Managing is very hard. We had a remote worker that we’re 90% sure took a second job and did very little for us for a month before we let him go. He seemed very honest - guess the work was boring and he thought he could double-dip?
If that person had been co-located, they'd have pretended to work and otherwise browsed facebook when no one is watching. You might have liked them, because such a nice guy to talk to and so on, and had given them a second chance and eventually decided that … outcomes are not there.
I did bad hires, remote and otherwise. I don't think there is a way to avoid that. Our insight from interviewing is just so limited. You give your best when screening, and then you gotta make a leap. And deal with crap when it happens, as it always will.