The Utah mom who killed her daughter and herself at a Las Vegas cheerleading competition had joint custody and decision-making power over the 11-year-old — despite a family court finding that she committed domestic abuse in front of the girl, and expressing grave concerns about her parenting, The Post can reveal.
Tawnia McGeehan, 38, had the first say over major issues in the life of Addi Smith, according to a May 7, 2024, court order in the bitter 9-year custody battle with Addi’s dad, Brad Smith.
However, four years earlier, Family Court Commissioner Marian Ito relegated McGeehan’s parental rights to just supervised visitation and said that her dad understood Addi’s “physical and emotional needs” better, according to court papers.
The revelation follows questions about how the Utah courts dealt with McGeehan — who faced custodial interference charges in 2018 and a back-to-back bankruptcy — during her acrimonious custody war with Addi’s dad.
McGeehan “has committed domestic abuse in the presence of the minor child,” Ito wrote in the Dec. 8, 2020, order. The order did not specify who McGeehan abused.
And Smith “demonstrates a better understanding of the child’s physical and emotional needs,” Ito wrote.
McGeehan also subjected Addi to “parental alienation” and her ability to parent alongside Addi’s dad were “seriously in question” the commissioner wrote.
Ito appointed a custody evaluator at the time to look into the custody arrangement in place at the time.
Additional court papers also revealed that a judge on Oct. 19, 2020, had ordered McGeehan’s parent time with Addi to be supervised and that three apparent family members and friends were appointed as the supervisors.
A hearing was set for January 2021 to review the temporary order giving Smith sole custody of Addi.
It was unclear what came out of that hearing.
But the final order in the case from 2024 found both McGeehan and Smith to be “fit and proper persons” and awarded them “joint legal and joint physical custody.”
The order painstakingly laid out the custody arrangement where the parents alternated caring for Addi weekly and would have next to no contact with each other during handoffs of the girl.
The order also gave McGeehan “presumptive decision-making authority” over Addi’s education, health care, religious upbringing, and other major life issues with a note that Smith could take it to the judge “if he disagrees with [McGeehan’s] decisions.”
McGeehan and Adi were found shot dead at the Rio Hotel & Casino Sunday after they had been missing from a cheer competition, authorities said.
Smith and lawyers on both sides of the custody case didn’t immediately return requests for comment Wednesday.
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