Step Up Actress Tricia McCauley Found Dead in car

Concerns were raised for Tricia McCauley, 46, when she failed to show up for a friend’s Christmas dinner in the nation’s capital on Sunday evening. She also missed a flight out of Ronald Reagan National Airport to visit relatives the following morning.
After a gruelling wait for news, Ms McCauley’s family announced her death on Facebook early Tuesday morning.
Police later confirmed the information at a morning news conference, CBS affiliate WUSA-TV reported.
“Tricia is gone, they have found her body,” her brother Brian McCauley wrote on the Facebook page set up to help find Ms McCauley.

“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.”

Police said that Ms McCauley’s body was found in her car, a white two-door Toyota Scion hatchback, in front of a CVS store in the city’s northwest.

Ms McCauley had been on her way to dinner at the home of a friend and had notified him that she was on her way about 4:30pm local time on Sunday.
“But she never arrived or responded to calls or texts,” the friend posted on Facebook.
Police released a timeline of sightings of the suspect, including one on Monday at a CVS during which a theft occurred and where the suspect allegedly assaulted employees, The Washington Post reported.
Surveillance video showed the suspect driving Ms McCauley’s missing car from the same CVS store.
The man was arrested shortly after midnight after an unidentified tipster recognised the car and called police, Mr Newsham said.
He handed over the keys to officers who found the actress's body in the car. She was strangled by a ligature and suffered blunt force trauma, the Metropolitan Police Department said.

Police believe the suspect and McCauley did not know one another.

Ms McCauley was a graduate of American University. Her friends and family described her as a beloved yoga teacher, an actress and herbalist.
“She is one of the kindest and most gentle people that I know,” friend Kate Debelack said. “So to think that someone could have harmed her is awful.”
Ms McCauley’s website offers a long list of acting credits, including 10 with the Washington Stage Guild. She had also appeared in television commercials and did voiceovers.
She was also a licensed nutritionist and a certified health coach and held a Master’s degree in herbal medicine.



From: http://www.news.com.au