Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - MISSING MOM'S CHEVY JUST FOUND ON REMOTE COUNTY ROAD: WHERE IS NIKKI?

Episode Date: July 2, 2024

Nikki Saelee-McCain last contacts her family with a text message just after midnight. She texts with her sister, letting her know that she was driving her mother-in-law’s vehicle back to the McCain home near the Win-River Casino. Later that morning, when Saelee-McCain's family texts her again, she did not respond. It's been more than a month now since anyone has seen or heard from Nikki. Her truck, however, was found abandoned in another county.  The Redding Rancheria Tribal Council has allowed for searches for Nikki Saelee McCain to take place on some of their sovereign land, and it is the Redding Rancheria which operates the Win-River casino, that is offering a reward of $10,000 for information that leads to McCain-Saelee’s whereabouts.  Joining Nancy Grace Today: Chloe Saelee - Nikki's sister    Kaye Ford - Nikki's sister     Brian Fitzgibbons  – VP of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security; Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security, Kingsman Philanthropic’s 2022 rescue missions of women and children in Ukraine, Iraq War Veteranide_security Tad DiBiase - Former Assistant United States Attorney in D.C., Author: "No-Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Guide to Investigating, Prosecuting, and Winning Cases When the Victim Is Missing;" X: @thenobodyguy Dave Mack - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous young missing mom of four's Chevy Avalanche just found on a remote and hilly county road. Where is Nikki? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. A California mom of four missing. Her truck found abandoned in a different county.

Where is Nikki Chang Saley McCain? How does a gorgeous young mom like Nikki seemingly vanish into thin air? Why is her Chevy Avalanche found along a hilly and remote county road there in Shasta County? Now, if she were gone and her Avalanche was also gone, that would make more sense than her being separated from her car, from her truck, a Chevy Avalanche. That's not making sense. And why would it be parked left out in the middle of nowhere? Why would she have been there? She wouldn't have been. Even if she had been there for some reason to or fro in transit, why would she get out of her Chevy Avalanche and what? Disappear out into the hills? That did not happen. Where is Nikki? And this is not just about Nikki Chain, as her family calls her. This is about her four children as well. One as young as seven years old. What about them? Who's taking care of them? Who's explaining? Yeah, mommy's not home again tonight. Mommy's not home again tonight. But hey,

here's a Chevy Avalanche. Again, this is Crime Stories. I'm Nancy Grace, and I want to thank you for being with us. I'm very concerned about the slow-mo, the slow-motion search for Nikki because we all know that hours count when someone goes missing. Look at her. Where is she? If you have information on missing Nikki, tip line 530-245-6540. Repeat 530-245-6540. Joining me, an all-star panel. And I want to reiterate, there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to Nikki's whereabouts. $10,000. As I said, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now, including her two lookalike sisters, the spitting image of

Nikki. But first, listen to this. Nikki Salia McCain sends a text message to her sister just after midnight on May 18th, saying she's driving Tyler McCain's mother's vehicle back to his mother's home near the Wind River Casino. When Nikki doesn't respond to texts from her family later that morning at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., the family is concerned. The family immediately begins looking for Nikki and her Chevrolet Avalanche truck. Nikki has four children and would never have left them without notice, and an official missing person report is filed with Shasta County. Well, the family wasted no time in reporting her

missing. That's the bright spot so far. Please join us in our search for Nikki Chain, Saley McCain. I want to first go out to Nikki's sisters joining us, Chloe and Kay. First to Chloe. Chloe, tell me about when you first learned your sister, the three of you are very, very close, was not answering phone calls or texts. You know, at first I was like, okay, this is normal. It's really early for a text message. Maybe she's still sleeping. But then I had noticed that they were green because if you have an iPhone, if the text message goes through, you know, it's blue, but then we noticed that text messages were green. And so I was thinking maybe her phone maybe was just dead. So I didn't immediately panic just yet. Hold on, Chloe. Can you back it up one moment? Yeah. Go through that one more time.

I've seen that on my phone too, where normally you send a text and it's in a blue bubble and then sometimes it's in green. Now slow down just a moment. You said too early in the morning, maybe she was still asleep, but she's not a late sleeper to my understanding. Is that correct? Yes. She's not a late sleeper. I mean, with four children, who can sleep late? So you text her early in the morning. She doesn't respond, but you say, hey, maybe, maybe it's too early for her to be texting asleep, busy with the children. Okay.

Then you said something about blue and green. Pick it up right there, Chloe, please. Yeah. So when it's blue, that means you have cell service or that your phone is not dead. But when it's green, that usually means you either don't have service or your cell phone is dead. And so that morning, we were kind of in a rush. We were getting ready to go to a soccer game. And so I was like, you know what? It's fine. We'll just, I'll talk to her later. So I didn't hear from her and we did have a very busy weekend. And then we didn't really think much of it. But then starting, you know, throughout the week, we're like, wait, Nikki has

not texted in our family group message. And so then I was thinking maybe she was just at my mom's house. And so and then by Tuesday, okay, hold on right there. Let me follow up with that. Chloe's starting to interrupt, but I don't want to miss the detail. Because as we all know, and our other experts will jump in in just a moment, every detail matters. Every detail, the timing matters, the location matters. Now, you're saying you were texting early in the morning. You thought, hey, I got to go to the soccer game. I'll circle back with her. And then you realize, you know, many hours later, hey, I never heard back from her. This is where I want clarification. You just assumed she had gone over to your mom's. Did I

hear that correctly? Yes. Okay. How far away does Nikki live from your mother? Not very far, about maybe a 15 minute drive. Not very far at all. I want to check my information, Chloe, and I'm going to bring in Kay Ford. This is Nikki's other lookalike sister. Chloe, to get from Nikki's home to her mother's home, would she have to go past where her vehicle, where her Chevy is finally located? Would that be in route? No, not at all. That's different direction. Chloe, did your sister Nikki often go visit with your mom? Yes, she did. So we just assumed she's at my mom's house and then Monday rolls around and, you know, it's busy. I'm getting, it's the end of the school year and so I'm just kind of we're super

busy and so then by Tuesday I'm like wait a second have you guys heard from from Nikki and so um we text my family group message and we're kind of like trying to figure out where she is I call my mom my mom's like no we have not seen her And so this is when we're really starting to panic. And so then on Wednesday, right there, right there, started to break in. But what is her practicing custom regarding text? See, I've got one sibling that never you have to write over and over and over. And finally, I have to write the spouse. Okay, and say, hey, what's happening?

That's normal. That's no big deal. The other sibling writes back just like that. So my question is, what kind of texter is Nikki? Actually, she's a little bit of both. Okay, the reason I'm asking is because at this juncture by Monday, it's still not really a big deal that she hasn't texted back because sometimes she does that, right? Yes, uh-huh. But it doesn't go that long without her texting me back.

Gotcha, gotcha. Listen, my sister, who I adore, has her hands full with a lot of things. And sometimes she can go like 10 days and go, oh, yeah, right, I meant to text earlier. And it's really no big deal, and I don't find that unusual. Okay, so we're at Monday. Then what happens? Okay, so we're, okay, I was like and it's really no big deal. And I don't find that unusual. Okay. So we're at Monday. Then what happens? Okay. So we're okay. I was like, okay, so no text message. And I didn't really think much. And then by Tuesday, that's when we kind of start to panic and kind of get worried about where she might be. Cause my mom's like, Oh no, I haven't seen her.

Okay. You are hearing Chloe Saley. This is Nikki's lookalike sister. Now I want to go to other sister, Kay Ford. Kay, to both of you, it's so important that you are speaking out now. You've been trying to speak out. You've been searching. You've been putting up flyers. You've been doing everything right. But for some reason, nobody seems to have been looking for her. And I think it has to do with getting on to a plot of land that is tribal land. You can't just ride on there and start looking, among other things, which I'll go into. But hey, we're here now. We're looking now for everybody joining us. I want to give you that tip line again, 5 3 0 2 4 5 6 5 4 0 slowly 5 3 0 2 4 5 6 5 4 0.

Listen, there's a $10,000 reward for information leading to Nikki's whereabouts. You want $10,000? Work for it. Call the tip line. Back to Kay Ford, Nikki's sister. Kay, tell me about when you, I imagine you and Chloe were on the phone nonstop once you realized, hey, she's not responding. But tell me when it dawned on you how it came about, Kay, that you realized Nikki's not answering. I can't find her. When, you know, like Chloe said, the messages weren't going through. We hadn't heard from her and everyone that we had talked to during that time. You know, no one really had a concrete answer or a good explanation about what she had been doing or where she

had gone. Now, here's my question. I understand that shortly after midnight that Nikki Chang, Nikki, sends a text that she is taking her mother-in-law's vehicle back to the mother-in-law's home. Did you get that text, Kay? No, this one was sent directly to Chloe. Okay, Chloe gets that text. Okay, Chloe, that text, that's around midnight, and she's texting with you. And I know you and Kay and Nikki share all information extremely close. You get this text stating that she is taking her mother-in-law's car back to the mother-in-law's house. Now that's at midnight and it's near the Wynn River Casino. Is that right, Chloe? Yes, that's right. Does anybody in the family work at the casino? Yes, we have family members who do work at Wind River Casino and Nikki herself

worked there as well before, a few years before. Okay, so she had worked at a casino as a what? She was a cocktail waitress there. Okay. Now who works at the casino now within your family? Oh, no one works at the casino. Um, Tyler's, uh, yeah, her mother-in-law lives, um, on the, the rancheria, which is, uh, two doors down from the casino. Gotcha. Okay. So nobody's working there now. The mother-in-law lives a little bit down at the rancheria near Wind River Casino. Do I have that correct? Yes. Okay.

Okay. Was the mother-in-law's vehicle actually taken to the mother-in-law's? Did that happen? From her messages, that's where she was headed. We didn't hear from her as far as once she got to the mother-in-law's house. So we can't definitively confirm that. Okay. Do either of you know if the mother-in-law's car made it to the mother-in-law's house?

Is the car where it's supposed to be? Yes. Okay. All right. What kind of car is that? I believe it's a white Chevy Tahoe. All right. Gotcha.

Something that looks like a white Chevy Tahoe. All right. So that made it there. Now, here's my question. Was the mother-in-law in the car with her or was she just driving the car back on her own and then getting a ride back home? How was that working? She was driving by herself in the vehicle. By herself.

Okay. Here's a, it may sound like an odd question, but Chloe, you got the text. Did the text appear to be from Nikki? You know, everybody has a style of texting. My texts are as short as possible. Other people go on and on and on. They'll send you three paragraphs in a text. Was this text from Nikki

her normal texting style? Yes, it was. Because right before that, we were kind of talking about other things too. So I, that only mean her would know. So it didn't sound like her. Like what? What other things? She was just talking about the situation with her, the family member that was in the hospital and just kind of the people mentioning children's names. And so I felt like it was her. Okay. So you feel sure that that was Nikki texting. And you believe, based on this, this is very important, ladies, because this is starting my timeline.

You believe she was alive at midnight that night. And you believe, based on the authenticity of that text, that she, Nikki, sent that text. And because it was Nikki sending the text, you believe she really was returning that car to her mother-in-law's. Would you agree? Yes or no? Yes. Yes. Now, isn't it true, ladies, that after that text, no one sees or hears from Nikki again? Correct. Reading police called on the public for help in finding a California mom missing for over a month. Nikki, now missing a month. Four children are asking where's mommy as young as seven years old. We are learning her Chevy Avalanche found in a remote and hilly area on an old county road. But here's another problem in the search for Nikki. The time delay.

Listen. Eight days passed from when Nikki Chang's Aileen McCain was last seen by her family and the day her truck was found abandoned in Tahoma County. According to a missing persons flyer released by the family, McCain was reportedly picked up from a residence near Wind River Casino in Redding, California, and may have been later dropped off at her home in Anderson. Investigators have not said where in Tahoma County the 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche was found or if the location is the home where McCain may have been picked up. Police have also not released whether the truck was in working order. Okay, this is a problem. How did she get from the mother-in-law's back to her place?

Did she ever get a ride? Did she get a ride? If so, with who? Joining me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. For those of you joining us, there is a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the location of Nikki Chain Saley McCain, known as Nikki. Her family calls her Nikki Chain. To Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, I understand that her Chevy Avalanche was found in this hilly terrain. What I don't get is how we go from her being in her mom-in-law's white Tahoe. How did she go from that to her Chevy being in a completely different area?

Control room, if I could see that map again, it's completely way away from any radius where Nikki would have been traveling. Look where her avalanche was located as it relates to her home. And the reason we've got the Wind River Resort Casino up there is because that's where the mother-in-law lives. So that's not in route, Dave Mack. Dave, what can you tell me about where this vehicle is located? And then I'm going to circle back on how critical it is to this investigation that we've lost eight days. Go ahead. All right. The distance is about 45 miles from the Wynn Casino or the Wynn, yeah, from where the casino is to where the vehicle was actually found. You mentioned a rugged kind of hilly terrain. Well, it was actually a bridge area, like an overpass with an off ramp.

And my understanding is that the vehicle was actually pulled around the off ramp and underneath, like it was being stashed a little bit. See, there you've got the one place that could actually be considered maybe a bridge, very rural terrain, 45 minutes or 45 miles rather from the casino. And all we know is that she took her mother-in-law's car to a home owned by the family. We don't know what happened. She was supposed to be picked up by somebody and taken to her home in Anderson, but there's nothing indicating that took place. All we know is that she arrived with her mother-in-law's car and her vehicle ended up 45 miles away in the middle of nowhere. Now, I can understand. Let's just pretend, okay? Let's pretend this is a real flight of fancy. Let's just pretend she ran out of gas or had car trouble,

flat tire. Why would she pull her vehicle, her avalanche, up under that behemoth? There is no reason she wouldn't be under there. Somebody stashed her car under that overpass. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining me, an incredible team of experts, in addition to Dave Mack, Ted Tob investigating, prosecuting, and winning cases when the victim is missing. Also with me, Brian Fitzgibbons, Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security, who leads a team of investigators specializing in finding missing people. OK, first to you, Ted Tobias joining us out of D.C. Ted, that vehicle, the Chevy Avalanche, must be combed carefully and processed correctly.

We can't screw this up. What should be done or should be being done right now with that avalanche? Absolutely, Nancy. You're going to want your crime scene folks to scrub this thing like never before. You're looking for DNA. You're looking for blood, hair, fiber. You're also going to check and see, does this have a GPS? A lot of cars today have tracking devices that are part of their system, used to be OnStar and some of these other things. you're going to check for that. You're also going to be looking for, okay, where is the cell phone of Nikki? We already know she had a cell phone. We know she was texting. You're going to start looking at cell tower information and figure out where could she be. Now, if it's a rural area, which I think a number of your folks on the program have said, that could be more difficult because rural areas tend to have fewer cell towers and it becomes more difficult to track where those phones are.

But those are the types of forensic evidence, which is key in a missing persons case, particularly if, God forbid, it turns into a no body homicide. The forensic evidence is always key to these cases. Nancy, when you state it's got to be you said scrubbed. It needs to be processed with a fine tooth comb. And this is where I have found evidence in the past on the handle, on the driver's door handle or somebody opens the door around the handle on the ignition. Uh, if there is a gear shift on the shift, um, also I've had a case and specifically it was the case of Teresa Hallback, who was a victim of Steven Avery, who became a media darling and making a murderer. Okay. He killed her. No question. A jury agreed. His perspiration, his DNA was found on the ignition. They didn't know each other. And so there was no reason

for that to be. His DNA was found elsewhere. But that said, it's very important that this avalanche be processed appropriately and very carefully. I've seen cases rise and fall on, let me just say, sloppy, sloppy gathering of evidence. And I've got a quick question to one of the sisters, either one, Chloe K. Am I seeing a handicap sticker on her tag? Yeah. Tyler had just bought her maybe a week or two before she went missing. So it had not been registered to them yet. A handicap sticker for what? Who's handicapped? The previous owner. So this vehicle was not registered yet to Tyler or Nikki. Okay. And that previous owner had a handicap sticker? Yes. Correct. Is that right? Yes. Okay. So how long had they had the Chevy? I want to say two weeks

before she went missing. A week or two. Two weeks before she went missing. Gotcha. Okay. Could be important. It will confuse getting fingerprints because there's going to be a lot of other people's prints in there that are not theirs. But that said, no problem. Brian Fitzgibbons is jumping in, joining us from USPA Nationwide Security. Jump in, Brian. Help me out. Any thought? Yeah, Nancy, that is actually really important information that this was two weeks ago that the vehicle was purchased. According to the Tahoma County Sheriff's Bulletin, which in some jurisdictions they call a police log, when they found the vehicle, they assessed that there was some burn damage on the side of the vehicle.

So, you know, I think investigators need to find out, was this burn damage there? Okay, I'm sorry. You cut out on me. What did you just say about burn damage? Yes. So the Tahoma County Sheriff's Bulletin included a report that there was burn damage to the side of the avalanche. So I think it's important to to note that that jumped off the page to me, given the location where the avalanche was found and obviously the circumstances. When you say burn damage, what do you mean by that? So included in the bulletin, the official report that the Tahoma County sheriffs made to the public on all their calls, the responding officer indicated that there was burn damage on the side of the vehicle. There were some photos circulated online that I believe showed part of that burn damage. So, you know, not enough that would make the vehicle not function, but you can see a little melting to the plastic areas on the

vehicle. An abandoned truck in a different county, missed phone calls and unanswered texts. Where is California mom Nikki Chang Saley McCain? Right now we're between a rock and a hard spot and I'll tell you why. First of all, the sisters joining us today, Nikki's sisters Chloe and Kay, didn't realize anything was wrong. They got a late night text. Chloe did midnight from Nikki. We know it's Nikki because of her writing style and the information that she, that the text contained. It was her. She was dropping off her mother-in-law's vehicle. I want everybody to put their minds to it and see if we can figure out who was supposed to take Nikki from that location back home. That said, that's that night. Then it's Monday, then Tuesday before they realize, hey, she never texted back.

She's not at mom's house. So we've lost at least three, if not four days. That is critical. Brian Fitzgibbons joining us, Director Operations, USPA, Nationwide Security. Every hour, every hour, just let's say she this is not true, killed her, every hour hurts the investigation. It hurts in the discovery of the body. It hurts as to whether the body is then subject to animal activity as it is euphemistically called. Every hour makes this more difficult in finding Nikki. Agree? Disagree? Totally agree. And the vehicle being found 40 miles to the south, separating that from Nikki's residence and family homes,

definitely makes this challenging as well. It spreads out the search area quite a bit. The other thing that you're dealing with here, Nancy, is the rancheria. So a rancheria, for those who aren't familiar with it, is effectively a small Native American reservation. So you have tribal lands in the middle of this missing person search, which at a minimum complicates access for volunteer search parties and the like. So you lump that onto a very vast search area,

remote terrain, and then issues with access. This is a very challenging search for Nikki. You are so right. We are calling on you, the public, to help find Nikki. Take a listen to this. Another fly in the ointment. The search for Nikki Saley McCain continues, extending now onto tribal land. The Wind River Casino granted permission for family, friends, and concerned citizens

to come together on two days to search the grounds and by plane. Chloe Saley, Nikki's sister, tells local news reporters that the area is close to where McCain was last seen or heard from. Other parts of tribal grounds remain private due to tribal sovereignty. Access has to be requested and granted before an area can be searched. Oh, dear Lord in heaven, you know how many times I've run up against this when I would be told or get credible information there had been a murder, that there was an ongoing child molestation, ongoing domestic violence that would result in a homicide on tribal territory. I can't just run in there with a search warrant, just bust up in the county issue Crown Victoria. That is not going to happen.

It doesn't work that way. Dave Mack, what can you tell me? I mean, it took how long before the rancheria could be searched? It did take a number of days and the rancheria actually agreed to allow them to search in an area near the casino, near the area where she was last seen. They did not allow for a further investigation. They didn't go further onto the property, but the area right around the casino. Dave Mack, please. I got to dissect what you're saying. Hold on. All right. So they, who is they, say searchers can come on, but only around this limited area?

Like what? Yes. You think whoever took Nikki is going to put her with a Christmas bow on a silver platter right there at the casino doorstep. They would not allow searchers to go beyond a certain area. Is that what you said? Exactly what I'm saying. Okay, pick it up right there, please.

So they allowed for the search to take place, but only in a very limited area. And it was right there by the casino where they believe she might have last been. And that was it. Now, the rancheria actually is contributing to the reward money. They've been participating in this again, but it's so limited. They haven't just said, come on in and look. They've said, you can look right here. But other areas, sovereign can't have it. Brian Fitzgibbons, that is not helping me. Yes. So the tribe is limiting the search areas that these search parties can go on. You know, they have put up a billboard. They have offered a ten thousand dollar reward. These these public shows of support have been made. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Brian, I appreciate the money, but I would rather have a full on search with scent dogs,

bloodhounds, cadaver dogs, shoulder to shoulder cadets, volunteers, uh, Chloe K, everybody searching as far as they can. Not,

Hey, don't get past the shadow of this casino. That is not helping me, Fitzgibbons. What is their problem? I don't care if they hear me. Yeah. What's the problem? Why wouldn't they let the searchers search beyond that?

I couldn't agree more, Nancy. I mean, these public shows of support mean nothing when you don't allow the search parties to completely search the tribal lands where Nikki was last known to be. So, you know, they have to jump in here and actually open up access to these search parties. Family members have released their own missing persons flyer with hopes of finding Nikki Chang-Saley McCain. McCain is described by officials as 4'11 and weighing 110 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Relatives say she has a tattoo of roses inside a geometric shape on her forearm. Family and friends plead for tips as the search continues for Nikki Chang-Saley McCain,

missing for over a month. In family and friends' efforts to find Nikki, the biggest missing person flyer you will ever see has gone up as a billboard. Listen. It's the biggest missing person flyer you'll see. A billboard has gone up along North Interstate 5 in Anderson near Balls Ferry Road exit that says, help find Nikki Chang, Saley McCain. Besides photos of Saley McCain, the phone numbers for NorCal Alliance for the Missing and Shasta County Sheriff's Office are provided. It's not known who paid for the billboard. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining me in the All-Star panel, including Nikki's two sisters, Chloe and Kay.

Chloe, to you, did the authorities not take her disappearance seriously? Why was there such a slow start in the search for Nikki? You know, in the beginning, I did make a missing persons report through RPD, which is Fredding Police Department. And then after giving that officer information, it turns out that because of where they were living and where kind of where she was last seen. It was in a different county, and so then it got switched over from the RPD department to the Shasta County Sheriff's Department. So that was a slowdown in addition to the weekend delay, in addition to the eight days it took

to find her Chevy Avalanche parked under an overpass. But now, can we talk about the elephant in the room? Listen. Nikki Salia McCain was last seen by her family on May 17th with the text message received just after midnight on the 18th. This is 11 days after her husband appears in court for a hearing and pleads not guilty to beating his wife of 13 years. The next court date for the felony domestic violence case is set for June 28th. Since Nikki is the prosecution's only witness, if she doesn't show up for court, the case could be dismissed. Judge Daniel Flynn decides to continue the hearing until July 5th

to give the prosecution more time to find Nikki or other evidence in the case. Chloe, how long had the abuse and the beatings by the husband gone on? So in the beginning, my sister didn't want to tell me, but it had been going on for about maybe three and a half, four years. Kay, did you know about your sister's beatings that she was enduring in her home? We did know that their altercations and their fights became physical in the last, like Chloe said, three to four years. We didn't know to which degree it had escalated. So the incident in December was definitely an eye-opener for us to which degree she was living with the domestic violence. I'm hearing in my ear to make sure and remind everyone that

these are just allegations. Okay, that said, Chloe, why do you believe your sister kept the beatings a secret? I mean, he has tied up her wrists and ankles, poured cold water over her after he beat her, put tape over her mouth so she couldn't speak. She endured. She lived. She survived through that incident. Chloe, why do you believe she wouldn't tell you what was happening? I think she was afraid.

She's my older sister, so she wanted to be, I'm your older sister and I'm okay. And she didn't want to scare me, I think. But she was so terrified, but I think she put up at the front like she was brave and that she was okay. Take a listen to this. After three hours of Tyler McCain allegedly beating his wife, the mother of his four children, hitting her about the face and head, blackening her eyes, pulling out her hair and taping her mouth shut, he leaves her alone and goes into the kitchen. Getting herself loose from the bindings, Nikki Salia McCain grabs a robe with her car keys, runs outside and gets in her car. Tyler McCain chases Nikki out of the house and jumps onto the hood of the car, telling her to stop. Ignoring his demands, Nikki flees to the safety of her sister's home in Redding.

All of this said, do you believe her disappearing may be a way to escape her husband? Do you think she went on her own? No, absolutely not. No. I don't either. And I'll tell you why. Four reasons. Seven years old, nine years old, 11 years old and 13 years old.

Those are the four reasons I don't think she left on her own. Why does it matter? All that matters right now is finding Nikki. And I can tell you this much. The Redding and Rancheria is part of the problem. They have slowed down the search for Nikki. The Redding Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe with a reservation in Shasta County, California. The Redding Rancheria is actually a combination of multiple indigenous tribes that formed in the 70s, gaining official recognition in 1979. The Redding Rancheria established the Wind River Resort and

Casino along California State Route 273 near I-5 between Redding and Anderson. It has produced significant revenue for the tribe, enabling capital payments to each member, and Tyler McCain is a direct descendant of one of the Redding Rancheria's original tribal elders, Ard Hayward. Nikki Salia McCain was last seen by her family on May 17th with a text message received just after midnight on the 18th. This is 11 days after her husband appears in court for a hearing and pleads not guilty to beating his wife of 13 years. The next court date for the felony domestic violence case is set for June 28th. Since Nikki is the prosecution's only witness, if she doesn't show up for court,

the case could be dismissed. Judge Daniel Flynn decides to continue the hearing until July 5th to give the prosecution more time to find Nikki or other evidence in the case. Question to you, Kay. This Nikki sister, has the husband been out searching for his wife? He has not attended any of the searches that we've done.

Have you spoken to him, Kay, about where is Nikki? We have. And he said what? He doesn't really, he says he doesn't know. That day when you guys drove out to the house and asked him, where's Nikki? What were the choices he gave you as to where she may be, Chloe? He said he didn't know and that she took an Uber and left somewhere. Okay. So I understand that he gave different theories as to where she went.

What else did he say besides she took an Uber? That's what he had told me, but he had told my other family members that she took off with a lesbian lover. And then he had also said that she took off with a guy to Las Vegas. So he says, A, she took an Uber somewhere. I don't know. B, she took off with a lesbian lover. Did you know anything about a lesbian lover? No. Okay. And three, that she took off with a male to what? Go to the casino. Is that what you said? Those are the three choices? To Las Vegas.

Yes. To Vegas. Okay. There's no way in H-E-L-L, Nikki would leave these four children just alone to fend for themselves. That's not going to happen. She's never taken me time. You know, a lot of moms, they go off to a spa, they go to girls weekends.

Not her. No, that did not happen. If can anybody give me a straight answer on who was supposed to pick her up from her mother-in-laws that night? Nikki said it would be one of the roommates that lived with them at the house. Okay. All right. At least I know that much. And I'm sure that roommate has already been questioned. Now, let me understand something. Ted Dubai is joining us, a former U.S. Now, let me understand something. Ted Debye is joining us, a former U.S. attorney, former assistant U.S. attorney in D.C. and author of No Body Homicide Cases. Did you hear this? I think this is really important, Ted, that Nikki is the state's only witness in that aggravated assault case.

Did you hear that? Yes. And now it's time for the case. And the judge, who is Judge Daniel Flynn, at least decided to continue further notice delay the hearing until July 5. Yes. That's about to happen. To give the prosecution time to find Nikki or evidence in the case. Now, I'm not coming at this from a legal angle because you and I both know we could get in excited utterances. We could get what she said to cops.

We could get a lot of her hearsay comments in as evidence. But that's not going to really fly if there's a jury. So the significance of the timing, Ted, jump in. So, Nancy, it is very important because what you often see in nobody homicide cases, which, of course, we all hope this is not, but you often see what's called a triggering event. And a court case is a classic triggering event. And you recall here there was a court hearing on May 7th where the case was going to be going forward. Now we have less than two weeks later, of course, Nikki is missing. That to me is very important. Over 50% of no body murder cases involve domestic

relationships. It can be husband, wife, it can be boyfriend, girlfriend. It is very common. All of the things we're seeing here are very common in no body murder cases, unfortunately. And as you correctly pointed out, if Nikki cannot testify at that trial for whatever reason, the charges are going to be dropped from the little that we know about the case. It seems as if, and I think the DA has already mentioned this, the case cannot go forward. And that case, Nancy, is even in the realm of domestic violence strikes me as a very serious, significant case. And what especially strikes me and is concerning is what you've already pointed out. The taping of the hands, the taping of the

legs, the tape over the mouth. All of that is not something you typically see in a domestic violence case. Those are very concerning actions, allegedly, by Tyler McCain against his wife, Nikki. I know nobody wants to hear this, Ted Tobias, but that attack on Nikki was like a dry run. I agree. Yes. For a murder. When do you tie someone's hands, their feet, their mouth, you torture them, pour cold water on them, turn them over on their stomach to make it even more difficult to talk. And keeping in mind that there's a strong likelihood all the children were at home when this happened. To Chloe and Kate, number one, our prayers are going up tonight, as you must know.

Number two, it disturbs me that the family and friends have had to do so much. I haven't heard about this case. I haven't read about it. You know how I found out about it? One of you wrote me on Twitter. One of you tweeted me. That's how I found out Nikki was missing. Where is the support for Nikki? Please hear us. I know you don't know Nikki. I know you've never met her. But there are four children as young as seven years old hanging in the balance. There is a $10,000 reward.

Tip line 530-245-6135. If she's still alive, she can be found, but we need help. The family needs help. Her children need help. 530-245-6135. I want to thank all of our guests for being with us, for you joining us, but especially to the sisters, Chloe and Kay, leading the search for their sister, Nikki. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.