March 24, 2025 • 44 mins
Nikki McCain has been missing since May 18, 2024. Her family has not stopped looking for her since, but the events leading up to her disappearance might have played a part in what has happened.......
Nikki has brown eyes and brownish-red hair. She is 5'0" and 100 lbs. She has a floral tattoo on her left arm.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Nikki McCain or you saw anything on the night of May 17, 2024 that may play a part in her disappearance, please reach out to the Shasta County Sheriff's Department at (530) 245-6135
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:38):
Hello everyone, and welcome backto the Victim's Voice.
I am your host Lorelai. Today's case is another one that
is current and in the news at the moment.
In fact, a press conference was just held at March 10th of 2025
and new updates were just announced last week.
Nikki McCain has been missing since May of 2024 and there
(01:01):
hadn't been much media coverage of the case at all and the
little that there was had died down over the months since.
Nikki has been missing, so her sister stated that the press
conference was a call of action to find their sister.
They wanted everyone to know thecase was still ongoing and
active and that their sister wasstill missing and that they
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wanted to bring her home, especially for her four
beautiful children. Nikki's husband, Tyler McCain
also spoke at the press conference and it was awkward as
fuck. Apparently he has been hiding in
the background for the last 10 months that Nikki's been
missing. He has done no interviews, has
(01:42):
not participated in any searchesat all.
I will post the press conferencecoverage on the Victim's Voice
Facebook page so you can hear all of it for yourself.
But when I say red flags are flying, they are definitely
flying high. And the press conference is even
more telling if you listen to it.
After listening to this episode.When the chief of police handed
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Tyler the microphone, he looked nervous as hell.
He said after every word, barelyspoke loud enough for anyone to
hear, then stood there and said,I don't know what to say.
How about describe your wife, talk about the last time she was
seen and where and beg and pleadfor her safe return.
(02:26):
He had no sense of urgency and looked like he wanted to run off
of that stage, which he did. After he got done with whatever
the hell he was trying to say, he took off from the stage and
wasn't seen again. Nikki's two sisters spoke next
and they said everything that Tyler should have.
(02:46):
So let's go over who Nikki and Tyler were, how their
relationship began, and where Nikki's last known whereabouts
were. Nikki Chang Sally was born on
November 9th of 1984. She was born in Thailand while
her parents were in a refugee camp after the Vietnam War and
it and she's from the main descent, an indigenous group
(03:09):
originating from Southeast Asia.She was the second oldest out of
seven children. Her parents had four children
while in the refugee camp, whichincluded Kay, Nikki, and May and
Chloe. After coming to the US, the
family settled in the Seattle area to start a new life, where
her parents had three more children.
They eventually settled in Redding, CA, which is in Shasta
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County, where there is a notablemean community and the family
connected with other relatives. Most of their cousins were boys,
so the silly sisters were very close.
Throughout childhood and into adulthood, they always stood by
each other's sides through thickand thin.
Her family describes Nikki as fun, goofy, and bubbly.
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She would be your biggest cheerleader and always had a
positive attitude, they said. She's the kind of person that
sought to find the good in everyone, even the worst kind of
person. She was always willing to give
people another chance if they screwed up or did something
wrong. This kind of spirit could be
part of what led to Nikki's disappearance.
(04:14):
When Nikki was in her 20s, she worked at the Wind River Casino
as a cocktail waitress, which iswhere she met Tyler McCain, who
worked in the slots department. Tyler wasn't Mr. Perfect by no
means. He had previous run insurance
with the law, including vandalism and burglary charges.
Tyler was flirtatious and charming, but also seemed to
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have a shy side, which is what attracted Nikki to him.
Tyler's family is very prominentin the Redding Ranch Tierra
Tribe, a federally recognized Native American reservation near
Redding. His mother, Jeanette Hayward, is
a member and lives on Redding Ranch Tierra Road near the Wind
River Casino. It was Tyler's grandfather who
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was a Tribe elder that helped start the casino in 1993 and he
was the manager until he retiredin 2002.
Tyler and Nikki dated then eventually got married in 2010
and they had four children together.
They lived in a home on 3.5 acres that was near the Ranchera
(05:20):
Reservation in an area called Happy Valley.
Before the pandemic in early 2020, Nikki was a stay at home
mom and Tyler was a spa manager.But because of the pandemic, he
lost his job and like everyone else, they were both at home
together 24/7. This is when the abuse allegedly
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started, or at least got notablyworse.
During the time that they were in their home together, Tyler
spent a lot of time in the garage, which is where his
sister was living. She had a history of substance
abuse, and Nikki had a feeling that Tyler had also begun
abusing substances. Nikki would beg Tyler to come
into the house to spend time with her and the kids, but that
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would just piss him off. The police were called by the
neighbors many times because of Tyler's violence toward his
wife. One time, Nikki came running out
of the house screaming for help,her feet bleeding from stepping
on broken glass. A neighbor who had helped her
said that Nikki had noticeable abrasions on her face, her lips
were swollen and she had handprint marks around her neck.
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Another time, she ran out of thehouse yelling for help as Tyler
chased behind her with a wrench,yelling that he was going to
behead her and then even poured gas on her vehicle.
This is just a couple of examples of the abuse that the
neighbors had witnessed at the McCain home.
What I don't understand is why Tyler was never arrested even if
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Nikki didn't want to press charges.
I mean, there were multiple calls and witnesses who saw the
abuse and Nikki had marks on her.
It had gotten so bad that in January of 2022, the tribal
social services removed the fourchildren from the McCain home.
They were sent to live with Tyler's family, but Nikki's
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sisters fought and gained sharedcustody of the children, which
was still the case at the time that Nikki went missing.
But even after the children wereremoved, the abuse got worse and
worse. Once Nikki started coming around
her parents and siblings again after the pandemic slowed down,
they could see a change in her personality and they also
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noticed her having bruises more and more often.
They were extremely concerned about her well-being.
This is when Nikki started confiding in her sisters about
the abuse she was enduring. They were shocked and had no
idea at the time that Tyler was being abusive to Nikki, nor did
they know about the police visits that had happened at the
McCain home because of Tyler's violence.
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But like everyone knew Nikki to be, she had a huge heart and
always wanted to give people thebenefit of the doubt, including
Tyler. She loved him and she thought
she could turn him back into theman that she fell in love with.
He is definitely a master manipulator.
These people try to make their victims feel alone and make
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everyone else believe what the victim is saying is not true or
that it is blown out of proportion.
Nikki would send Chloe messages to relate to Nikki such as
quote, tell Nikki I love her andI hope to see her soon.
Can you ask Nikki if she wants to go out of town with me for a
few nights? Thanks Chloe.
If she doesn't want to go, the house will be free for her to
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get her things that she's needing In the meantime, I'm
going to come by. Thanks.
End Quote. This guy trying to play it off
to the sister as if he is Mr. Reasonable and that Nikki had no
reason for leaving him. He's disgusting.
As we know, it usually takes a victim an average of seven times
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of trying to get away from theirabuser before they actually get
away successfully, and that's ifthey don't get killed in the
process. The most dangerous time is when
the victim tells their abuser that they're done and they take
the necessary steps to leave. Nikki had left Tyler several
times in the past and she would always go to her sister's or her
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parents home to stay. Of course Tyler would find her
and sweet talker saying that things would change if she just
gave him another chance. He said all the things which are
a bunch of bullshit, but Nikki was a victim of Tyler and he had
gaslit and coercive control her for so long.
She believed the things he said to her.
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Her family though, not so much. But they just wanted to see
Nikki happy and they would always be there for her when she
needed. And when she finally decided
that she was done. So Nikki always went back home
hoping things will get better and it wasn't just Tyler who
seemed to have a problem keepinghis hands to himself.
(10:04):
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree because Nikki had told
Chloe that Jeanette, Tyler's mother had put her hands on
Nikki. Also, Nikki chose not to press
charges against her mother-in-law, though she really
loved her and made excuses saying that she didn't mean it
and it was in the heat of the moment and she didn't want to be
(10:24):
the reason that someone got in trouble or went to jail, even if
they may have deserved it. However, during one of the
incidents between Jeanette and Nikki, Jeanette had no problem
calling the police and filing a report against Nikki.
This made it look bad for Nikki since she had chosen not to file
a report against Jeanette or Tyler.
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It made it look like she was theaggressor.
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This made it look bad for Nikki since she had chosen not to file
a report against Jeanette or Tyler.
It made it look like she was theaggressor.
Then on November 29th of 2023, things went from bad to worse
and Nikki was almost killed by Tyler's horrific behavior.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the incident that
(12:07):
happened at the McCain residencehappened between 8:30 PM and
11:30 PM that night. The police actually received a
call on December 1st of 2023 andwent to speak to Nikki, but at
that time she was in the hospital being treated.
Later that evening, the officer went to see her at her sister
Chloe's home, where she was going to be staying
(12:28):
indefinitely. The officer stated in his report
that Nikki had noticeable facialtrauma to her eyes and forehead,
and both of her eyes were swollen and blackened severely,
which appeared to be from a physical assault.
According to Chloe, her sister was nearly unrecognizable.
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The officer taken the report asked Nikki who had done this to
her and she told him it was Tyler.
She told them that they had beentogether and married for 16
years and that they had four children together, but none of
them currently resided with them.
We already talked about the children being removed because
of domestic violence. Here is what Nikki said happened
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that night. On Wednesday, November 29th,
2023, Nikki returned to her and Tyler's home on a Linda Rd. at
around 8:15 PM. At that time, Tyler wasn't home.
Nikki went into her bedroom and started combing her hair.
At around 8:30 PM, Tyler came home and seemed to be in a
strange mood. For some reason, he went
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straight to the back door and locked it.
Nikki said that Tyler seemed extremely agitated and wasn't
making much sense. He then came into the bedroom,
didn't say a word and immediately jumped on Nikki,
held her down on the floor and started dragging her around the
room. He started yelling at Nikki,
asking her what's going on, whatare you doing?
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Nikki said that Tyler had a crazed, glazed look in his eyes,
as if he was having some sort ofepisode.
She tried to calm him down, but it didn't work.
He continued to torment her bothverbally and physically.
He held her down and started to repeatedly hit her in the face
with his open hand in a harsh, forceful manner at least 10 to
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15 times. In addition to hitting her in
the face, eyes, and cheeks, he also pulled her hair.
He then picked up a water jug and began pouring the freezing
water onto Nikki. This torture by Nikki's husband,
the man who was supposed to loveand protect her, went on for
approximately 3 hours. 3 hours not knowing if you're going to
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live or die. Three hours of not knowing if
you will see your children or your family that you love again.
Three hours of being scared shitless and not knowing what
he's going to do next. During this three hour period,
Tyler bound Nikki's ankles and wrists together with white tape.
He also placed a piece of tape over her mouth so that she
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couldn't speak properly. He didn't have the tape covering
her mouth completely, however, so she was able to breathe.
After this, he rolled her onto her stomach, straddled her from
behind, grabbed her hair, and forcefully pulled her head back.
He then said he was going to kill her, and Nikki believed it.
This time, the officer asked Nikki what state of mind she was
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in while this was happening, andshe said that she thought she
was going to die and that Tyler may have actually intended to
kill her. Over the next few hours, while
Nikki laid on the floor, Tyler periodically hit her.
At one point, Tyler even attempted to wrap something
around Nikki's neck, but wasn't successful in doing so.
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When the officer asked her what kind of object Tyler had put
around her neck, she said she was unsure because she didn't
see it, only felt it. The officer made a note that
there were notice, no noticeablemarks suggesting that she had
been strangled or choked. I mean she had just said he
wasn't successful in getting it around her neck, but I digress.
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The officer did put in his report that there was
significant damage to Nikki's eyes and that it was obvious
that she had been struck over and over many times by another
person. Nikki's tiny.
She's only 5 feet tall and 95 lbs.
She weighs less than my 10 year old.
It wouldn't take much to hurt her badly or even kill her.
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Tyler is much larger and stronger than Nikki and there
would be no way for her to fighthim off.
She was his punching bag and he knew there was nothing she could
do to stop him. Nikki told law enforcement that
Tyler had done this type of thing before, but never to this
extreme. When asked about Tyler's drug
use, Nikki said she wasn't positive but believed that he
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had used methamphetamine before.The officer asked Nikki how at
the end of the three hour ordealit all ended in how she got
away. Nikki told him that at around
11:30 PM, Tyler went into the kitchen and was in there for
several minutes. Nikki knew this was the only
chance she would have to escape,so she grabbed her robe which
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had her keys in the pocket and she ran outside and jumped in
her car. As she was pulling out of the
driveway, Tyler came running outof the house after her and he
jumped on the hood of her car yelling at her to stop, but she
didn't. She drove to her mother's home
where she stayed for a couple ofdays before going to Chloe's.
That's when Chloe took one look at her and told her she had to
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report Tyler and go to the hospital, and Nikki knew she had
to. She had really thought she was
going to die that night. Nikki was advised to go to One
Safe Place in Reading, which wasan organization that helps
domestic violence victims and sexual assault victims to get
restraining orders filed. She was also given a Marcy card,
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which is a pamphlet about domestic violence, and then she
was given a card by the officer that indicated the case number.
Before Nikki left the hospital, she talked to a victims
advocate. This seemed to give Nikki the
courage she needed to press charges against Tyler, which she
did that very same day. After talking to Nikki and
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getting her account of the events of that evening, the
deputies decided to go to the McCain house and have a little
talk with Tyler. When they arrived, they found
Tyler who came out of the house and met them in the driveway.
They told him he was being arrested for domestic violence
injuries that Nikki sustained during a domestic violence
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incident. They put him in handcuffs and in
the squad car where they transferred him to the jail.
Once at the jail, Tyler was readhis Miranda rights.
He stated that he understood hisrights and was willing to talk
to the detectives. Tyler was asked if he was aware
of Nikki's injuries that she hadon her face and body, and he
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said that he was aware of them, but he hadn't actually seen
them. Tyler told investigators that he
had last seen Nikki on the evening of the 29th at around
8:00 PM. When he was asked if there was
any kind of disturbance between them, he said no, there was not.
Tyler told the detective that hebelieved that Nikki had gotten
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the injuries during a fight withanother female.
The detective then asked him if he had actually seen the fight
take place and he said no. Tyler's statements were
inconsistent and it sounded morelike he was making excuses and
seeing what would stick because after he talked about her
fighting with another female, hetold the detective he believed
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his wife was having an affair with another female, Even though
he also said that their marriagewas wonderful, they got along
great and were a happy couple, never having any physical
altercations between them. The detective asked Tyler one
more time if he had seen this alleged fight with another
female or Nikki's injuries, and he still was adamant that he
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hadn't. So that is when the detective
informed Tyler that Nikki had reported him for being the
person who caused the injuries and that they had happened
during a violent encounter at their home on the night of the
29th. Cause Nikki's injuries were
consistent with the domestic violence incident and the
totality of the situation. The detective informed Tyler
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that he was being charged with four felonies, corporal injury
to a spouse along with false imprisonment by violence because
Nikki had stated that Tyler had bound her legs and arms with
tape which prevented her from leaving the house, criminal
threats because he had threatened to kill Nikki
numerous times, and assault likely to cause great bodily
injury. Tyler and also Nikki had given
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officers permission to enter theresidence to retrieve Nikki's
cell phone. While in the home and doing a
safety sweep, they discovered 5 firearms in the bedroom area in
Plainview. Record checks confirmed that one
of the firearms, an AK47 type ofrifle, was reported to be stolen
out of Oregon. All the firearms were taken into
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safety safekeeping, and the AK47was entered into evidence, a
stolen property. This is all taken from the
probable cause affidavit for Tyler's arrest.
It is important to Nikki's missing person case as it shows
Tyler's abusive behavior, but itcould also be the reason that
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Nikki went missing. As you will see, the charges
against Tyler were serious and he was facing a lengthy sentence
if convicted. Nikki had finally gotten away
from Tyler. She was staying with Chloe and
there was going to be a trial for what he had done to her.
She was finally going to get herlife back and work on getting
back custody of her kids and Tyler was going to pay for what
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he had done. But as we know with victims who
are under coercive control of their abuser, it isn't always
that simple. Nikki had been a victim of
Tyler's manipulation for over a decade and he wasn't going to
let her go that easy. Tyler had a suspended license
and one day he called Nikki asking her for a ride to a court
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hearing for the charges that have been filed against him for
what he had done to Nikki and she said yes.
How did he convince her to help him?
We don't know what he said to her, but I'm sure he used his
abusive and controlling techniques that he had used on
her for over the years, probablytelling her it was her fault
that he was in this position andif she hadn't called the cops
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that night, November, he wouldn't need a ride to court.
For whatever reason, Nikki agreed to give Tyler the ride,
but instead of going to the courthouse, Tyler forced her to
take him to his lawyer's office.And once there, Tyler and his
lawyers started pressuring Nikkito drop the charges against
Tyler. This case was set to go to trial
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on July 2nd of 2024 and Tyler knew he was facing prison time,
so his only option was to get Nikki to drop the charges.
But Nikki said no, she wasn't going to drop the charges.
So Tyler drove off with her car,which according to what Nikki
told her sisters, wasn't the first time that this had
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happened. I guess he was no longer worried
about driving on that suspended license.
Tyler wasn't done trying to get out of these charges though.
He had even told people he was going to pay Nikki off to get
her to drop them. So once again, he was playing
the victim and manipulating Nikki, eventually getting her to
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move back into the house with him by telling her if they were
a family again, they would be able to get their kids back,
which is what Nikki wanted more than anything.
He had been abusing Nikki for a long time and he knew the right
things to say to get what he wanted and he would use the kids
if he had to. So in April of 2024, after
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staying at Chloe's for five months, Nikki moved back in with
Tyler, however, she still refused to drop the charges.
On May 7th of 2024, there was a preliminary hearing held in the
case against Tyler, to which he pleaded not guilty.
On that same day, Nikki had texted her sister and said she
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was done with him and wanted a divorce, which as we know is the
most dangerous time for a domestic violence victim.
Chloe said Nikki was excited to restart her life.
She was looking for furniture for a new place and was
anticipating getting her kids back.
Then May 18th of 2024, Nikki disappeared.
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There has been no bank account activity, no social media
activity, no text messages to anyone, and no one has seen her
since that day. Her family had last seen her in
person on May 12th of 2024, but got text messages from her in
the early morning hours of May 18th.
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Two weeks before Nikki vanished,Tyler had bought her a 2002
Chevy Avalanche during one of the times he was love bombing
her. This truck was later found
abandoned near the reservation on a street that led to the home
of Tyler's cousin. The police are not releasing a
lot of the details of the timeline, but Nikki's sisters
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have done some investigating on their own and here's what they
have come up with. On May 17th of 2024, Nikki had
spent time with her mother-in-law, Jeanette Heyward.
Jeanette's other son, Brian, hadbeen admitted to the hospital
into the ICU for an unknown reason.
At some point, Nikki and Jeanette went to the hospital in
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Jeanette's car. Nikki had texted Chloe saying
that they were there and they kept in communication through
text messages throughout the evening.
Chloe isn't sure what time Nikkihad actually left the hospital
though at around midnight, so now it would be May 18th.
Nikki, or at least it came from Nikki's phone, sent Chloe
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another text. She said she had Jeanette's car
and was getting ready to drive it back to Jeanette's house.
This was the last time Nikki's family heard from her.
Her sisters aren't sure why she was returning the car to
Jeanette that late at night. They don't know if she was at
the hospital the whole time or had taken Jeanette's car and
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left Jeanette at the hospital earlier in the evening.
At this point they're just speculating.
If Nikki had her cell phone on her though, law enforcement
could have easily tracked her movements, which I'm sure they
have. But like I said, they're keeping
a lot of information close to the vest as not to harm the
integrity of the investigation. The next morning, Chloe text
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Nikki around 7:00 AM asking her how Brian was.
She got no response. She texted again around an hour
later and then again 30 minutes later, still with no response.
Later, Chloe was trying to find the soccer uniform of her niece
Nikki and Tyler's daughter and thought maybe it was at
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Jeanette's because remember theywere sharing custody of the kids
at the time. Chloe's fiance and the niece
went to Jeanette's home to look for the uniform.
When they got there, they mentioned Nikki being at the
hospital the night before with Jeanette.
Jeanette replied that Nikki hadn't been at the hospital at
all and when they asked where Tyler was, Jeanette said he had
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stayed overnight at the hospitalwith his brother.
However, this story changes. In fact, Tyler changes his story
at least five times. On May 19th, Tyler texted Chloe
to ask if Nikki was with her, and on May 21st, the sisters
realized that they hadn't heard from Nikki for a few days.
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She hadn't been responding to anyone's messages at all.
Then later that same day, Tyler texted Chloe and asked if she
had heard from Nikki and said that he thought she was missing.
After this, Tyler tells very different versions of events to
Nikki's family over the next fewdays.
The first story was that he didn't stay all night at the
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hospital on the night of the 17th.
He says that he got a ride home with his sister at around 1:30
in the morning and that Nikki was not at home when he got
there. He said a friend named Justin
that they call Too Tall lives ina trailer on him and Nikki's
property. Tyler said that Too Tall went
with him to pick Nikki up from his mom's house.
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He said when he got there they got into a fight and she walked
off. He says that was the last time
he seen her. The second story Tyler has told
is that they were actually at their house when they got into
the fight and Nikki called an Uber and once again, never.
He never saw her again. Story #3 is that he doesn't
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remember where the fight happened.
Anytime Nikki and Tyler would get into a fight, Nikki would go
to her mom's or her sister's house and within a day or two,
Tyler would be texting Chloe, telling her to tell Nikki a
bunch of bullshit about how muchhe would change if she came home
and how much he loved her. But this time it was different.
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Nikki didn't go to her mom's or her sisters and Tyler didn't
send any of those kinds of messages.
So what was different this time?Then Tyler's stories got even
more unbelievable. His fourth story is that Nikki
ran off with a woman she was having an affair with.
Remember he said she was also having an affair when he was
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telling the cop that he thought Nikki got into a fight with
another woman. So that's the second time he's
mentioned her having an affair with a woman.
Tyler's fifth story is that Nikki ran off to Vegas with
another man. Tyler, in my opinion, is a liar
and an abusive piece of shit whoknows exactly what happened to
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Nikki and he should have just kept his mouth shut because he
looked like a complete guilty dumbass at the press conference.
Tyler's mommy, Jeanette also hasdifferent versions of the events
of that night. Jeanette said she can't remember
anything that happened that night and just knows that she
got her truck back that same night.
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Another story was that Nikki left her house in an Uber, but
Tyler said that Nikki walked offfrom Jeanette's house.
It was the story that they were at their own house where he says
Nikki got an Uber. To me it sounds like Jeanette is
trying to cover for her baby boyand they should have talked and
got their story straight. Also, neither Jeanette, Tyler,
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nor too Tall remember what Nikkiwas wearing that night.
It's the last time you ever see your wife, your daughter-in-law,
and your friend, but none of these idiots who were with her
for a substantial time that night remember what the hell she
was wearing, or what even happened for that matter.
On May 22nd, 2024, Nikki's family filed a missing persons
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report with the Redding Police Station and the case was
transferred to the Shasta CountySheriff's Office Division of
Major Crimes. Chloe and the Sheriff went to
Nikki and Tyler's home to do a welfare check on Nikki, but no
one answered the door. Chloe was persistent though, and
requested another welfare check the very next day and once again
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no one answered. On May 24th, now the third day
in a row, Chloe and the Sheriff went once again to the McCain
home and this time Tyler answered the door.
He told them he had no idea where Nikki was, but that he did
know that her truck, the 2002 Chevy Avalanche, was broken down
on a bridge off Bowman Rd. and Tehama County.
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Chloe offered to go with Tyler to pick up Nikki's truck, but he
told her that he and his buddy were going to go get it.
Chloe called her sister Kay, andthey went to look for Nikki's
truck on their own. There were several bridges along
Bowman Rd. but the truck was nowhere to be seen.
Chloe went back to Tyler and Nikki's home on the 25th to
check in and to see if there hadbeen any new updates or to see
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how shady Tyler was being. He wasn't there, however.
Justin was though, so Chloe talked to him.
She asked him if he had seen Nikki or her truck and he said
that on the night of the 17th, Tyler had asked him to pick
Nikki up from Jeanette's after she had dropped off Jeanette's
car. He said when he got to
(33:08):
Jeanette's he had something to eat and they hung out for a
little while before leaving. He drove Nikki home and he
doesn't know what happened afterthat.
But remember Jeanette said Nikkididn't even go to the hospital
that night. So was she just at Jeanette's
house or is Jeanette lying? Also, Tyler had said that he and
(33:30):
Justin went to pick up Nikki, but Justin said he went alone.
If nothing nefarious has happened to Nikki, then why all
the changing stories and why is someone obviously lying?
Also, Justin said that even though he hasn't seen Nikki
after that night, he had seen Tyler driving her truck around
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the truck that supposedly was broken down on a bridge that no
one could find. But on the afternoon of the
25th, the Sheriff's Department put out a post about Nikki and
her truck and they found it later that day, but they didn't
release the information to the public until May 30th.
They had found the vehicle in western Tiama County.
(34:15):
According to Nikki's family, theroad that it was found on led to
some property owned by Tyler's family, which we said earlier it
was a cousin of Tyler's and it was an area that you wouldn't
just go to without a reason. It's a road far off the beaten
path and it was surrounded by hills and rough terrain and it
wasn't on a bridge off Bowman Rd. as Tyler had said it was on
(34:38):
Hwy. 36. No one knows at this point how
the car got there, if it had been there the whole time or had
been parked there later. However, if Justin is telling
the truth about seeing Tyler driving the truck, then it would
most likely have been parked there later.
And how did Tyler know the truckwas broke down there if Nikki
(34:59):
had been the last one driving itand then she disappeared?
On May 27th there was a large search party that looked for
evidence in the area that the truck was found in, but
authorities came up empty handed.
Several other searches have taken place and Nikki's family
has always participated, that iseveryone but Tyler and Jeanette.
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According to law enforcement, Nikki's last text put her in
proximity of tribal land, which can cause some problems when it
comes to searches of the properties that are on these
tribal lands. The Rancheria Reservation is
cooperating with law enforcementand has provided them with
surveillance footage that was asked for and other information.
(35:47):
They have also permitted local and warranted searches on tribal
land. They have also clarified that
under California's Public Law 280, which grants law
enforcement criminal jurisdiction over tribal lands,
they cannot permit searches on individual tribe members private
parcels without specific legal authorization, such as a
(36:09):
warrant. This causes a problem because of
the stories being told by different people.
The ranch area are unsure where Nikki was last seen.
So although some property on tribal lands may have been
searched, they cannot search pieces that are privately owned
by tribal members without individual warrants for each
piece of land. And to get the search warrant
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for each piece of land, they would have to have probable
cause to search each piece of land, and that is hard to obtain
without having evidence to justify it or have a reason to
believe that there may be significant evidence on a
certain piece of property. Someone knew exactly what they
were doing, which is why Nikki has not been found yet and Tyler
(36:56):
and his mommy are prominent members of the tribe.
So they can have used their leverage to get these privately
and searched if they wanted to. But it seems they are using
their leverage in the opposite way.
Tyler has not participated in any of the searches for Nikki
and has not even spoken out to the media until 10 months after
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Nikki disappeared. If you even want to call that
complete awkwardness speaking out, it was worse than Chris
Watts's porch interview. And what about the charges
against Tyler that were heading to trial in July?
Well, on June 3rd, 2023, anotherpreliminary hearing was set to
be held and the trial was scheduled to start July 2nd.
(37:41):
Tyler was being charged with thefour felony charges of corporal
injury, false imprisonment, criminal threats, and assault
with force likely to cause greatbodily injury.
But on July 5th, the Shasta County District Attorney's
Office requested that the charges be dropped and the
Superior Court granted the dismissal.
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They have all been dismissed without prejudice, meaning if
new evidence comes up or Nikki reappears within a two year
period, the charges could be refiled.
Nikki's absence made prosecutingTyler impossible because as a
key witness, her testimony was essential to Tyler's
constitutional right to confrontwitnesses.
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This would have risked a not guilty verdict without her
statements, so Tyler got his way.
He couldn't talk Nikki out of dropping the charges, so she
disappeared before the trial began.
I don't believe that this is a coincidence, and I don't believe
anyone else does either. As while Tyler was in court, a
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rally was being held outside with over 200 of Nikki's family
and friends. They held signs demanding
justice for Nikki and making people aware of the dangers of
domestic violence. Everyone was infuriated that the
charges had been dropped. When Tyler came out of the
courthouse, Chloe and Kay confronted the piece of shit and
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asked him where their sister was.
His response to this grieving family of a missing person was
to flip them off and shrug his shoulders.
What an asshole. On July 2nd, a fire occurred
near Tyler's cousin's property. It burned 19 acres of land.
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This property was scheduled to be searched next and the search
was cancelled because of the fire.
How convenient. Then the very next day, on July
3rd of 2024, a fire broke out atthe home of Nikki and Tyler.
The home wasn't damaged, but 98 acres were burned along with
cars that were on the property. Tyler admitted to starting the
(39:55):
fire but said it was by accident.
He said he had parked his car ondry grass and because of the
catalytic converter being faulty, the grass caught on
fire. He was given a citation.
So then we get to the press conference held on March 10th of
2025 that Nikki's family had requested to keep her case in
(40:17):
the public eye. I'm going to read you part of an
article published by MSN that describes Tyler's coming out
into the public eye that day. Quote McCain took the time to
think the work the Shasta CountySheriff's Office has done so far
and asked for help from the public.
McCain seemed to struggle with what to say, speaking so quietly
(40:41):
he could only be heard by the people in microphones right next
to him. We miss you, he stated softly.
I don't really know what to say.He then went on to apologize for
his retentions to be in the public eye, saying he's
struggled since her disappearance.
I apologize to everyone, especially my children, my
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wife's family, mine as well. He trailed off.
I'm just here in support, so anything that I can do, I want
to do that. OK, Why now?
Why do you finally want to do something after almost 10 months
and your story has changed five times?
He really seemed that he wanted to be anywhere but there.
(41:25):
He probably thought after 10 months everyone was just going
to forget about Nikki, but that definitely is not the case.
That was his final statement before passing off the
microphone to Nikki's sisters Chloe and Kay.
The pair went over the facts of the case, pleading for help from
the public. They celebrated Nikki's 40th
(41:48):
birthday on November 9th withouther There.
They also talked about a new webpage that they have released
that will provide information about Nikki's case.
The website iswhere-is-nikki.com.
Efforts to aid in her safe return have been ongoing.
(42:09):
On June 3rd, the Redding Ranchera erected a billboard
along I-5 offering a reward for information.
The reward was initially $10,000but has since been raised to
30,000 with contributions from USPA, Nationwide Security, and
their nonprofit Kingsmen. And this was all we knew until
(42:32):
just this past Friday. On March 14th of 2025, Nikki's
missing persons case was unfortunately changed to a
homicide investigation. Law enforcement is still not
saying much, but they did say that based on evidence in
interviews, detectives believe that someone killed Nikki.
(42:54):
They have executed several search warrants throughout the
case and have several persons ofinterest in what they believe to
be the homicide. Hopefully this is one step
closer to finding her and also one step closer to getting
justice for Nikki McCain. If anyone has seen anything on
the night of May 17th, 2024, hasheard anything, or may have any
(43:19):
information that may help solve Nikki's case, please contact the
Shasta County Sheriff's Department Major Crimes Unit at
530-245-6135 or e-mail at mcu@shastcounty.gov.
You can also contact the ReddingRanchera Reward Line, also
(43:41):
called the Norcal Alliance for the Missing, at 530-638-3855.
I will post other information about Nikki's case on the
Victim's Voice Facebook page. Let's help Nikki's family get
the word out to bring her home. For photos from this case, check
(44:01):
out the Victim's Voice Facebook page and come back next week for
a new case. Until then, peace out.
Hello everyone, and welcome backto the Victim's Voice.
I am your host Lorelai. Today's case is another one that
is current and in the news at the moment.
In fact, a press conference was just held at March 10th of 2025
and new updates were just announced last week.
Nikki McCain has been missing since May of 2024 and there
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hadn't been much media coverage of the case at all and the
little that there was had died down over the months since.
Nikki has been missing, so her sister stated that the press
conference was a call of action to find their sister.
They wanted everyone to know thecase was still ongoing and
active and that their sister wasstill missing and that they
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wanted to bring her home, especially for her four
beautiful children. Nikki's husband, Tyler McCain
also spoke at the press conference and it was awkward as
fuck. Apparently he has been hiding in
the background for the last 10 months that Nikki's been
missing. He has done no interviews, has
(01:42):
not participated in any searchesat all.
I will post the press conferencecoverage on the Victim's Voice
Facebook page so you can hear all of it for yourself.
But when I say red flags are flying, they are definitely
flying high. And the press conference is even
more telling if you listen to it.
After listening to this episode.When the chief of police handed
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Tyler the microphone, he looked nervous as hell.
He said after every word, barelyspoke loud enough for anyone to
hear, then stood there and said,I don't know what to say.
How about describe your wife, talk about the last time she was
seen and where and beg and pleadfor her safe return.
(02:26):
He had no sense of urgency and looked like he wanted to run off
of that stage, which he did. After he got done with whatever
the hell he was trying to say, he took off from the stage and
wasn't seen again. Nikki's two sisters spoke next
and they said everything that Tyler should have.
(02:46):
So let's go over who Nikki and Tyler were, how their
relationship began, and where Nikki's last known whereabouts
were. Nikki Chang Sally was born on
November 9th of 1984. She was born in Thailand while
her parents were in a refugee camp after the Vietnam War and
it and she's from the main descent, an indigenous group
(03:09):
originating from Southeast Asia.She was the second oldest out of
seven children. Her parents had four children
while in the refugee camp, whichincluded Kay, Nikki, and May and
Chloe. After coming to the US, the
family settled in the Seattle area to start a new life, where
her parents had three more children.
They eventually settled in Redding, CA, which is in Shasta
(03:32):
County, where there is a notablemean community and the family
connected with other relatives. Most of their cousins were boys,
so the silly sisters were very close.
Throughout childhood and into adulthood, they always stood by
each other's sides through thickand thin.
Her family describes Nikki as fun, goofy, and bubbly.
(03:53):
She would be your biggest cheerleader and always had a
positive attitude, they said. She's the kind of person that
sought to find the good in everyone, even the worst kind of
person. She was always willing to give
people another chance if they screwed up or did something
wrong. This kind of spirit could be
part of what led to Nikki's disappearance.
(04:14):
When Nikki was in her 20s, she worked at the Wind River Casino
as a cocktail waitress, which iswhere she met Tyler McCain, who
worked in the slots department. Tyler wasn't Mr. Perfect by no
means. He had previous run insurance
with the law, including vandalism and burglary charges.
Tyler was flirtatious and charming, but also seemed to
(04:36):
have a shy side, which is what attracted Nikki to him.
Tyler's family is very prominentin the Redding Ranch Tierra
Tribe, a federally recognized Native American reservation near
Redding. His mother, Jeanette Hayward, is
a member and lives on Redding Ranch Tierra Road near the Wind
River Casino. It was Tyler's grandfather who
(04:58):
was a Tribe elder that helped start the casino in 1993 and he
was the manager until he retiredin 2002.
Tyler and Nikki dated then eventually got married in 2010
and they had four children together.
They lived in a home on 3.5 acres that was near the Ranchera
(05:20):
Reservation in an area called Happy Valley.
Before the pandemic in early 2020, Nikki was a stay at home
mom and Tyler was a spa manager.But because of the pandemic, he
lost his job and like everyone else, they were both at home
together 24/7. This is when the abuse allegedly
(05:41):
started, or at least got notablyworse.
During the time that they were in their home together, Tyler
spent a lot of time in the garage, which is where his
sister was living. She had a history of substance
abuse, and Nikki had a feeling that Tyler had also begun
abusing substances. Nikki would beg Tyler to come
into the house to spend time with her and the kids, but that
(06:04):
would just piss him off. The police were called by the
neighbors many times because of Tyler's violence toward his
wife. One time, Nikki came running out
of the house screaming for help,her feet bleeding from stepping
on broken glass. A neighbor who had helped her
said that Nikki had noticeable abrasions on her face, her lips
were swollen and she had handprint marks around her neck.
(06:28):
Another time, she ran out of thehouse yelling for help as Tyler
chased behind her with a wrench,yelling that he was going to
behead her and then even poured gas on her vehicle.
This is just a couple of examples of the abuse that the
neighbors had witnessed at the McCain home.
What I don't understand is why Tyler was never arrested even if
(06:50):
Nikki didn't want to press charges.
I mean, there were multiple calls and witnesses who saw the
abuse and Nikki had marks on her.
It had gotten so bad that in January of 2022, the tribal
social services removed the fourchildren from the McCain home.
They were sent to live with Tyler's family, but Nikki's
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sisters fought and gained sharedcustody of the children, which
was still the case at the time that Nikki went missing.
But even after the children wereremoved, the abuse got worse and
worse. Once Nikki started coming around
her parents and siblings again after the pandemic slowed down,
they could see a change in her personality and they also
(07:33):
noticed her having bruises more and more often.
They were extremely concerned about her well-being.
This is when Nikki started confiding in her sisters about
the abuse she was enduring. They were shocked and had no
idea at the time that Tyler was being abusive to Nikki, nor did
they know about the police visits that had happened at the
McCain home because of Tyler's violence.
(07:56):
But like everyone knew Nikki to be, she had a huge heart and
always wanted to give people thebenefit of the doubt, including
Tyler. She loved him and she thought
she could turn him back into theman that she fell in love with.
He is definitely a master manipulator.
These people try to make their victims feel alone and make
(08:16):
everyone else believe what the victim is saying is not true or
that it is blown out of proportion.
Nikki would send Chloe messages to relate to Nikki such as
quote, tell Nikki I love her andI hope to see her soon.
Can you ask Nikki if she wants to go out of town with me for a
few nights? Thanks Chloe.
If she doesn't want to go, the house will be free for her to
(08:39):
get her things that she's needing In the meantime, I'm
going to come by. Thanks.
End Quote. This guy trying to play it off
to the sister as if he is Mr. Reasonable and that Nikki had no
reason for leaving him. He's disgusting.
As we know, it usually takes a victim an average of seven times
(09:00):
of trying to get away from theirabuser before they actually get
away successfully, and that's ifthey don't get killed in the
process. The most dangerous time is when
the victim tells their abuser that they're done and they take
the necessary steps to leave. Nikki had left Tyler several
times in the past and she would always go to her sister's or her
(09:23):
parents home to stay. Of course Tyler would find her
and sweet talker saying that things would change if she just
gave him another chance. He said all the things which are
a bunch of bullshit, but Nikki was a victim of Tyler and he had
gaslit and coercive control her for so long.
She believed the things he said to her.
(09:43):
Her family though, not so much. But they just wanted to see
Nikki happy and they would always be there for her when she
needed. And when she finally decided
that she was done. So Nikki always went back home
hoping things will get better and it wasn't just Tyler who
seemed to have a problem keepinghis hands to himself.
(10:04):
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree because Nikki had told
Chloe that Jeanette, Tyler's mother had put her hands on
Nikki. Also, Nikki chose not to press
charges against her mother-in-law, though she really
loved her and made excuses saying that she didn't mean it
and it was in the heat of the moment and she didn't want to be
(10:24):
the reason that someone got in trouble or went to jail, even if
they may have deserved it. However, during one of the
incidents between Jeanette and Nikki, Jeanette had no problem
calling the police and filing a report against Nikki.
This made it look bad for Nikki since she had chosen not to file
a report against Jeanette or Tyler.
(10:45):
It made it look like she was theaggressor.
(11:45):
This made it look bad for Nikki since she had chosen not to file
a report against Jeanette or Tyler.
It made it look like she was theaggressor.
Then on November 29th of 2023, things went from bad to worse
and Nikki was almost killed by Tyler's horrific behavior.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the incident that
(12:07):
happened at the McCain residencehappened between 8:30 PM and
11:30 PM that night. The police actually received a
call on December 1st of 2023 andwent to speak to Nikki, but at
that time she was in the hospital being treated.
Later that evening, the officer went to see her at her sister
Chloe's home, where she was going to be staying
(12:28):
indefinitely. The officer stated in his report
that Nikki had noticeable facialtrauma to her eyes and forehead,
and both of her eyes were swollen and blackened severely,
which appeared to be from a physical assault.
According to Chloe, her sister was nearly unrecognizable.
(12:48):
The officer taken the report asked Nikki who had done this to
her and she told him it was Tyler.
She told them that they had beentogether and married for 16
years and that they had four children together, but none of
them currently resided with them.
We already talked about the children being removed because
of domestic violence. Here is what Nikki said happened
(13:10):
that night. On Wednesday, November 29th,
2023, Nikki returned to her and Tyler's home on a Linda Rd. at
around 8:15 PM. At that time, Tyler wasn't home.
Nikki went into her bedroom and started combing her hair.
At around 8:30 PM, Tyler came home and seemed to be in a
strange mood. For some reason, he went
(13:32):
straight to the back door and locked it.
Nikki said that Tyler seemed extremely agitated and wasn't
making much sense. He then came into the bedroom,
didn't say a word and immediately jumped on Nikki,
held her down on the floor and started dragging her around the
room. He started yelling at Nikki,
asking her what's going on, whatare you doing?
(13:54):
Nikki said that Tyler had a crazed, glazed look in his eyes,
as if he was having some sort ofepisode.
She tried to calm him down, but it didn't work.
He continued to torment her bothverbally and physically.
He held her down and started to repeatedly hit her in the face
with his open hand in a harsh, forceful manner at least 10 to
(14:15):
15 times. In addition to hitting her in
the face, eyes, and cheeks, he also pulled her hair.
He then picked up a water jug and began pouring the freezing
water onto Nikki. This torture by Nikki's husband,
the man who was supposed to loveand protect her, went on for
approximately 3 hours. 3 hours not knowing if you're going to
(14:36):
live or die. Three hours of not knowing if
you will see your children or your family that you love again.
Three hours of being scared shitless and not knowing what
he's going to do next. During this three hour period,
Tyler bound Nikki's ankles and wrists together with white tape.
He also placed a piece of tape over her mouth so that she
(14:57):
couldn't speak properly. He didn't have the tape covering
her mouth completely, however, so she was able to breathe.
After this, he rolled her onto her stomach, straddled her from
behind, grabbed her hair, and forcefully pulled her head back.
He then said he was going to kill her, and Nikki believed it.
This time, the officer asked Nikki what state of mind she was
(15:21):
in while this was happening, andshe said that she thought she
was going to die and that Tyler may have actually intended to
kill her. Over the next few hours, while
Nikki laid on the floor, Tyler periodically hit her.
At one point, Tyler even attempted to wrap something
around Nikki's neck, but wasn't successful in doing so.
(15:42):
When the officer asked her what kind of object Tyler had put
around her neck, she said she was unsure because she didn't
see it, only felt it. The officer made a note that
there were notice, no noticeablemarks suggesting that she had
been strangled or choked. I mean she had just said he
wasn't successful in getting it around her neck, but I digress.
(16:04):
The officer did put in his report that there was
significant damage to Nikki's eyes and that it was obvious
that she had been struck over and over many times by another
person. Nikki's tiny.
She's only 5 feet tall and 95 lbs.
She weighs less than my 10 year old.
It wouldn't take much to hurt her badly or even kill her.
(16:25):
Tyler is much larger and stronger than Nikki and there
would be no way for her to fighthim off.
She was his punching bag and he knew there was nothing she could
do to stop him. Nikki told law enforcement that
Tyler had done this type of thing before, but never to this
extreme. When asked about Tyler's drug
use, Nikki said she wasn't positive but believed that he
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had used methamphetamine before.The officer asked Nikki how at
the end of the three hour ordealit all ended in how she got
away. Nikki told him that at around
11:30 PM, Tyler went into the kitchen and was in there for
several minutes. Nikki knew this was the only
chance she would have to escape,so she grabbed her robe which
(17:11):
had her keys in the pocket and she ran outside and jumped in
her car. As she was pulling out of the
driveway, Tyler came running outof the house after her and he
jumped on the hood of her car yelling at her to stop, but she
didn't. She drove to her mother's home
where she stayed for a couple ofdays before going to Chloe's.
That's when Chloe took one look at her and told her she had to
(17:34):
report Tyler and go to the hospital, and Nikki knew she had
to. She had really thought she was
going to die that night. Nikki was advised to go to One
Safe Place in Reading, which wasan organization that helps
domestic violence victims and sexual assault victims to get
restraining orders filed. She was also given a Marcy card,
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which is a pamphlet about domestic violence, and then she
was given a card by the officer that indicated the case number.
Before Nikki left the hospital, she talked to a victims
advocate. This seemed to give Nikki the
courage she needed to press charges against Tyler, which she
did that very same day. After talking to Nikki and
(18:19):
getting her account of the events of that evening, the
deputies decided to go to the McCain house and have a little
talk with Tyler. When they arrived, they found
Tyler who came out of the house and met them in the driveway.
They told him he was being arrested for domestic violence
injuries that Nikki sustained during a domestic violence
(18:40):
incident. They put him in handcuffs and in
the squad car where they transferred him to the jail.
Once at the jail, Tyler was readhis Miranda rights.
He stated that he understood hisrights and was willing to talk
to the detectives. Tyler was asked if he was aware
of Nikki's injuries that she hadon her face and body, and he
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said that he was aware of them, but he hadn't actually seen
them. Tyler told investigators that he
had last seen Nikki on the evening of the 29th at around
8:00 PM. When he was asked if there was
any kind of disturbance between them, he said no, there was not.
Tyler told the detective that hebelieved that Nikki had gotten
(19:23):
the injuries during a fight withanother female.
The detective then asked him if he had actually seen the fight
take place and he said no. Tyler's statements were
inconsistent and it sounded morelike he was making excuses and
seeing what would stick because after he talked about her
fighting with another female, hetold the detective he believed
(19:44):
his wife was having an affair with another female, Even though
he also said that their marriagewas wonderful, they got along
great and were a happy couple, never having any physical
altercations between them. The detective asked Tyler one
more time if he had seen this alleged fight with another
female or Nikki's injuries, and he still was adamant that he
(20:07):
hadn't. So that is when the detective
informed Tyler that Nikki had reported him for being the
person who caused the injuries and that they had happened
during a violent encounter at their home on the night of the
29th. Cause Nikki's injuries were
consistent with the domestic violence incident and the
totality of the situation. The detective informed Tyler
(20:28):
that he was being charged with four felonies, corporal injury
to a spouse along with false imprisonment by violence because
Nikki had stated that Tyler had bound her legs and arms with
tape which prevented her from leaving the house, criminal
threats because he had threatened to kill Nikki
numerous times, and assault likely to cause great bodily
injury. Tyler and also Nikki had given
(20:51):
officers permission to enter theresidence to retrieve Nikki's
cell phone. While in the home and doing a
safety sweep, they discovered 5 firearms in the bedroom area in
Plainview. Record checks confirmed that one
of the firearms, an AK47 type ofrifle, was reported to be stolen
out of Oregon. All the firearms were taken into
(21:14):
safety safekeeping, and the AK47was entered into evidence, a
stolen property. This is all taken from the
probable cause affidavit for Tyler's arrest.
It is important to Nikki's missing person case as it shows
Tyler's abusive behavior, but itcould also be the reason that
(21:35):
Nikki went missing. As you will see, the charges
against Tyler were serious and he was facing a lengthy sentence
if convicted. Nikki had finally gotten away
from Tyler. She was staying with Chloe and
there was going to be a trial for what he had done to her.
She was finally going to get herlife back and work on getting
back custody of her kids and Tyler was going to pay for what
(21:57):
he had done. But as we know with victims who
are under coercive control of their abuser, it isn't always
that simple. Nikki had been a victim of
Tyler's manipulation for over a decade and he wasn't going to
let her go that easy. Tyler had a suspended license
and one day he called Nikki asking her for a ride to a court
(22:18):
hearing for the charges that have been filed against him for
what he had done to Nikki and she said yes.
How did he convince her to help him?
We don't know what he said to her, but I'm sure he used his
abusive and controlling techniques that he had used on
her for over the years, probablytelling her it was her fault
that he was in this position andif she hadn't called the cops
(22:40):
that night, November, he wouldn't need a ride to court.
For whatever reason, Nikki agreed to give Tyler the ride,
but instead of going to the courthouse, Tyler forced her to
take him to his lawyer's office.And once there, Tyler and his
lawyers started pressuring Nikkito drop the charges against
Tyler. This case was set to go to trial
(23:01):
on July 2nd of 2024 and Tyler knew he was facing prison time,
so his only option was to get Nikki to drop the charges.
But Nikki said no, she wasn't going to drop the charges.
So Tyler drove off with her car,which according to what Nikki
told her sisters, wasn't the first time that this had
(23:23):
happened. I guess he was no longer worried
about driving on that suspended license.
Tyler wasn't done trying to get out of these charges though.
He had even told people he was going to pay Nikki off to get
her to drop them. So once again, he was playing
the victim and manipulating Nikki, eventually getting her to
(23:44):
move back into the house with him by telling her if they were
a family again, they would be able to get their kids back,
which is what Nikki wanted more than anything.
He had been abusing Nikki for a long time and he knew the right
things to say to get what he wanted and he would use the kids
if he had to. So in April of 2024, after
(24:04):
staying at Chloe's for five months, Nikki moved back in with
Tyler, however, she still refused to drop the charges.
On May 7th of 2024, there was a preliminary hearing held in the
case against Tyler, to which he pleaded not guilty.
On that same day, Nikki had texted her sister and said she
(24:24):
was done with him and wanted a divorce, which as we know is the
most dangerous time for a domestic violence victim.
Chloe said Nikki was excited to restart her life.
She was looking for furniture for a new place and was
anticipating getting her kids back.
Then May 18th of 2024, Nikki disappeared.
(24:47):
There has been no bank account activity, no social media
activity, no text messages to anyone, and no one has seen her
since that day. Her family had last seen her in
person on May 12th of 2024, but got text messages from her in
the early morning hours of May 18th.
(25:10):
Two weeks before Nikki vanished,Tyler had bought her a 2002
Chevy Avalanche during one of the times he was love bombing
her. This truck was later found
abandoned near the reservation on a street that led to the home
of Tyler's cousin. The police are not releasing a
lot of the details of the timeline, but Nikki's sisters
(25:33):
have done some investigating on their own and here's what they
have come up with. On May 17th of 2024, Nikki had
spent time with her mother-in-law, Jeanette Heyward.
Jeanette's other son, Brian, hadbeen admitted to the hospital
into the ICU for an unknown reason.
At some point, Nikki and Jeanette went to the hospital in
(25:54):
Jeanette's car. Nikki had texted Chloe saying
that they were there and they kept in communication through
text messages throughout the evening.
Chloe isn't sure what time Nikkihad actually left the hospital
though at around midnight, so now it would be May 18th.
Nikki, or at least it came from Nikki's phone, sent Chloe
(26:18):
another text. She said she had Jeanette's car
and was getting ready to drive it back to Jeanette's house.
This was the last time Nikki's family heard from her.
Her sisters aren't sure why she was returning the car to
Jeanette that late at night. They don't know if she was at
the hospital the whole time or had taken Jeanette's car and
(26:39):
left Jeanette at the hospital earlier in the evening.
At this point they're just speculating.
If Nikki had her cell phone on her though, law enforcement
could have easily tracked her movements, which I'm sure they
have. But like I said, they're keeping
a lot of information close to the vest as not to harm the
integrity of the investigation. The next morning, Chloe text
(27:03):
Nikki around 7:00 AM asking her how Brian was.
She got no response. She texted again around an hour
later and then again 30 minutes later, still with no response.
Later, Chloe was trying to find the soccer uniform of her niece
Nikki and Tyler's daughter and thought maybe it was at
(27:24):
Jeanette's because remember theywere sharing custody of the kids
at the time. Chloe's fiance and the niece
went to Jeanette's home to look for the uniform.
When they got there, they mentioned Nikki being at the
hospital the night before with Jeanette.
Jeanette replied that Nikki hadn't been at the hospital at
all and when they asked where Tyler was, Jeanette said he had
(27:47):
stayed overnight at the hospitalwith his brother.
However, this story changes. In fact, Tyler changes his story
at least five times. On May 19th, Tyler texted Chloe
to ask if Nikki was with her, and on May 21st, the sisters
realized that they hadn't heard from Nikki for a few days.
(28:09):
She hadn't been responding to anyone's messages at all.
Then later that same day, Tyler texted Chloe and asked if she
had heard from Nikki and said that he thought she was missing.
After this, Tyler tells very different versions of events to
Nikki's family over the next fewdays.
The first story was that he didn't stay all night at the
(28:31):
hospital on the night of the 17th.
He says that he got a ride home with his sister at around 1:30
in the morning and that Nikki was not at home when he got
there. He said a friend named Justin
that they call Too Tall lives ina trailer on him and Nikki's
property. Tyler said that Too Tall went
with him to pick Nikki up from his mom's house.
(28:53):
He said when he got there they got into a fight and she walked
off. He says that was the last time
he seen her. The second story Tyler has told
is that they were actually at their house when they got into
the fight and Nikki called an Uber and once again, never.
He never saw her again. Story #3 is that he doesn't
(29:14):
remember where the fight happened.
Anytime Nikki and Tyler would get into a fight, Nikki would go
to her mom's or her sister's house and within a day or two,
Tyler would be texting Chloe, telling her to tell Nikki a
bunch of bullshit about how muchhe would change if she came home
and how much he loved her. But this time it was different.
(29:37):
Nikki didn't go to her mom's or her sisters and Tyler didn't
send any of those kinds of messages.
So what was different this time?Then Tyler's stories got even
more unbelievable. His fourth story is that Nikki
ran off with a woman she was having an affair with.
Remember he said she was also having an affair when he was
(30:01):
telling the cop that he thought Nikki got into a fight with
another woman. So that's the second time he's
mentioned her having an affair with a woman.
Tyler's fifth story is that Nikki ran off to Vegas with
another man. Tyler, in my opinion, is a liar
and an abusive piece of shit whoknows exactly what happened to
(30:24):
Nikki and he should have just kept his mouth shut because he
looked like a complete guilty dumbass at the press conference.
Tyler's mommy, Jeanette also hasdifferent versions of the events
of that night. Jeanette said she can't remember
anything that happened that night and just knows that she
got her truck back that same night.
(30:47):
Another story was that Nikki left her house in an Uber, but
Tyler said that Nikki walked offfrom Jeanette's house.
It was the story that they were at their own house where he says
Nikki got an Uber. To me it sounds like Jeanette is
trying to cover for her baby boyand they should have talked and
got their story straight. Also, neither Jeanette, Tyler,
(31:12):
nor too Tall remember what Nikkiwas wearing that night.
It's the last time you ever see your wife, your daughter-in-law,
and your friend, but none of these idiots who were with her
for a substantial time that night remember what the hell she
was wearing, or what even happened for that matter.
On May 22nd, 2024, Nikki's family filed a missing persons
(31:37):
report with the Redding Police Station and the case was
transferred to the Shasta CountySheriff's Office Division of
Major Crimes. Chloe and the Sheriff went to
Nikki and Tyler's home to do a welfare check on Nikki, but no
one answered the door. Chloe was persistent though, and
requested another welfare check the very next day and once again
(32:00):
no one answered. On May 24th, now the third day
in a row, Chloe and the Sheriff went once again to the McCain
home and this time Tyler answered the door.
He told them he had no idea where Nikki was, but that he did
know that her truck, the 2002 Chevy Avalanche, was broken down
on a bridge off Bowman Rd. and Tehama County.
(32:24):
Chloe offered to go with Tyler to pick up Nikki's truck, but he
told her that he and his buddy were going to go get it.
Chloe called her sister Kay, andthey went to look for Nikki's
truck on their own. There were several bridges along
Bowman Rd. but the truck was nowhere to be seen.
Chloe went back to Tyler and Nikki's home on the 25th to
check in and to see if there hadbeen any new updates or to see
(32:47):
how shady Tyler was being. He wasn't there, however.
Justin was though, so Chloe talked to him.
She asked him if he had seen Nikki or her truck and he said
that on the night of the 17th, Tyler had asked him to pick
Nikki up from Jeanette's after she had dropped off Jeanette's
car. He said when he got to
(33:08):
Jeanette's he had something to eat and they hung out for a
little while before leaving. He drove Nikki home and he
doesn't know what happened afterthat.
But remember Jeanette said Nikkididn't even go to the hospital
that night. So was she just at Jeanette's
house or is Jeanette lying? Also, Tyler had said that he and
(33:30):
Justin went to pick up Nikki, but Justin said he went alone.
If nothing nefarious has happened to Nikki, then why all
the changing stories and why is someone obviously lying?
Also, Justin said that even though he hasn't seen Nikki
after that night, he had seen Tyler driving her truck around
(33:53):
the truck that supposedly was broken down on a bridge that no
one could find. But on the afternoon of the
25th, the Sheriff's Department put out a post about Nikki and
her truck and they found it later that day, but they didn't
release the information to the public until May 30th.
They had found the vehicle in western Tiama County.
(34:15):
According to Nikki's family, theroad that it was found on led to
some property owned by Tyler's family, which we said earlier it
was a cousin of Tyler's and it was an area that you wouldn't
just go to without a reason. It's a road far off the beaten
path and it was surrounded by hills and rough terrain and it
wasn't on a bridge off Bowman Rd. as Tyler had said it was on
(34:38):
Hwy. 36. No one knows at this point how
the car got there, if it had been there the whole time or had
been parked there later. However, if Justin is telling
the truth about seeing Tyler driving the truck, then it would
most likely have been parked there later.
And how did Tyler know the truckwas broke down there if Nikki
(34:59):
had been the last one driving itand then she disappeared?
On May 27th there was a large search party that looked for
evidence in the area that the truck was found in, but
authorities came up empty handed.
Several other searches have taken place and Nikki's family
has always participated, that iseveryone but Tyler and Jeanette.
(35:26):
According to law enforcement, Nikki's last text put her in
proximity of tribal land, which can cause some problems when it
comes to searches of the properties that are on these
tribal lands. The Rancheria Reservation is
cooperating with law enforcementand has provided them with
surveillance footage that was asked for and other information.
(35:47):
They have also permitted local and warranted searches on tribal
land. They have also clarified that
under California's Public Law 280, which grants law
enforcement criminal jurisdiction over tribal lands,
they cannot permit searches on individual tribe members private
parcels without specific legal authorization, such as a
(36:09):
warrant. This causes a problem because of
the stories being told by different people.
The ranch area are unsure where Nikki was last seen.
So although some property on tribal lands may have been
searched, they cannot search pieces that are privately owned
by tribal members without individual warrants for each
piece of land. And to get the search warrant
(36:31):
for each piece of land, they would have to have probable
cause to search each piece of land, and that is hard to obtain
without having evidence to justify it or have a reason to
believe that there may be significant evidence on a
certain piece of property. Someone knew exactly what they
were doing, which is why Nikki has not been found yet and Tyler
(36:56):
and his mommy are prominent members of the tribe.
So they can have used their leverage to get these privately
and searched if they wanted to. But it seems they are using
their leverage in the opposite way.
Tyler has not participated in any of the searches for Nikki
and has not even spoken out to the media until 10 months after
(37:17):
Nikki disappeared. If you even want to call that
complete awkwardness speaking out, it was worse than Chris
Watts's porch interview. And what about the charges
against Tyler that were heading to trial in July?
Well, on June 3rd, 2023, anotherpreliminary hearing was set to
be held and the trial was scheduled to start July 2nd.
(37:41):
Tyler was being charged with thefour felony charges of corporal
injury, false imprisonment, criminal threats, and assault
with force likely to cause greatbodily injury.
But on July 5th, the Shasta County District Attorney's
Office requested that the charges be dropped and the
Superior Court granted the dismissal.
(38:05):
They have all been dismissed without prejudice, meaning if
new evidence comes up or Nikki reappears within a two year
period, the charges could be refiled.
Nikki's absence made prosecutingTyler impossible because as a
key witness, her testimony was essential to Tyler's
constitutional right to confrontwitnesses.
(38:26):
This would have risked a not guilty verdict without her
statements, so Tyler got his way.
He couldn't talk Nikki out of dropping the charges, so she
disappeared before the trial began.
I don't believe that this is a coincidence, and I don't believe
anyone else does either. As while Tyler was in court, a
(38:47):
rally was being held outside with over 200 of Nikki's family
and friends. They held signs demanding
justice for Nikki and making people aware of the dangers of
domestic violence. Everyone was infuriated that the
charges had been dropped. When Tyler came out of the
courthouse, Chloe and Kay confronted the piece of shit and
(39:10):
asked him where their sister was.
His response to this grieving family of a missing person was
to flip them off and shrug his shoulders.
What an asshole. On July 2nd, a fire occurred
near Tyler's cousin's property. It burned 19 acres of land.
(39:32):
This property was scheduled to be searched next and the search
was cancelled because of the fire.
How convenient. Then the very next day, on July
3rd of 2024, a fire broke out atthe home of Nikki and Tyler.
The home wasn't damaged, but 98 acres were burned along with
cars that were on the property. Tyler admitted to starting the
(39:55):
fire but said it was by accident.
He said he had parked his car ondry grass and because of the
catalytic converter being faulty, the grass caught on
fire. He was given a citation.
So then we get to the press conference held on March 10th of
2025 that Nikki's family had requested to keep her case in
(40:17):
the public eye. I'm going to read you part of an
article published by MSN that describes Tyler's coming out
into the public eye that day. Quote McCain took the time to
think the work the Shasta CountySheriff's Office has done so far
and asked for help from the public.
McCain seemed to struggle with what to say, speaking so quietly
(40:41):
he could only be heard by the people in microphones right next
to him. We miss you, he stated softly.
I don't really know what to say.He then went on to apologize for
his retentions to be in the public eye, saying he's
struggled since her disappearance.
I apologize to everyone, especially my children, my
(41:03):
wife's family, mine as well. He trailed off.
I'm just here in support, so anything that I can do, I want
to do that. OK, Why now?
Why do you finally want to do something after almost 10 months
and your story has changed five times?
He really seemed that he wanted to be anywhere but there.
(41:25):
He probably thought after 10 months everyone was just going
to forget about Nikki, but that definitely is not the case.
That was his final statement before passing off the
microphone to Nikki's sisters Chloe and Kay.
The pair went over the facts of the case, pleading for help from
the public. They celebrated Nikki's 40th
(41:48):
birthday on November 9th withouther There.
They also talked about a new webpage that they have released
that will provide information about Nikki's case.
The website iswhere-is-nikki.com.
Efforts to aid in her safe return have been ongoing.
(42:09):
On June 3rd, the Redding Ranchera erected a billboard
along I-5 offering a reward for information.
The reward was initially $10,000but has since been raised to
30,000 with contributions from USPA, Nationwide Security, and
their nonprofit Kingsmen. And this was all we knew until
(42:32):
just this past Friday. On March 14th of 2025, Nikki's
missing persons case was unfortunately changed to a
homicide investigation. Law enforcement is still not
saying much, but they did say that based on evidence in
interviews, detectives believe that someone killed Nikki.
(42:54):
They have executed several search warrants throughout the
case and have several persons ofinterest in what they believe to
be the homicide. Hopefully this is one step
closer to finding her and also one step closer to getting
justice for Nikki McCain. If anyone has seen anything on
the night of May 17th, 2024, hasheard anything, or may have any
(43:19):
information that may help solve Nikki's case, please contact the
Shasta County Sheriff's Department Major Crimes Unit at
530-245-6135 or e-mail at mcu@shastcounty.gov.
You can also contact the ReddingRanchera Reward Line, also
(43:41):
called the Norcal Alliance for the Missing, at 530-638-3855.
I will post other information about Nikki's case on the
Victim's Voice Facebook page. Let's help Nikki's family get
the word out to bring her home. For photos from this case, check
(44:01):
out the Victim's Voice Facebook page and come back next week for
a new case. Until then, peace out.
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