The man charged with killing a D.C. yoga instructor on Christmas Day has agreed to spend 30 years in prison for the crime.
Duane Adrian Johnson pleaded guilty Wednesday in the death of 46-year-old Tricia McCauley. Johnson agreed to a 30-year sentence, News4's Mark Segraves reports. He will be sentenced in November.
The search for McCauley began the day after Christmas, after she failed to show up to Christmas dinner at a friend's house. Prosecutors believe she encountered Johnson on her way to the party.
According to prosecutors, Johnson got into McCauley's car and sexually assaulted her. He tried to restrain her, and during the struggle, McCauley's clothing was ripped and her nose was broken.
Johnson then took her scarf and strangled her. He placed her body in the backseat of her car and drove the vehicle around for a day before it was discovered outside a CVS store on the 2200 block of M Street NW.
Officers confronted Johnson inside a the store, he handed over the keys to the car and the officers found McCauley's body inside.
Johnson was arrested and found with several of McCauley's credit cards in his coat pocket.
Speaking with detectives at the D.C. police department's Homicide Branch, Johnson claimed he met McCauley on or about Christmas Day. He claimed she offered to give him a ride in his car and then offered to have sex with him. She then killed herself, he claimed, according to the court documents.
He then drove her car throughout D.C. for hours and made purchases using her credit cards. He said he then picked up a prostitute.
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When police asked Johnson why he drove with McCauley's body in the car, he claimed he thought she was sleeping and might awake.
The murder suspect claimed that prior to McCauley's death, she told him he could have all her belongings, including her credit cards, money and car, the documents say.
Johnson was arrested six previous times in 2016. He was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and wear a GPS ankle bracelet after he was charged with theft from two businesses on Dec. 17, 2016. But police said he was not wearing the monitor when he was arrested.
Johnson's stepfather, Russell Dixon, told The Washington Post that Johnson had been living on the streets and suffered from mental problems. Dixon suggested the courts had been too lenient on his stepson.
McCauley lived in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of D.C. and was an accomplished actress who also worked as a yoga instructor and as a licensed nutritionist.
