Tricia Lynn McCauley, a Washington D.C. yoga instructor and former actress best known for her role in the 2006 film Step Up, has been found dead.
She was 46 years old.
McCauley was reporting missing on Christmas Day.
Her brother later confirmed his family’s worst news on Tuesday morning via Facebook, writing that Tricia’s body had been found.
Area police officials then held a news conference shortly afterward and also announced the sad news that McCauley was killed.
According to reports, McCauley raised the concerned of her loved ones after she didn’t show up for Christmas dinner on Sunday.
McCauley had last been seen in the 2000 block of North Capitol Street NW at approximately 4:30 that same afternoon.
Her corpse was discovered around midnight insider her car, and there are signs that she was killed in a carjacking.
Authorities, however, have not yet confirmed the details surrounding this death, though we do know how it was discovered.
An Advisory Neighborhood Commissions commissioner says officers initiated a stop on her vehicle and found McCauley’s body inside.
That took place early this morning.
Police took the driver into custody, who appeared to match the description of the person of interest who cops say may have been operating the missing car.
Police say the suspect was also wanted in conjunction with a robbery at a CVS in D.C. yesterday, during which he allegedly assaulted store employees.
McCauley’s brother wrote on Facebook earlier:
"Tricia is gone, they have found her body."
"Thank you all for your work, support and love."
"To all of her DC 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."
McCauley appeared in Step Up (mostly as the stand-in for Jenna Dewan), The Paper Girl and a short film in 2012 titled "Never Dream: The Beginning."
Following her brief acting career, McCauley also became pretty well-known in the D.C. area in a different profession – as a yoga instructor.
"Let me express on behalf of all of us in Washington D.C. our deepest condolences to her family," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the press conference.
She’s not a huge name celebrity, but she had a family and friends and loved ones, and like so many others, she will be truly missed.
She joins this list of celebrities who also passed away in 2016, a year that cannot come to an end fast enough at this point.