California police have located the Tennessee couple who disappeared nearly a month ago while traveling west across the country.
Nikki Alcaraz and Steven Tyler Stratton, both 33, were located by the Eureka Police Department at 7:15 a.m. Tuesday morning after someone called to report a sighting of a missing person who had already noticed the couple on Monday night.
They were found in the 100 block of 4th Street in Eureka, not far from the Oregon border.
Alcaraz had previously been seen over the weekend about 150 miles away at a Walmart in Redding. CCTV cameras saw her at an ecoATM as she sold her cellphone for $75.
Her boyfriend, Tyler Stratton, was also with her when they were found by police and arrested.
If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233 (SAFE).
Missing Tennessee couple Nikki Alcaraz and Steven Tyler Stratton, both 33, have been found after going missing nearly a month ago. They were found in Redding, California on Tuesday
The pair were found on Tuesday after going missing almost a month ago on a road trip from Nashville to Orange County, California.
The couple were found Tuesday morning in the 100 block of 4th Street in Eureka, California.
Eureka officers found Alcaraz and Stratton inside their black Jeep and cooperated with officers at the scene.
Alcaraz insisted she was fine and needed no help, while a police check on Stratton revealed he had an outstanding warrant for her arrest by the forces of the Order of Tennessee.
Stratton was taken into custody without incident after failing to appear in court in Tennessee on a robbery charge.
California investigators have also been in contact with police in Moriarty, New Mexico to advise that Alcaraz is no longer considered a missing person.
The couple had been on the road nearly a month ago to embark on a cross-country road trip, when things suddenly seemed to take a turn on May 4 in Torrance County, New Mexico.
A witness truck driver saw Stratton punch Alcaraz in the face, according to a report from the Torrance County Sheriff’s Office.
Stratton told a deputy he was also hit. The video shows him with blood pouring from his mouth and nose.
A local news station managed to obtain shocking body camera footage after the couple fought.
The video sees them both bloodied and bruised with Nikki, covered in bruises and sporting a black eye telling the deputy she wants to press charges.
The Torrance County District Attorney’s Office in New Mexico released 10 body camera videos immediately following the violent scuffle.
The couple were separated and dropped off at separate locations without any charges being brought against them.
Shocking new body camera footage has shown the mother-of-two showing multiple bruises to police after a drunken fight with her boyfriend telling cops she wanted to see her ‘a** in jail’
In one of the videos released, a visibly distraught Alcaraz is seen standing next to the onlooker who called the cops after seeing the mother-of-two being ‘slapped’ and ‘punched in the face’.
“I’m a truck driver, as I was driving I saw her on the ground and I saw that guy over there slap her and punch her in the face,” the viewer said.
“He punched me in the eye,” adds Alcaraz.
“How is he related to you,” the responding officer is heard asking Alcaraz who responds, “We’ve been together 16 years… we’re boyfriend/girlfriend.”
When asked if she wanted to press charges, Alcaraz nods and replies, “Yeah” before revealing that she would like to see her “a** in jail” while fighting back tears.
“I just wanted to make sure she was okay,” the viewer says.
The responding agents then ask her if the man she is with, later identified as Stratton, is “onto anything” to which Alcaraz replies “not that I know no”.
“But I’m done, I want his ass to go to jail, I’m done,” she repeats.
The Torrence County Sheriff’s Office earlier released an incident report in which it was revealed that Alcaraz could be heard screaming in the background of a 911 call to police during the incident on the 4 may.
The Torrance County District Attorney’s Office in New Mexico released 10 body camera videos immediately following the violent scuffle. A witness to the fight is seen, left
In one of the videos, a visibly distraught Alcaraz is seen standing next to the onlooker who called the police after seeing the 33-year-old being ‘slapped’ and ‘punched in the face’.
Video shows Alcaraz was badly bruised with marks on her arms and face while Stratton was also covered in blood pouring from her nose and mouth
After being questioned, the police released the couple without charge after separating them and taking them to different locations.
During the call, the woman, later identified as Alcaraz, could be heard screaming in the background. The police report said the man, Stratton, “stood over her” before “pushing her in the face”.
According to the Torrance County Sheriff’s Office report obtained by DailyMail.com, Alcaraz and Stratton were “drunk”.
The responding officer said he saw the 2013 Jeep in a small rest area and noticed red marks on Alcaraz’s face and fingerprints on both of his arms.
He also observed that Stratton had “blood coming from his mouth and nose”.
The responding officer said Alcaraz said he dropped off a friend in Amarillo, Texas, before picking up a bottle of Fireball whiskey, which she and Stratton drank.
Alcaraz claimed that Stratton “started hitting her for no reason” and when they got to the rest area she jumped out of the vehicle but he “grabbed” her.
She also claimed to have a bruise on her chest and back.
The report identified the alleged attacker as “Thomas”, but the sheriff’s office confirmed with DailyMail.com that it was Stratton.
Stratton claimed that Alcaraz also punched him, allegedly punched him in the mouth “for no reason” and that she continued to punch him as they travelled.
He said “Nikki passed out after drinking alcohol” but he “didn’t want her to go to jail”.
Blood splatter on the passenger side door and blood on the ‘running board’ had been observed by the deputy and both denied driving the vehicle. Neither of them filed a complaint.
The couple left Tennessee in early May in this black Jeep, which was seen in a parking lot in Redding, Calif., on Tuesday morning.
Alcaraz disappeared just days after having a ‘drunk argument’ with her boyfriend was also heard ‘screaming over a 911 call’ made by a passerby
Alcaraz was seen on a surveillance camera over the weekend trying to sell her phone at an ecoATM in Redding, California
Alcaraz, Stratton and their dog embarked on a road trip from Nashville to Southern California and had an altercation in New Mexico on May 4.
A police report filed by the Torrance County Sheriff’s Department shows the mother-of-two with a black eye after witnesses said they saw Stratton punch her in the face.
The two were then driven away by responding police, with Nikki dropped off at Moriarty, where she called her sister Toni, and a friend met her for a motel overnight.
But the next day, Alcaraz insisted she had to find Stratton.
Her jeep was located by a license plate reader near Flagstaff, Arizona on May 8, and Alcaraz texted her sister to say she planned to complete her trip.
The couple were finally located Tuesday in a Walmart parking lot in Redding, California.
