Update 7:57 p.m. ET: A 29-year-old man named Adrian Johnson has been charged with first degree murder, TMZ reports. The medical examiner’s office reportedly determined that Tricia Lynn McCauley died from asphyxia from strangulation. According to the site, Johnson did not know McCauley and it’s believed to have been a carjacking.
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Actress Tricia McCauley was found dead in her car in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, December 27.
According to CBS affiliate WUSA-TV, McCauley, 46, disappeared on Christmas Day. She was reported missing after not showing up to a holiday dinner with friends. Police confirmed to CBS that her white Toyota Scion was found in front of a CVS on M Street and that a male suspect, who was seen driving McCauley’s vehicle around 10:50 p.m. in surveillance video, is now in custody.
McCauley’s brother Brian McCauley posted about her death on Facebook. “Tricia is gone, they have found her body,” he wrote. “Thank you all for your work, support and love. To all of her D.C. family, I know she truly thought of you that way, thank you for being there for her all these years. Hang on to each other.”
Authorities have yet to release the name of the suspect. CBS reports that he allegedly robbed a CVS and assaulted the store’s employees, which led police to McCauley’s car. There appeared to be trauma to McCauley’s body.
McCauley was a yoga instructor as well as an actress. Per her IMDb page, she was a stand-in in 2006’s Step Up and was featured in the shorts The Paper Girl (2000) and 2012’s Never Dream: The Beginning. According to her website, she also appeared in several plays and commercials and did voice-over work.
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