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WASHINGTON - There are many questions about why the man charged in the murder of D.C. actress and yoga instructor Tricia McCauley failed to enroll for GPS monitoring despite being ordered to do so days before McCauley's death.
Adrian Duane Johnson was arrested late Monday night after police located him in a car belonging to McCauley, who went missing on Christmas Day. Police would also find the 46-year-old D.C. woman dead inside her vehicle after finding Johnson.
According to court documents, McCauley was strangled and beaten to death and also suffered injuries that indicate she was sexually assaulted. Police charged Johnson with first-degree murder and he was ordered held without bond after a court hearing on Wednesday.
According to court records, the 29-year-old Johnson has an extensive criminal history that includes several theft charges.
"We feel as though the justice system is broken in this case," said one of the McCauley's friends outside D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday. "We pray to God that our loss is not something anyone else will have to go through."
But this certainly is not the first time a person has failed to comply with court orders in the District. Washington Post reporter Aaron Davis completed a series looking into this problem called Second-Chance City. He spoke to FOX 5 about the inefficient system in place for Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia (CSOSA), the federal agency that has oversight of offenders when they are released.
"It doesn't have law enforcement powers. It's a civilian agency," Davis said. "In Maryland and Virginia, a probation officer can go get a warrant and write the warrant, take it to a judge and have it signed and sent out to police that day.
"In D.C., CSOSA gives itself three weeks. They rely on an antiquated system where they send a certified letter if someone stops showing up to their probation appointments. They wait for that to be returned undeliverable. Then they take it to a judge. It takes 30 days to get it on a docket in the court. Then it gets to the U.S. Marshals Service. They go to pick the person up. That whole system can take two months or more."
The Office for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser released a statement on Wednesday in response to McCauley's death case saying:
"Everything about this incident is tragic, and we are committed to understanding what can be done to eliminate gaps in our criminal justice system and working with our federal partners to address them.
"The mayor believes we must remedy lapses to ensure our neighborhoods are safe and stronger. That's why she proposed GPS tampering legislation and will soon sign it into law."
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