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Trauma leaves its mark. Childhood trauma most of all.
When Dove Cameron was just a little girl, her friend was murdered.
This terrible tragedy should never have happened. And Dove should never have found out the way that she did.
This horror has left a lingering mark upon her psyche for life.
A vicious crime and a trauma that will always follow her
During a recent episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Dove opened up about a life-altering childhood trauma.
When she was 9 years old, her childhood friend, Hayley, died.
Hayley’s father, Steve, killed both of his daughters and himself.
Both girls grew up in Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Dove had known Hayley from the time when both girls were only 2 years old. Losing a friend of 7 years would be a horror for anyone, but for a 9-year-old, it’s essentially her entire life.
“Some little girls they meet each other, and they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s like you, and it’s funny,’” Dove recalled of their childhood similarities.
Growing emotional multiple times during the interview, the actress and singer admitted that she “rarely talks about this.”
Dove clarified: “Not because it’s a problem to talk about, but just like it’s so not the first thing that people usually ask me.”
She remembers Hayley’s parents going through a “messy” divorce. The girls still hung out, but even as a child, she could tell that something was wrong.
“I had stayed with her dad for like quite a lot of the summer before [the murder] happened,” Dove described. “And I think even at 8, it was like a dark energy. He was a very angry man.”
She wasn’t supposed to learn about the murder this way
Dove was home sick from school as a third grader and picked up the landline phone, overhearing a call that her parents received from Hayley’s school’s principal.
“She basically said like, ‘This is going to be a really, really disturbing call. Hayley and [her sister] Kelsey are gone. Steve is gone, and he took the girls with him,’” Dove recalled.
“I think they heard me like express some sort of child noise, like a gasp,” she admitted.
Dove continued: “And then I they came in and and we just like didn’t get out of bed for two days.”
She acknowledged: “It was so impossible to process.”
At the time, Dove’s parents tried putting her in therapy to cope with the trauma of her friend’s murder.
“I was very very very very very disturbed by knowing someone for all that time and being like raised around them,” she described.
“And,” Dove continued, “then realizing that they are capable of doing something so harrowing,”
She characterized the trauma of losing her friend by saying that it had “fissured” her brain, forever altering how she processes things.
“I still have issues,” Dove acknowledged.
What happened?
On November 22, 2004, Steve Byrne murdered his daughters, Kelsey and Hayley.
Police found both girls in their bed without an immediately apparent cause of death. Their killer had taken his own life with a gun.
One of the biggest motives for family annihilators is a sudden loss of control. Children growing up and changing, a divorce, losing a job. Sometimes, there is an element of revenge against a survivor — like an ex-wife.
According to Byrne’s attorney, he believed that the legal system was unfair to fathers. He was also apparently furious about his ex-wife’s move following their acrimonious divorce.
There is a depth of evil in people that most never suspect until it springs to the surface.
Dove Cameron Details Murder of Childhood Friend, Lasting Trauma was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
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An unthinkable tragedy has destroyed a family.
Over the weekend, preteen Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan were on a trip for Addi’s cheerleading team.
They didn’t show to the cheer meet. No one was able to get a hold of them.
Police found the mother and daughter dead in an apparent murder-suicide.
Our hearts go out to Addi’s loved ones
On Sunday, February 15, authorities made a grim discovery at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
Mom Tawnia McGeehan and her preteen daughter, Addi Smith, were in the city for a cheer meet.
Addi was part of Utah Xtreme Cheer.
When she did not show up (and her mother did not call) for the competition, her teammates were worried.
From the information at hand, it appears that parents or others with the cheerleading team reached out to other family in search of answers.
Tawnia and Addi’s family were unable to contact them.
Worried, they reached out to authorities and made repeated requests for police to conduct a welfare check on the mother and daughter.
At around 10:45am on Sunday morning, officers and hotel security at the Rio Hotel & Casino visited the room.
There, police uncovered a tragic scene.
They found the bodies of both Tawnia and Addi. Additionally, they found an apparent suicide note.
Police have only disclosed certain details thus far
Both Tawnia and Addi had died by gunshot wounds.
(It remains unclear if anyone in the hotel heard gunshots or reported them)
A homicide investigation is ongoing.
However, based upon their findings, investigators believe that this was a murder-suicide.
They believe that Tawnia fatally shot her daughter on Saturday night and then killed herself.
The cheer team themselves announced the tragedy — in part — in a public statement.
“With the heaviest hearts, we share the devastating news that our sweet athlete Addi has passed away,” the statement shared.
“We are completely heartbroken,” the cheer team expressed. “No words do the situation justice.”
Speaking of Addi, they affirmed: “She was so beyond loved, and she will always be a part of the UXC family.”
The statement did not delve into Tawnia’s passing. Given the alleged circumstances, that is understandable.
What could prompt a murder-suicide like this?
Investigators are likely speaking to family today (and all this week) alongside classmates, school counselors, hotel staff, and fellow cheerleaders.
There is so much that we do not know. And we do need to emphasize that, even if murder-suicide is apparently the likely explanation, sometimes crime scenes (and notes found at them) are misleading.
If you have ever known someone who had a tragedy like this in their family, you know that all that it takes is a heated argument, a loss of control, and easy access to a gun.
It seems unlikely that Tawnia planned this for the trip. (Family annihilators might plan a family trip in advance before a deliberate crime, but it likely wouldn’t be to a hotel in the middle of a city)
This is a heartbreaking and devastating tragedy. Addi was so young. And her friends and other loved ones are grappling with shock.
For most of her peers, she is likely the first person they have known who has been murdered — and perhaps their first friend who has died.
Tawnia McGeehan & Daughter Addi Smith Die in Reported Murder-Suicide During … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip