nikki cheng saelee-mccain: A Missing Mother and a Case That Demands Answers
Case File — Missing & Murdered
"They've seen sadness."
— Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain — her sister Kaye's memory of how Nikki would empathize with people others had written offThey meet working at a casino in Redding. Tyler pursues Nikki. She falls for his shy side. They marry in 2010 and have four children together.
Tyler loses his job as a spa manager. He's home full-time, increasingly isolated in the garage. Nikki believes he's using drugs. Arguments escalate. Tyler is arrested for DUI — BAC more than double the legal limit.
A neighbor witnesses Nikki running barefoot outside with bleeding feet, abrasions on her face, swollen lips, and marks on her neck. Tyler is seen chasing Nikki with a large wrench. Reports include threats to decapitate her and gasoline poured on her vehicle. Nikki never presses charges.
Tyler assaults Nikki for three hours — hitting her, pouring water on her, binding her wrists and ankles with tape, taping her mouth, and telling her he is going to kill her. She escapes when he goes to the kitchen, grabs her keys from her robe pocket, and drives to her mother's house. Tyler chases her and jumps on the hood of her car.
Nikki goes to the hospital. Both eyes are blackened and swollen. She files for a restraining order, connects with a victim advocate, and goes to One Safe Place. Tyler is charged with four felony counts.
Tyler's hearing begins. That same day, Nikki texts Chloe that she is preparing to divorce Tyler. She is looking at furniture for a new home and planning to regain custody of her children.
Nikki texts Chloe close to midnight to say she is returning Jeanette's car to Tyler's mother's house. Someone will follow her and give her a ride home. That is the last message anyone receives from Nikki.
After days of no contact — no texts, no reactions to group messages, nothing — the family files a missing persons report. The Shasta County Sheriff's Major Crimes Unit takes over.
Nikki's 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche is found in a remote area of Tehama County — 40 minutes from home, no cell service, terrain that requires someone to follow you out. Tyler's family owns property nearby.
A fire burns 98 acres of Tyler and Nikki's property, destroying several of Tyler's vehicles. The day before, a separate fire breaks out sixteen miles from where Nikki's truck was found — on a property belonging to Tyler's cousin — in an area where a search had been planned.
The DA's office files a motion to dismiss — the victim is a missing person. It is the 17th time in 2024 a Shasta County judge dismisses charges against an alleged domestic abuser under those circumstances.
Fifteen months after Nikki disappears, Tyler McCain is arrested and charged with murder — with a special circumstance of intent to prevent testimony, directly tying her disappearance to the domestic violence case she refused to drop.
"Where is my sister?"
— Chloe, asking Tyler McCain directly outside the courthouse. He flipped them off and shrugged his shoulders.The fight happened at Jeanette's house. No — at their own house. Nikki's truck broke down on a bridge. No truck was found on any bridge. Nikki ran off with a woman. No — with a man to Las Vegas. Every version was different.
After every past fight, Tyler knew where Nikki was. He would text her sisters asking them to relay messages. This time, he reached out to ask if they'd heard from her — as if he didn't know.
Nikki's last text said she was returning Jeanette's car to her mother-in-law's house. When Chloe's fiancé went to check on Brian the next morning, Jeanette mentioned she hadn't been at the hospital the night before.
Nikki's Avalanche was found in a remote, no-cell-service area of Tehama County — terrain that requires someone to follow you out. Tyler's family owns property nearby. No explanation has been given for how it got there.
One fire destroyed Tyler's vehicles on the family property. Another broke out the day before a planned search — sixteen miles from where Nikki's truck was found — on property belonging to Tyler's cousin.
Nikki disappeared ten days after Tyler's preliminary hearing, where he pleaded not guilty to four felony counts. The murder charge carries a special circumstance: intent to prevent her from testifying.
