11-Year-Old Cheerleader Murdered Inside Las Vegas Casino: Cops

A missing person's case [music] in the. Las Vegas strip quickly turned into a. nightmare scenario. A Utah mother. accused of killing her own 11-year-old. daughter inside a popular hotel and. casino before turning the weapon on. herself. And it all happened while this. mother-daughter duo [music] were in. Vegas for a big cheerleading. competition. What could have led a. mother to do this to her own daughter? We're taking a look at the background. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by. Law&Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

All right, before we go any further into. this, got to mention [music] something. So, even though it's kind of like still. the start of the new year, how many of. you feel burnt out? You know, it's a. lot. It's a lot going on right now. And. when you feel burnt out, how do you help. yourself? What's self-care? Got to talk. about our sponsor Cozy Earth, okay? I. will tell you, this stuff is amazing, okay? Whether it's their luxury. loungewear, towels, I have their. bedding, it's amazing. All of their. products add indulgent high-quality. comfort to my life. I have their bamboo.

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from the Utah Xtreme program. 11-year-old Addie Smith died in a Las. Vegas hotel room last week. And it was reportedly at the hands of. her own mother, Tanya Megean. They lived. in the Salt Lake City area, but were in. Vegas for a big cheerleading. competition. But a shadow fell over the. final days of the All-Star Nationals as. word spread that a member of a Utah. cheer group had been killed. And to the. entire. cheer Utah Xtreme and Cheer Fusion. program.

On behalf of all of us here at Jams, we're going to send. Utah Extreme Addi's medal and a national. championship jacket. We dedicate our final day of All Star. Nationals. to Addi. Tragedy struck on Sunday, February 15th, when there was concern. that Addi and her mom might be missing. They hadn't shown up to the events that. were being put on by Jams Cheer and. Dance. Addi and Megan, they were staying at the. nearby Rio Hotel and Casino. Mother and.

daughter had checked in the day before. on Saturday, and Addi's team performed. that day at the competition. According. to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police. Department, when the pair didn't show up. for the Sunday's events, authorities and. hotel management started getting calls. to do a welfare check. The details of. the call are. at approximately 10:45 this morning, LVMPD dispatch received a call for. service for a check the welfare of a. mother and her daughter. Officers arrived, met up with security,

went up to the room, and attempted to. contact the mother and daughter in their. room. They knocked several times, and they. called into the room without any answer. At that point in time, without anything. else and no other information and. nothing else suspicious, those officers. advised security, and they cleared from. the call. Security continued to get information. from family and friends asking them to. attempt to locate uh the mother. [snorts and clears throat] and daughter. inside the casino.

At approximately 2:30 in the afternoon, security went back up to the room to. attempt to locate the mother and child. again. They knocked several times. They also. called into the room without success. At that point in time, security decided. to make entry into the room, where when they entered the room, they. located two deceased females. They immediately backed up and called. 911. Patrol arrived, and secured the scene.

Homicide detectives have been notified, and we're currently on scene. investigating the crime. It appears the preliminary details that. we know so far are. it appears that the mother and daughter. came here for In Down for a dance. competition or a cheer competition. Uh sometime last night the mother shot. her daughter. and then shot herself. Now, Lieutenant. Price confirmed that some sort of note. was found in the hotel room, although he. didn't specify its contents. He also.

said during the news conference that no. one so far had reported hearing. gunshots. And as condolences poured in. from cheer groups from all over the. country, new details started coming to. light about the background about. Meggan's fight to keep custody of her. daughter, which had apparently been. ongoing since Addie was just 2 years. old. Now, to be clear as we go through. this, we don't know exactly what led to. this, what would cause. a mother to kill her own daughter, but. just something to keep in mind as we. give the context to this. So, according.

to Utah court records, Meggan and her. husband, Brad Smith, got divorced in. 2015 and shared custody of Addie, but. the relationship was reportedly. tumultuous. The court had to step in to. even kind of keep the peace here. In. fact, things were so bad that a judge. had to lay out exactly how custody swaps. would even work. There are hundreds and. hundreds of docket entries related to. Meggan and Smith's divorce, and most of. the filings are under seal, but we got. our hands on the latest decree from a. Utah judge, which has details on the. access custody arrangement, and it is.

very clear from those filings that the. relationship between the two was. acrimonious, to say the least. The. documents indicate that Smith was. awarded sole custody of Addie in 2020. And a judge found in October of that. year that, quote, "Petitioner," so. meaning Meggan, is subjecting the child. to behavior that is on the spectrum of. parental alienation. It also states that. quote "petitioner has committed domestic. abuse in the presence of the minor. child." As part of that ruling Meggan.

had to be supervised by court-designated. family members when she even spent time. with Addy. Later on a judge found. Meggan's behavior had improved. The. custody agreement was modified to be. 50/50 so one week on, one week off. According to the filing quote "exchanges. are to take place at AS's school when in. session but during times in which school. is not in session exchange will take. place at the Herman Police Department. So obviously at places where nothing bad. could go down. The court documents even. lay out exactly how the custody. exchanges are supposed to happen. Quote.

"The parties are to park five parking. stalls away from one another and AS will. walk herself to the receiving parent's. car. Neither party is to videotape the. child's exchanges." It almost feels like. like a hostage swap. According to the. judge's ruling each parent was entitled. to two weeks of uninterrupted time with. Addy during the summer when she was out. of school. There are also rules for how. Addy would communicate with one parent. if she was staying with the other. For. example, quote "during the regular. parent time each party will make AS.

available for FaceTime with the other. parent on Tuesday nights at 6:00 p.m. If. either parent fails to initiate the call. by 6:15 p.m. they shall forfeit the. FaceTime call for that day." And you can. tell that every little thing seemed to. be a source of contention between Meggan. and Smith and the court had to intervene. on multiple occasions. All communication. between Addy's parents had to be via an. app specifically used in custody. situations. This is according to court. documents. At school events or other.

gatherings the parents were forbidden. from approaching one another but at the. same time it was required that Addy be. allowed to speak with whomever didn't. have custody of her at that time. Both. parents were also responsible for. splitting the cost of any. extracurricular activities like. cheerleading and dance. We know that. sports and hobbies like those can get. expensive quite quickly, especially when. it comes to things like traveling for. competitions. But again, I say all that. to say we do not know exactly what led. to this. I will tell you Smith's brother started.

a GoFundMe page to raise money for. Addie's funeral expenses. On the page he wrote, "My brother Brad. is facing an unimaginable loss after his. daughter Addie was tragically taken from. our family. This heartbreaking event has. left the family in deep shock and grief. struggling to come to terms with the. sudden loss of Addie in such a way. In. the midst of this tragedy, we are. reaching out to the community to help. Brad and his family navigate the. difficult days ahead. The funds raised. will be transferred to Brad and go. directly toward covering funeral. expenses and providing much-needed.

support for Brad and his family. With so. much to process emotionally and. financially, every contribution will. help ease the burden and allow the. family to focus on healing. Your. kindness and generosity can make a real. difference as they work through this. painful time.". Utah Extreme Cheer announced on their. Facebook page that all classes were. canceled for the rest of the week. Her. former cheer group, Fusion Cheer, held a. vigil on Monday night to remember her. Emily Morgan, who owns Utah Fusion. All-Stars, coached Addie during her. first year of cheer. This is according.

to media outlet KUTV, and she told the. outlet, quote, "She would learn her. part. She took a lot of pride in what. she was doing. As a coach, that's the. dream. And because of that attitude, I. always knew she was going to go far in. this experience. In cheerleading, you. need every single person on your team, and if they are not there, there is a. void. I think that everybody feels that. void, whether you're on her team right. now or you've been on her team before. I. want to bring on Ashton Pack, private. investigator, talk about this. Ashton, this is an incredibly sad case. I do.

wonder, would a private investigator. come into a case like this afterwards to. try to, you know, piece together. aspects of this to understand what. happened. Well, it's something that could happen. I mean, ultimately, you know, people. come to guys like me after law. enforcement has concluded their. investigation. Uh and sometimes, you know, certain. jurisdictions don't have the vast. resources like what we have available. here in Las Vegas. Yeah, sometimes there. are incidents where a a private.

investigator like myself might be able. to come in and help put some things. together. The problem with working on. the civilian side now as a as a private. eye is we don't have the power of the. subpoena unless there's an active uh. case going within a court or I'm working. for an attorney. Law enforcement has all. the tools and the resources, and it's. just a matter of how much they're going. to pour into a case such as this. And. this seems to be a case where it's it's. clear what happened. What's not clear is. the why. So, I do wonder whether you're. an investigator uh working with law. enforcement or a private investigator,

how do you find out the why of something. like this? Yeah, we are we are obsessed with the. why in this country, and I get it. because what would bring a mother to do. something so horrific to their daughter. uh to her daughter like this. And yeah, you're right. I mean, at the end of the. day, a homicide detective's job is to. determine, you know, what was the cause. of death? Was it a homicide, which is. the death by at the hands of another. human? Was there a murder or a. manslaughter committed? Yes, this was a. murder. And ultimately, who were the. perpetrators? Well, we know who the. perpetrator is. This is unfortunately an.

open-and-shut case, and I'm sure there. are a few things that homicide. detectives will want to kind of piece. together. They'll do a toxicology. screening. They'll do anything with that. was found in the room, an analyzation of. evidence that was at the scene. But, it's really looking to point to see is. there anyone else that was involved with. this crime the crime of murder. And I'm. pretty certain I'm very I'm fairly. certain. I never want to assume, but I'm. I can presume here that this case is. going to be closed fairly quickly. But, as far as motive is concerned, yeah, we. might not really truly ever know. I know. there was a note left. I'm sure they can.

piece together some investigator can. piece together through talking to. family, friends, cohorts, people who are. associates as to what was going on in. this person's life that would lead them. to do such a horrific violent act to. their child. Well, that's the question. I mean, how much do they look at the. timeline? When was the gun. where was the gun obtained from? When. was it brought? Um, you know, was there what was the. circumstance what did the surveillance. footage reveal? What were the past. conversations? What was her relationship like with her.

ex? I mean, how much do they do. uh you know, analysis of what led up to. this? Say that again, you know, it's a. shame if this is an open and shut case. whereas there are so many still. lingering questions here. Yeah, it just depends on what um it. really just depends on what the bosses. want the detectives to do. You know, we live in a this is a large. city. It's a major metropolitan American. city. There's no shortage of homicides. in this city and once a case is closed, those homicide detectives are.

unfortunately tend to have to move on to. the next case because that case is now. pressing and has to be solved. So, it just depends. Maybe they'll have. someone in an some kind of an. intelligence unit do some follow-up. Uh. maybe they'll coordinate uh at the end. of the day with some Utah law. enforcement officers to see if they had. any prior cases. They might put some. kind of an after action report together. on this, but usually homicide detectives. will create just a documentation, like a. kind of an officer's report of what. happened when there's no really no. there's no submittal going to the. district attorney's office so there's no.

criminal case that's getting being. prepared for prosecution here. The. perpetrator has you know, taken her life. at her own hands. So, yeah, it just depends. It it the it's. just a big we don't know at this point. and it just kind of depends on what do. the bosses at the police department want. and do we have time and resources to. dedicate to a case that's pretty much. solved? Is it strange this happened in a. hotel room like this? I just think it's strange in general. Who what parent is parent you know, I'm. a father. I have I have a daughter. I. have two sons. What We We We We We as a.

society This is just so perplexing to. us. What How could this happen? Especially a mom. Usually infanticide is. at the hands of a father. And when it's. a mother, it just it it's even more. compounding to us as to how this could. happen. So, strange that it happened at. all. You know, in a hotel room in Las. Vegas. Of course, it's strange. It's not. the usual. It's not the norm. It's just How How could a mom do this to. her to her daughter? So, if you were um.

hired to look into this case, where. would you start? Um I do believe. sometimes private investigators can get. information that law enforcement can't. Um but where would you start? What would. you be looking for? How would you. approach a case like this to try to. understand more about it? Well, if I was hired and it was, you. know, for the determination of, "Hey, why didn't Why did mom likely do this?". Again, I'm going to provide an. assessment and that assessment's going. to be based off of interviews with. people. Who knew mom best? Who knew the. family? Are they willing to talk to me? Are.

these folks willing to engage with a. private investigator and give. statements? You know, at the end of the. day, the the there was a whole cheer. competition. Is anyone within that. organization willing to talk? Um. We want to We want to understand, you. know, the motives behind this. So, for. me, it would be interviewing people, talking to people, trying to build. rapport with those folks. And it's just time intensive. It takes a. lot of time. It takes a lot of effort, especially if it's just myself. Now, if. I have a team of investigators, you. know, assembled, time and money is the only.

is the only limit. You know, how much. money are you willing to spend to find. out the why. And ultimately, it just. takes time to assess everything, put it. together in a concise report, and come. up with some kind of a this is what we. assessed with a modicum of confidence. By the way, before we wrap things up, just one other interesting aspect is the. ability of police to enter that hotel. room. And there were questions. surrounding that. Can you explain it? Sure, yeah. Law enforcement came out for. the first time under the the the call. was a a welfare check, which is.

50 times a day all over I mean it it's. it's one of the most common calls law. enforcement will get. I I got them all. the time when I was a law enforcement. officer. But ultimately, um law enforcement has. to weigh the intrusion into someone's. Fourth Amendment rights to be safe in. their in their place of where they're. at. And you're you know, your Fourth. Amendment rights. don't end when you go into a Las Vegas. hotel room. So, you know, law. enforcement came out. Hey, there's a. welfare check. These people missed the. cheer competition. We're concerned.

And what is your front-line cop going to. think to themselves? Oh, mom killed the. daughter? It's just highly unlikely. It's more. likely that oh, they went hiking for the. day and skipped out on the cheer. competition. Um you know, I I think ultimately now. the security guards, they're not law. enforcement. Those are technically. private citizens. They got pestered over. the course of the day. Constant calls from people saying, "Hey, we're really worried. Something's not. right." They make entry. That That's not. a Fourth Amendment issue. They're. private They're private citizens that. work for the property. So, that's when. they went in the second time. But law.

enforcement has to weigh the totality of. the circumstances. You know, do we have. a Do we have an exception to get we. There's not There's no crime to get a. search warrant for. What is our. exception to the search warrant rule? We're not hearing screaming. We're not. We don't think that there's, you know, anyone's in there needing immediate. life-saving assistance. And they just probably thought to. themselves, "What are the odds, especially you know, being here in Las. Vegas, a town built on odds, what are. the odds that a mother would do such a. horrific thing to her daughter?" It was. just They didn't think that that was the. case of what they were dealing with. I. It's impossible to predict anything like.

this. Ashton Pack, thanks for taking the. time. Appreciate it. Thanks for having. me back on. That's all we have for you. right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcast. You can also. follow us on NBC's Peacock as well. We. got sidebar episodes up there as well. And uh if you want to follow me, check. me out on Instagram, X. You can also. follow my NewsNation show, Jesse Watters. Live, Monday through Friday at 11:00. p.m. Eastern. See you next time.