toxicology reports showed both had ingested multiple drugs, including antipsychotics, anti-seizure medication, and anxiety medications before their deaths. Despite this grim evidence, family members describe Tawnia as a loving mother who was very close to her daughter, highlighting how they enjoyed activities like amusement parks and movies together.

Written for “Utah Murder Suicide Incident” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Utah Murder Suicide Incident
Crime & Law · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 3% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
32
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
3%
1 of 32 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 17168 article(s) · 36 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 36 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Georgia Worrell
27 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 “You’d be sitting at a dinner table and then a guy would whip out his phone and he’d be like, ‘Do you guys want to go to Vegas tomorrow morning?’
🔮 Christa Pike is begging not to be sent back to her former prison block one month after becoming the first-ever death row inmate to survive a lethal injection execution — claiming that her life will be in danger.
🔮 “The kids were ecstatic to see [their father]…like hugging him, happy to go with him, very ecstatic to see him,” Montes said, adding that the court-ordered no contact order between the parents did not mean the kids could not stay with their dad.
🔮 The charges against Miller — she was arrested on Friday — technically arise from a Florida statute that “stems from a caregiver’s willful failure or omission to provide necessary care, supervision, food, shelter, or medical services, or failure to protect a child from harm,” family lawyer John Lambros said.
🔮 Within minutes of their arrival, White, of New Orleans, asked the victim to go with him to a fourth-floor study room so that they could give the other two some privacy, she told police.
🔮 The 3,858-passenger vessel was rerouted because of inclement weather off the East Coast – just hours before it was scheduled to embark from New Jersey’s Cape Liberty on Saturday, the outlet reported. “Make sure you pack some light sweaters and clothing for cooler temps, the current forecast is in the mid-50s during the day in port,” Royal Caribbean wrote to passengers who, up until that point, had expected to enjoy Bermuda’s balmy climate.
🔮 Jacob Freytes’ mother, meanwhile, ripped New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s calls for ICE to “be abolished” after the bloody run-in with Belgal this week — which sparked rowdy anti-ICE protests across the Big Apple.
🔮 Now, by contrast, the already hemorrhaging couple is petrified that some 4,000 Brigham nurses will walk off the job during an indefinite strike set to begin next week, unless union and hospital officials can come to an agreement before then.
🔮 As a result, “these investigations will take time, and they will affect your ability to host events, participate in philanthropy, and educate your new members,” she said.
🔮 “We trusted you, we believed in you, we honestly would have laid down our lives for you.
Also by Georgia Worrell
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 27 articles by Georgia Worrell →

Topics

Las Vegas Salt Lake City The Post Utah the Rio Hotel and Casino

Subjects

Addi PERSON · 4× Tawnia PERSON · 3× Addilyn PERSON · 2× Connie PERSON · 2× Connie McGeehan PERSON · 2× McGeehan PERSON · 2× The Post ORG · 2× Addilyn Smith PERSON · 1× Tawnia McGeehan PERSON · 1× Utah GPE · 1×

Narrative

In the clip, Smith is wearing a rainbow cheetah-print shirt and a blue bow in her hair and seen grinning and giggling alongside her mother while the pair exchange items they believe are one another’s “favorites” in different categories. “Your favorite drink, I got you chocolate milk,” Tawnia McGeehan says, to which the youngster adorably responds, “Yummy!”
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-18
🔮 “She would do anything for anyone.

Claims (32 extracted, 1 hedged)

The Utah dance mom and her 11-year-old daughter found dead in a shocking murder-suicide were extremely tight-knit and “wanted nothing more” than to be together, stricken kin told The Post. asserted
kin → find → Post
Tawnia McGeehan, 34, and dance-competition kid Addilyn Smith — whose bodies were discovered in a Las Vegas hotel room in February, with grisly new details about the horror only recently coming to light — were “always doing fun things,” said McGeehan’s heartbroken mother and Addilyn’s grandma, Connie McGeehan, on Thursday. asserted
mother → discover → Thursday
“Whether it be the amusement park, swimming, movies, the arcade, the mall and so much more” — they were always together, the older woman said. asserted
woman → say → ?
“Addi wanted nothing more than to spend time with her mommy. asserted
Addi → want → mommy
Tawnia loved that little girl with everything she had,and Addi felt the same way about her mommy,” said Connie, who lives in Salt Lake City. asserted
who → love → City
The grieving grandma painted her daughter as a loving and devoted mother — despite newly released autopsy reports that show Tawnia gave Addilyn a cocktail of prescription medications and other drugs, then fatally shot the youngster and herself in the head in a room at the Rio Hotel and Casino, where they were staying during a cheerleading competition. asserted
they → grieve → competition
“I want more than anything for people to know how big of a heart my daughter had,” Connie said. asserted
Connie → want → heart
“She would do anything for anyone. asserted
She → do → anyone
She was truly the best mom I have ever seen.” asserted
I → see → ?
Authorities have said Tawnia – who had been embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with her ex-husband, Brad Smith, for roughly nine years – apparently committed the unthinkable acts because she was “severely depressed over breakups and on-going custody battle with her ex-husband.” asserted
she → say → husband
Her mother said she’s been living a nightmare since the deaths and also recalled tender moments spent with her beloved granddaughter, whom she said “loved her friends and cheer. “ asserted
she → say → friends
Myself and Addi’s grandpa loved taking her on little adventures. asserted
Myself → love → adventures
We would go on hikes. asserted
We → go → hikes
We had a yearly tradition of going to the lake and catching crawfish. asserted
We → have → crawfish
She loved that so much,” the grandma said. asserted
grandma → love → that
“I would go for walks with Addi to get treats, and we would play fun games on the way. asserted
we → go → way
She would always tell me, ‘Grandma, look at the sky.’ asserted
She → tell → sky
She loved looking at the cotton-candy clouds,” the heartbroken family member continued. asserted
member → look → clouds
For the McGeehan family, every day has been a struggle since police found the mother and daughter dead from gunshot wounds to the head and surrounded by prescription pill bottles after they failed to show up for the young girl’s cheerleading competition in Sin City on Feb. 15. asserted
they → find → Feb.
“I cannot even begin to describe the huge hole this had left in our lives,” Connie McGeehan said – adding that it felt “like going back to day one” of the nightmare when the Clark County Coroner’s Office released its autopsy reports this week. asserted
Office → begin → reports
Cops found the mother’s and daughter’s lifeless bodies laid side-by-side on a bed after receiving multiple calls for a welfare check. asserted
Cops → find → check
The youngster’s face was covered by a pillow that had a bullet hole through it, and a semi-automatic pistol was laid on top of the mother’s chest, according to the reports obtained by The Post. uncertain
pistol → cover → Post
The mother left a series of disturbed handwritten confession letters inside the room – including one taped to a chair near the entrance that read: “Call 911 before walking in. asserted
that → leave → 911
Another note stated that Smith had been “very medicated” leading up to her death and that “she slept cuddled with” her mother. asserted
she → state → mother
Substances including quetiapine, an antipsychotic medication; gabapentin, an anticonvulsant drug used to treat seizure disorders; the anxiety drug lorazepam and the antihistamine diphenhydramine were all present in the pre-teen’s system when she died. asserted
she → include → system
Tawnia McGeehan’s toxicology report listed the same drugs, as well as eszopiclone or zopiclone, a prescription sedative; the antidepressant drug known as citalopram or escitalopram; desmethyl loperamide, a chemical breakdown caused by the anti-diarrhea medication loperamide and cannabinoids. asserted
report → list → medication
Her family also told investigators that she had “a history of severe depression” and “past suicidal ideations,” the papers noted. asserted
papers → tell → depression
A rare recently resurfaced video offered a glimpse into the mother-daughter duo’s relationship during happier times. asserted
video → resurface → times
In the clip, Smith is wearing a rainbow cheetah-print shirt and a blue bow in her hair and seen grinning and giggling alongside her mother while the pair exchange items they believe are one another’s “favorites” in different categories. “Your favorite drink, I got you chocolate milk,” Tawnia McGeehan says, to which the youngster adorably responds, “Yummy!” asserted
youngster → wear → Yummy
The child then says, “I couldn’t find Dr. Pepper, so I got you this,” while pulling an unidentifiable drink from a bag sitting next to her. asserted
I → say → her
“Ooo, my favorite,” the mother responds. asserted
mother → respond → ?
Connie McGeehan, who has frequently put tributes on TikTok in memory of her slain relatives, recently reposted a video from June 2021 along with the heart-wrenching caption: “This is where I go when I need to her [sic] my daughter and granddaughters voices.” asserted
I → put → voices
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