Utah girl killed by mother in apparent murder-suicide had been focus of a long custody dispute

PROVO, Utah (KSL) — The 11-year old Utah girl killed by her mother before the woman killed herself, according to police, had been at the center of a long custody dispute between her parents before court records show it was settled in 2024 after more than nine years.

Authorities haven’t yet provided any public explanation for the violence, discovered Sunday, that unfolded in the Las Vegas hotel room. The records from 4th District Court in Provo, though, suggest a measure of tumult in the family, at least with regard to the relationship between Tawnia McGeehan, the girl’s mother, and her former husband, Bradley Smith, the girl’s dad.

McGeehan shot and killed her daughter, Addi Smith, 11, before shooting and killing herself, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement on Monday. The incident occurred in a hotel room in Las Vegas, where McGeehan and her daughter had traveled from Utah for a cheer competition.

Messages of sorrow followed news of the incident, and they continue. The girl’s uncle — the brother of her father — works for the Salem Police Department in Utah County, and the department issued a statement on Facebook about the tragic turn of events. “While the details of this loss are difficult to process, we are coming together as a department to support Sgt. (Greg) Smith and his family during this unimaginable time,” reads the statement.

Likewise, a GoFundMe fundraising account created by Greg Smith to assist with funeral expenses and to support his brother laments the events. “This heartbreaking event has left the family in deep shock and grief, struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss of Addi in such a way,” it reads.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department offered no new information Tuesday, saying the matter is still under investigation. The New York Post, citing McGeehan’s mother, Connie McGeehan, reported Tuesday that the younger McGeehan had struggled with depression and that the woman had had some sort of tiff with other parents on her daughter’s cheer team, Utah Xtreme Cheer.

The court records in the couple’s divorce, meanwhile, offer a glimpse into the seeming discord between Addi’s parents, at least as of 2024. McGeehan filed for divorce from Bradley Smith on Jan. 29, 2015, and the split was finalized in 2017. The back and forth over custody of Addi continued for several years, resulting in a May 7, 2024, order modifying the divorce decree and outlining a long list of rules Addi’s parents were to follow in caring for her.

Among the objectives of the rules were minimizing “the child’s exposure to harmful parental conflict,” the order reads. It states that each parent was to encourage a positive relationship between the girl and the other parent.

“Each parent shall speak positively of the other parent in the presence of the child and shall refrain from denigrating or criticizing him or her in the child’s conscious presence or discussing these legal proceedings with the child,” reads the order. “The parties shall refrain from any conduct reasonably calculated to diminish the natural love and affection the child had toward each parent or the other parent’s spouse or significant other.”

The decree had awarded the two parents joint custody and offered specific rules governing the handing off of Addi from one parent to the other. The exchanges were to take place at Addi’s school when in session and at the Herriman Police Department when out of session. “The parties are to park five parking stalls away from one another and A.S. will walk herself to the receiving parents’ car. Neither party is to videotape the child’s exchanges,” the rules read.

Both parents had the right to attend Addi’s school events and other activities. But they were to avoid interacting with one another. “That in attending those events, neither party will approach the other party. The parent bringing A.S. will allow A.S. to see and speak to the other parent for a reasonable period of time,” read the guidelines.

Utah Xtreme Cheer, the West Jordan entity where Addi trained in cheer events, issued a statement Sunday lamenting the girl’s death. “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,” reads the statement.

Likewise, residents in the West Jordan neighborhood where the girl lived at least part of the time tied blue ribbons around trees to remember her.