Calif. Mom Texted Family Members and Then Vanished without a Trace. Now Police Believe She Was Murdered

A California mother, missing since May 2024, is now believed to have been murdered.

Authorities have identified “persons of interest” in the disappearance of Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain, but are withholding their identities “due to the ongoing nature of this investigation,” the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said in a March 14 press release.

Detectives have “determined Nikki is a victim of Homicide,” the sheriff’s office said.

Nikki’s family last heard from the mother of four shortly after midnight on May 18, 2024, they wrote on a GoFundMe campaign. Earlier that night, Nikki texted her family that she was at a hospital in Redding, Calif., due to an emergency involving her brother-in-law.

According to the fundraiser, which cites Nikki’s text messages, Nikki and her mother-in-law left the hospital together in a white Chevy Tahoe. After dropping her mother-in-law off at her home in Redding Rancheria, an Indigenous reservation, Nikki went back home.

Shortly after midnight, Nikki texted that she was headed back to her mother-in-law’s home to return the car. She has not been heard from since, her family claims.

“Nikki is not only a beloved daughter and sister to her 6 siblings, she is a mother of 4 children—all of whom she shares with her husband, Tyler McCain,” the fundraiser reads.

At the time of Nikki’s disappearance, her husband Tyler was facing four felony abuse charges in connection with an alleged domestic violence case involving Nikki, according to NBC News, The Redding Record Searchlight and KRCR-TV. He was charged in December 2023 and pleaded not guilty to the charges, NBC News reports.

The Shasta County District Attorney’s Office dropped the case in July 2024 since Nikki was unable to testify against her husband, KCKR-TV reports.

“I hear the community’s pleas for answers and justice for Nikki Cheng McCain. I share in those sentiments and frustrations,” District Attorney Stephanie A. Bridgett wrote in a Facebook post at the time.”

Tyler spoke out publicly about his wife’s disappearance for the first time at a press conference on March 10.

“We miss you. I don’t really know what to say,” Tyler said, per KCKR-TV. “I apologize to everyone, especially my children. My wife’s family, mine as well. I’m just here in support, so anything that I can do, I want to do that,” he added.

The sheriff’s office is now asking for the public’s help in identifying the driver of a red truck “who may have picked up a man in the area of Highway 36 in the western portion of Tehama County near the R Wild Horse Ranch or the Beegum Gorge bridge between May 18th & May 25th, 2024,” the release states.

Authorities said they are offering a combined reward of up to $30,000 for any information that leads to Nikki’s location. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the sheriff’s office’s Major Crimes Unit by emailing MCU@shastacounty.gov or calling (530)-245-6135.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.