A Utah mother and her daughter were found dead Sunday afternoon in a Las Vegas hotel room after they failed to show up for a cheerleading competition earlier that morning.
Las Vegas police and security at the Rio Hotel & Casino first responded to a request for a welfare check shortly before 11 a.m. but received no answer to their knocks at the door, according to KSTU. When family and friends continued to request they contact the mother and daughter, hotel security went back at about 2:30 p.m. and this time entered the room.
They found Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, dead. Police launched an investigation and later said they believed McGeehand shot and killed Smith and then turned the gun on herself.
Utah Xtreme Cheer confirmed the pair were in Las Vegas for the competition.
“We are completely heartbroken. No words do the situation justice. She was so beyond loved, and she will always be a part of the UXC family,” the group said in a Facebook post.
Kory Uyetake, who owns the gym where Utah Xtreme Cheer works, described Addi Smith as “kind of a hype man on the team,” KTVX reported.
“She was always the person to get up there and get the kids pumped up when things weren’t really going their way,” Uyetake said. “She was kind of that positive influence that the team needed always willing to be a leader. She was an athlete that just embodied everything that we that we strive to have and we strive to do and teach our kids at my gym.”
The cheer team said that the family had requested privacy.
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[Featured image: Tawnia McGeehan and Addi Smith/Facebook]