Utah Mother Kills Daughter, Self in Vegas Hotel

A 38-year-old mother from Utah shot and killed her 11-year-old daughter in their Las Vegas hotel room before turning the gun on herself, authorities said, in what police are investigating as a murder-suicide. The bodies of Tawnia McGeehan and her daughter, Addi Smith, were discovered Sunday afternoon inside a room at the Rio Hotel Casino, near the Las Vegas Strip.

The pair had traveled from Utah for a cheerleading competition over the weekend. Friends and relatives grew concerned when they failed to attend a team meeting that morning and could not be reached by phone. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a request for a welfare check around 10:45 a.m. Officers and hotel security knocked on the door and called out several times but received no response and left without entering, citing insufficient information at the time.

Later that afternoon, after additional calls from family members urging another check, hotel security returned around 2:30 p.m. and forced entry into the room. Inside, officers found McGeehan and Smith unresponsive from apparent gunshot wounds. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators recovered a note but have not released its...