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Seven months after a Utah dance mom and her 11-year-old daughter died in a murder-suicide, a new autopsy report confirmed the victim’s cause of death and detailed suicide notes that were left behind at the crime scene.
Tawnia McGeehan and her daughter, Addilyn Smith, were found dead in a Rio Hotel and Casino room in Las Vegas after police were called by Smith’s father to perform a welfare check on the mother-daughter duo. The pair had been in Las Vegas for Smith’s cheer competition in February with her team, Xtreme Cheer.
When police entered the hotel room, they found several handwritten suicide notes that were left behind by McGeehan, 34.
“Call 911 before walking in. Two dead bodies and one is an 11-year-old,” McGeehan wrote on a shred of paper that was taped to a chair that partially blocked the entrance to the room, according to the Clark County Coroner’s investigative report obtained by The New York Post.
The new report also included toxicology results, which revealed the mother and daughter ingested several drugs before the victim was fatally shot.
Substances found in Smith’s bodies included the antipsychotic medication quetiapine, an anticonvulsant drug that’s used to treat seizure disorders called gabapentin, lorazepam and the antihistamine diphenhydramine.
McGeehan’s toxicology report also listed the same drugs in her system, as well as the prescription sedatives eszopiclone or zopiclone, the antidepressant drug known as citalopram or escitalopram, desmethyl loperamide and cannabinoids.
Caffeine was also detected in both toxicology reports, per the outlet.
After Smith ingested the substances, McGeehan fatally shot her before she died by suicide. Despite finding the cocktail of drugs in their systems, the gunshot wounds were listed as the cause of death for both McGeehan and Smith.
The report also stated that McGeehan left behind a note saying that Smith had been “very medicated” before her death and that “she slept cuddled with” her.
McGeehan added that she intentionally left her phone open so that Smith’s photographs and videos could be easily accessed.
The report noted that police searched the hotel room and found luggage, a food bag, multiple prescription bottles with McGeehan’s name on them, “an opened package” of THC gummies, multiple broken or empty gabapentin capsules and a clear cup that had white residue in it.
McGeehan reportedly committed the murder-suicide because she was “severely depressed over breakups and on-going custody battle with her ex-husband,” per the report.
The report also revealed that McGeehan’s family told investigators she had “a history of severe depression” that she previously took prescription medication for, while she also had “past suicidal ideations.”
At the time of the killings, McGeehan was in the middle of a bitter custody dispute with her ex-husband that had been ongoing since they divorced in 2015.
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