A California mother of four has disappeared from the same town where Sherri Papini staged her kidnapping, and her family believes she “may not be here anymore” after three months of no contact.
Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain, 39, of Redding, California, was reported missing by her sister on May 21 after she was unable to contact her for four days.
She was last seen visiting one of her husband Tyler McCain’s relatives in a hospital, according to The US Sun.
McCain’s family believes her husband, Tyler McCain, may have something to do with her disappearance, but police have not named him as a suspect.
McCain vanished from the same town where Sherri Papini staged her infamous kidnapping in 2016, disappearing for three weeks before reappearing on Thanksgiving Day with a wild story.
Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain, 39, of Redding, California, was reported missing by her sister on May 21 after she was unable to contact her for four days.
She (pictured with her husband) was last seen visiting a relative of her husband Tyler McCain in a hospital. The family believes McCain’s husband may have something to do with the disappearance, but police have not identified him as a suspect.
What made the sisters suspicious was the change in Tyler’s text messages. The couple had fought many times before and the mother of four even filed domestic violence charges against him, which were dropped on July 5 due to McCain’s failure to appear in court.
Normally, when McCain was gone for a few days after a fight, Tyler would reach out to his sisters and say, “Tell her I love her. Tell her I’m sorry,” but he didn’t do that this time, they told The US Sun.
Instead, he texted: “I think she’s missing. I don’t know, I think she’s missing.”
“His response was different than usual, and that was definitely a factor that made us start to worry,” Kaye Ford, McCain’s sister, told the British outlet.
They have had limited contact with the alleged abuser since then, but that hasn’t lessened their concern.
“I feel sorry that Nikki won’t be here anymore,” McCain’s other sister, Chloe Saelee, told The US Sun. “She wasn’t just going to leave. She was so excited for a new beginning and was taking all these steps and planning for her future and her children’s future.”
“Nikki did not deserve this. And while it may be too late to turn back time, it’s not too late to do the right thing,” she continued. “We’re all hurting right now, but her children deserve to know the truth and her children deserve to see that whoever did this to her is behind bars and will not be able to hurt them or anyone else.”
Normally, when McCain (right, with her sister) was gone a few days after a fight, Tyler would contact his sisters and say, “Tell her I love her. Tell her I’m sorry,” but he didn’t do that this time. Instead, he texted them: “I think she’s missing. I don’t know, I think she’s missing.”
On May 25, police found her Chevrolet Avalanched abandoned in a remote location in Tehama County.
The last text Saelee received from her sister was to let her know she was leaving the hospital to drop off her mother-in-law’s vehicle at her residence in Redding Rancheria, an Indian reservation. Afterward, she said, she was going to return home with some of her husband’s friends.
The couple continued texting throughout the night, but in the early hours of May 18, McCain stopped responding to her, she told The US Sun.
At the time, the sisters weren’t concerned as their group chat often went unused for days, but after Tyler said he hadn’t heard from either of them, Saelee filed a police report with the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office and the Redding Police Department.
On May 25, police found her Chevrolet Avalanched abandoned in a remote location in Tehama County.
Weeks after her disappearance, Tyler was arraigned in court on his felony domestic violence charges, charges he received after allegedly seriously injuring his wife in a three-hour attack in December.
An officer recorded McCain as having “blackened” and “swollen” eyes and facial trauma.
Weeks after her disappearance, Tyler had his court appearance for his felony domestic violence cases — charges he received after he allegedly seriously injured his wife in a three-hour attack in December.
Tyler allegedly tied his wife up with tape, attempted to wrap something around her throat, pulled her hair and told her he “intended to kill her,” according to police documents.
Tyler allegedly tied his wife up with tape, attempted to wrap something around her throat, pulled her hair and told her he “intended to kill her,” according to police documents seen by The US Sun.
When asked who had done this to her, she said it was Tyler. He told police he believed she had been fighting with another woman and was having an affair with another woman.
Police had been called to her home on several occasions, eventually resulting in her children becoming wards of the state, The US Sun reported.
Despite her sisters’ constant pleas, McCain never left her toxic husband because she “never wanted to be the bad guy” and didn’t want “to be the reason her family fell apart,” they told the tabloid.
They helped her get started at a women’s center several times, but she never completed the process because she “went back” to Tyler.
“I was always worried because she never wanted to report things to the police when these things happened,” Saelee told The US Sun. “I was worried every time she came home. I told her, ‘I’m starting to see a pattern here, and I think it’s a cycle.
“We were all very worried about her, but she kept deciding to come back.”
Tyler was arrested earlier this month after being pulled over for an alleged traffic violation, where officers found ammunition in his car, which violated his criminal protection order and led to his arrest.
Redding Rancheria, where McCain is believed to have been last seen, and others are offering a $30,000 reward for information about her disappearance.