Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous, young missing mom
of four's Chevy Avalanche just found on a remote and
hilly county road. Where is Nicki? A Nancy Grace? This
is crime Stories, Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
A California mom of four missing, her truck found abandoned
in a different county. Where is Niki Chang Sale McCain.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
How does a gorgeous young mom like Niki seemingly vanish
into thin air? Why is her Chevy avalanche found along
a hilly and remote county road there in Shasta County. Now,
if she were gone and her avalanche was also gone,
(00:53):
that would make more sense than her being separated from
her car from her truck. A Chevy avalanche, that's not
making sense. And why would it be parked left out
in the middle of nowhere? Why would she have been there?
She wouldn't have been even if she had been there
(01:14):
for some reason to or fro in transit. Why would
she get out of her Chevy Avalanche? And what disappear
out into the hills that did not happen? Where is Niki?
And this is not just about Niki change, as her
family calls her, This is about her four children as well,
(01:36):
one as young as seven years old. What about them?
Who's taking care of them? Who's explaining, Yeah, mommy's not
home again tonight. Mommy's not home again tonight. But hey,
here's a Chevy avalanche again. This is crime Stories. I'm
Nancy Grayson. I want to thank you for being with us.
(01:56):
I'm very concerned about the slow mo the slow motion
search for Niki, because we all know that ours count
when someone goes missing. Look at her? Where is she?
If you have information on missing NICKI tipline five three
(02:21):
zero two four five six y five four zero repeat
five three zero two four five six ' five for zero,
joining me an all star panel, And I want to
reiterate there was a ten thousand dollar reward for information
leading to Nikki's whereabouts ten thousand dollars, as I said,
(02:44):
an all star panel. To make sense of what we
know right now, including her two lookalike sisters, the spitting
image of Nikki.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
But first listen to this Nicky sale. McCain sends a
text message to her sister just after midnight on May eighteenth,
saying she's driving Tyler McCain's mother's vehicle back to his
mother's home near the wind River Casino. When Nikki doesn't
respond to text from her family later that morning at
seven am and eight am, the family is concerned. The
family immediately begins looking for Nicki and her Chevrolet Avalanche truck.
(03:15):
Nicki has four children and would never have left them
without notice, and an official missing person report is filed
with Shasta counting well.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
The family wasted no time in reporting her missing. That's
the bright spot so far. Please join us in our
search for Nikki. Chaine Sale McCain, I want to first
go out to Nicki's sisters joining us, Chloe and Kay.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
First to Chloe.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Chloe, tell me about when you first learned your sister.
The three of you are very very close. Well, was
not answering phone calls or texts.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
You know, At first I was like, okay, this is normal.
What's really early for a text message? Maybe she's still sleeping.
But then I had noticed that they were green. If
you have an iPhone, if the text message goes through,
you know it's blue.
Speaker 6 (04:03):
But then we.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
Noticed that text message is we're green, and so I
was thinking maybe her phone maybe was just dead. So
I didn't immediately panic, just yet.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Hold on Chloe, can you back it up one moment,
go through that one more time. I've seen that on
my phone too, where normally you send a text and
it's in a blue bubble and sometimes it's in green.
Now slow down just a moment. You said too early
in the morning. Maybe she was still asleep. But she's
not a late sleeper to my understanding. Is that correct?
Speaker 5 (04:33):
Yes, she's not a life sleeper.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I mean with four children who can sleep late. So
you text her early in the morning, she doesn't respond,
but you say, hey, maybe maybe it's too early for
her to be texting asleep, busy with the children. Okay,
Vini says something about blue and green. Pick it up
right there, Chloe, please. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
So when it's blue, that means you have cell service
or that your phone is not dead. But when it's green,
that usually means you either don't have service or your
cell phone is dead. And so that morning we were
kind of in a rush. We're getting ready to go
to a soccer game, and so I was like, you
know what, it's fine, we'll just I'll.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
Talk to her later.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
So I didn't hear from her, and we did have
a very.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
Busy weekend, and then.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
We didn't really think much of it, but then starting,
you know, throughout the week, we're like, wait, Nikki has
not text in our family group message and so then
I was thinking maybe she was just at my mom's
house and so, and then by Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Okay, hold on right there, let me follow up with that.
Chloe started to interrupt. But I don't want to miss
in detail because, as we all know and our other
experts will jump in just a moment, every detail matters,
every detail, the timing matters, the location matters. Now you're
saying you were texting early in the morning, you thought, hey,
I got to go to the soccer game.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I'll circle back with her, and.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Then you realize, you know, many hours later, Hey, I
never heard back from her. This is where I want clarification.
You just assumed she had gone over to your mom's.
Did I hear that correctly?
Speaker 6 (06:12):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
How far away does Nicky live from your mother?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Not very far, about maybe a fifteen minute drive, not
very far at all.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
I want to check my information, Chloe, and I'm going
to bring in Kay for this is Nikki's other lookalike sister,
Chloe to get from Nikki's home to her mother's home.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Would she have to go.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Past where her vehicle where Chevy is finally located.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Would that be en route?
Speaker 6 (06:43):
No, not at all.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
That's different direction.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
Chloe.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Did your sister Nikki often go visit with your mom?
Speaker 5 (06:49):
Yes, she did, so we just assume she's at my
mom's house. And then Monday rolls around, and you know,
it's busy. I'm getting it's the end of the school year,
and so I'm just kind of we're super busy. And
so then by Tuesday, I'm like, wait a second, have
you guys heard from from Mickey? And so we text
(07:10):
my family group message and we're kind of like trying
to figure out where she is.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
I call my mom.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
My Mom's like, no, we have not seen her. And
so this is when we're really starting to panic. And
so then on.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Wednesday, right right there, started to break in. But what
is her practicing custom regarding texts? See, I've got one
sibling that never you have to write over and over
and over, and finally I have to write the spouse
okay and say, hey, what's happening. That's normal, that's no
big deal. The other sibling writes back just like that.
(07:46):
So my question is what kind of texture is Nikki?
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Actually she has a little bit of both.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
The reason I'm asking is because at this juncture, by Monday,
it's still not really a big deal that she hasn't
text back, because sometimes she does that, right.
Speaker 5 (08:00):
Yes, uh huh, but it doesn't go that long without
her texting me back.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Gotcha, gotcha.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Listen, my sister, who I adore, has her hands full
with a lot of things, and sometimes she can go
like ten days and go, oh yeah, right, I meant
to text earlier, and it's really no big dealing. I
don't find that unusual. Okay, So we're at Monday, then
what happens?
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Okay, so we're okay. I was like, okay, so no
text message and I didn't really think much. And then
by Tuesday that's when we kind of start to panic
and kind of get worried about where she might be
because my mom's like, oh no, I haven't seen her.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Okay, you were hearing Chloe Sali, this is Nikki's lookalike sister.
Now I'm want to go to other sister, kay Ford,
Kay to both of you. Is so important that you
are speaking out now you've been trying to speak out
you've been searching, you've been putting up flyers, you've been
(08:57):
doing everything right. But for some reason, nobody seems to
have been looking for her. And I think it has
to do with getting on to a plot of land
that is tribal land. You can just ride on there
and start looking, among other things which I'll go into,
but hey, we're here now, we're looking now for everybody
(09:19):
joining us. I want to give you that tip line again.
Five three zero two four five sixty five four zero
slowly five three zero two four five six ' five
four zero.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
There's a ten thousand dollar reward for information leading to
Nicky's whereabouts. You want ten thousand dollars, work for it.
Call the tip line back to kay Ford. Nikki's sister Kate.
Tell me about when you I imagine you and Chlobe
were on the phone NonStop once she realized, hey, she's
(09:57):
not responding. But tell me when it dawned on you
how it came about, Kay that you realize Nicki's not answering.
Speaker 6 (10:03):
I can't find her when you know, like Chloe said,
the messages weren't going through.
Speaker 7 (10:08):
We hadn't heard from her and everyone that we had
talked to during that time. You know, no one really
had a concrete answer or a good explanation about what
would she had been doing or where she had gone.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Now here's my question.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I understand that shortly after midnight that Niki Chang, Niki
sends a text that she is taking her mother in
law's vehicle back to the mother in law's home.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Did you get that text?
Speaker 8 (10:44):
Kay?
Speaker 6 (10:45):
No, this one was send directly to Chloe.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Okay, Chloe gets that text. Okay, Chloe, that text. That's
around midnight. She's texting with you, and I know you
and Kay and Nikki share all information extremely close. You
get this text stating that she is taking her mother
(11:08):
in law's car back to the mother in law's house. Now,
that's at midnight, and it's near the Wynn River Casino.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Is that right, Chloe?
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
Does anybody in the family work at the casino?
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Yes, we have family members who do work at Wind
River Casino, and Nikki herself worked there as well before
a few years before.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Okay, So she had worked at a casino as.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
A what she was a culture which as.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Okay, now, who works at the casino now? Within your family? Oh?
Speaker 6 (11:42):
No, one works at the casino. Her mother in law
lives on the rancheria, which is two doors down from
the casino.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Got you, okay, so nobody's working there now. The mother
in law lives a little bit down at the ranch
area at near wind River Casino. Do I have that correct?
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Okay? Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Was the mother in law's vehicle actually taken to the
mother in law's did that happen?
Speaker 6 (12:11):
From her messages? That's where she was headed. We didn't
hear from her as far as once she got to
the mother in law's house, so we can't definitive to
confirm that.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Do either of you know if the mother in law's
car made it to the mother in law's house. Is
the car where it's supposed to be? Yes? Okay, all right?
What kind of car is that?
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Leave it?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
All right?
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Gotcha?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Something that looks like a white Chevy Tahoe. All right,
So that made it there? Now, here's my question. Was
the mother in law in the car with her or
was she just driving the car back on her own
and then getting a ride back home?
Speaker 4 (12:49):
How was that working?
Speaker 6 (12:50):
She was driving to buy herself in the vehicle by herself?
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Okay, here's a.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
It may sound like an odd question, but Chloe, you
got the text. Did the text appear to be from Nikki?
You know, everybody has a style of texting. My texts
are as short as possible. Other people go on and
on and on. They'll send you three paragraphs in a text.
(13:19):
Was this text from Niki her normal texting style?
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Yes, it was, because right before that we were kind
of talking about other things too, So I that only
mean her would have know, So it didn't.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Occur like what what other things?
Speaker 5 (13:35):
She was just talking about the situation with her, the
family member that was in the hospital, and just kind
of the people mentioning children's names, and so it felt
like it was her.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Okay, So you feel sure that that was Niki texting,
and you believe based on that. This is very important, ladies,
because this is starting my timeline. You believe she was
alive that at midnight that night, and you believe, based
on the authenticity of that text, that she Nicki sent
(14:13):
that text. And because it was Nicki sending the text,
you believe she really was returning that car to her
mother in law's. Would you agree yes or no?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Now, isn't it true, ladies, that after that text, no
one sees or hears from Niki again.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Correct Ridding Police called on the public for help in
finding a California mom missing for over a month.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Niki now missing a month. Four children are asking where's mommy?
As young as seven years old. We are learning her
Chevy Avalanche found in a remote and hilly area on
an Old County road. But here's another problem in the
search for Nicki. The time delay listen. Eight days passed.
Speaker 9 (15:01):
From when Nikki Chang Sale McCain was last seen by
her family and the day her truck was found abandoned
into Hamma County. According to a missing person's flyer released
by the family, McCain was reportedly picked up from a
residence near Wynn River Casino in Redding, California, and may
have been later dropped off at her home in Anderson.
(15:21):
Investigators have not said where Intohama County the two thousand
and two Chevrolet Avalanche was found, or if the location
is the home where McCain may have been picked up.
Police have also not released whether the truck was in
working order.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Okay, this is a problem.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
How did she get from the mother in laws back
to her place?
Speaker 4 (15:40):
Did she ever get a ride?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Did she get a ride?
Speaker 4 (15:43):
If so?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
With who joining me? An all star pedal to make
sense of what we know right now. For those of
you joining us, there is a ten thousand dollar reward
for information that leads to the location of Niki changed
Sale McCain, known as Nicki. Her family calls her Niki
chain Uh. To Dave Matt crimeonline dot Com investigative reporter,
(16:06):
I understand that her Chevy Avalanche was found in this
hilly terrain. What I don't get is how we go
from her being in her mom in law's white Tahoe.
How did she go from that to her Chevy being
in a completely different area?
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Control Room.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
If I could see that map again, it's completely way
away from any radius where Nikki would have been traveling.
Look where her Look where her avalanche was located as
it relates to her home. And the reason we've got
the wind River Resort casino up there is because that's
(16:45):
where the mother in law lives. So that's not en route,
Dave mac Dave, what can you tell me about where
this vehicle is located? And then I'm going to circle
back on how critical it is to this investigation that
we've lost eight days.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Go ahead, all right.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
The distance is about forty five miles from the Wind
casino or the Wind Yeah, from where the casino is
to where the vehicle was actually found. You mentioned a
rugged kind of hilly terrain. Well, it was actually a
bridge area like an overpass with an off ramp, And
my understanding is that the vehicle was actually pulled around
(17:26):
the off ramp and underneath like it was being stashed
a little bit. See there, you've got the one place
that it could actually be considered maybe a bridge, very
rural train forty five minutes from or forty five miles
rather from the casino. And all we know is that
she took her mother in law's car to a home.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Owned by the family. We don't know what happened.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
She was supposed to be picked up by somebody and
taking to her home and Anderson, but there's nothing indicating
that took place. All we know is that she arrived
with her mother in law's car and her vehicle ended
up forty five miles away in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Now I could understand. Let's just pretend, okay, let's pretend
this is a real flight of fancy. Let's just pretend
she ran out of gas or head car trouble, flat tire.
Why would she pull her vehicle, her avalanche, up under
that behemoth.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
There is no reason she wouldn't be under there.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Somebody stashed her car under that overpass. Crime Stories with
Nancy Grace joining me an incredible team of experts. In
(18:47):
addition to Dave mac Ted Tobias joining us out of DC,
former Assistant US Attorney in DC and author of Nobody
Homicide Cases, A practical guide to investigating, prosecuting, and winning
cases when the victim is missing. Also with me, Brian Fitzgibbons,
(19:08):
director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security, who leads a
team of investigators specializing and finding missing people. Okay, first
to you, Ted Debias joining us out of DC. Ted,
that vehicle, the Chevy Avalanche, must be coned carefully and
(19:31):
processed correctly.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
We can't screw this up. What should be done or should.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Be being done right now with that avalanche.
Speaker 10 (19:41):
Absolutely, Nancy, you're going to want your crime scene folks
to scrub this thing like never before. You're looking for DNA,
you're looking for blood, hair fiber. You're also going to
check and see does this have a GPS. A lot
of cars today have tracking devices that are part of
their system. Used to be on Star and some of
these other things to to check for that. You're also
(20:01):
going to be looking for, Okay, where is the cell
phone of Nikki. We already know she had a cell phone,
we know she was texting. You're going to start looking
at cell tower information and figure out where could she be. Now,
if it's a rural area, which I think a number
of your folks on the program have said, that could
be more difficult because rural areas tend to have fewer
(20:24):
cell towers and it becomes more difficult to track where
those phones are. But those are the types of forensic
evidence which is key in a missing person's case, particularly
if God forbid it turns into a nobody homicide. The
forensic evidence is always key to these cases.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Nancy, Dad, when you stay, it's got to be you said, scrubbed.
It needs to be processed with the fine tooth com
And this is where I have found evidence in the past,
on the handle on the driver's door handle where somebody
opens the door, around the handle on the ignition and
(21:01):
if there is a gear shift on the shift. Also
I've had a case, and specifically it was the case
of Teresa Halback, who was a victim of Stephen Avery
who became a media darling and making a murderer. Okay,
he killed her, no question, Asuri agreed his perspiration. His
(21:23):
DNA was found on the ignition they didn't know each other,
and so there was no reason for that to be
His DNA was found elsewhere. But that said, it's very
important that this avalanche be processed appropriately and very carefully.
(21:45):
I've seen cases rise and fall on let me just say, sloppy,
sloppy gathering of evidence. And I've got a quick question
to one of the sisters, either one Chloe kay Am.
I seeing a handicap sticker on her tag?
Speaker 5 (22:02):
Yeah, Tyler had just bought her maybe a week or
two before she went missing.
Speaker 6 (22:07):
So it had not been registered to them yet.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
A handicapped sticker for what?
Speaker 6 (22:11):
Who's handing the previous owners? So this vehicle was not
registered yet to Tyler or NICKI.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Okay, and that previous owner had a handicapped sticker, correct,
is that right?
Speaker 6 (22:21):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Okay? So how long had they had the Chevy?
Speaker 6 (22:24):
I want to say before she went missing? A week
or two?
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Two weeks before she went missing. Gotcha, Okay, could be important.
It will confuse getting fingerprints because there's going to be
a lot of other people's prints in there that are
not theirs. But that said, no problem. Brian Fitzgibbons is
jumping in joining us from USPA Nationwide Security jump in.
Brian helped me out any thought.
Speaker 8 (22:46):
Yeah, yeah, Nancy, that is actually really important information that
this was two weeks ago that the vehicle was purchased.
So according to Tahama County Sheriff's bulletin, which in some
jurisictions they call a police log, when they found the vehicle,
they assessed that there was some burn damage on the
side of the vehicle. So, you know, I think investigators
(23:11):
need to find out was this burn damage there?
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Okay, I'm sorry you cut out on me. What did
you just say about burn damage?
Speaker 8 (23:18):
Yes, So the Tahama County Sheriff's Bulletin included a report
that there was burn damage to the side of the avalanche.
So I think it's important to note that that jumped
off the page to me. Given the location where the
avalanche was found and obviously the circumstances.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
When you say burn damage, what do you mean by that.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
So included in the bulletin the official report that the
Tahama County Sheriffs made to the public on all their
calls the office, the responding officer indicated that there was
burn damage on the side of the vehicle. There were
some photos circulated online that I believe showed part of
(24:05):
that burned damage. So, you know, not enough that would
make the vehicle not function, but you can see a
little melting to the plastic areas on the vehicle.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
An abandoned truck in a different county. Missed phone calls
and unanswered texts? Where is California?
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Mom?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Nikki Chang Saley McCain.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Right now, we're between the rock and a hard spot,
And I'll tell you why. First of all, the sisters
joining us today, Nikki's sisters Chloe and Kay didn't realize
anything was wrong. They got a late night text Chloe
did midnight from Nikki. We know it's Nikki because of
her writing style and the information that the text contained.
(24:48):
It was her. She was dropping off her mother in
law's vehicle. I want everybody to put their minds to
it and see if we can figure out who was
supposed to take Nikki from that location home that said
that's that night, then it's Monday, then Tuesday, before they realize, hey,
she never takes it back. She's not at mom's house.
(25:11):
So we've lost at least three, if not four days.
That is critical. Brian Fitzgibbons joining us Director Operations USPA
Nationwide Security.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
Every hour, every.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Hour, just let's say she's in a car sixty me
mph every hour, she's sixty miles further away. If anyone
has and I pray to God this is not true,
killed her. Every hour hurts the investigation. It hurts in
the discovery of the body. It hurts as to whether
(25:52):
the body is in subject to animal activity, as it
is euphemistically called. Every hour makes this more difficult in
finding Nikki.
Speaker 11 (26:03):
Agree, disagree, totally agree, And the vehicle being found forty
miles to the south, separating that from from Nicky's residents
and family homes definitely makes this challenging as well spreads
out the search area quite a bit.
Speaker 10 (26:20):
The other thing that you're dealing with here, Nancy, is
the ranch area.
Speaker 8 (26:25):
So a rancherreer, for those who aren't familiar with it,
is effectively a small Native American reservation. So you have
tribal lands in the middle of this missing person search,
which at a minimum complicates access for volunteer search parties
(26:47):
in the like. So you lump that onto a very
vast search area, remote terrain, and then issues with access.
This is a very challenging search for Nicki.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
You are so right. We are calling on you, the public,
to help find Niki. Take a listen to this another
fly in the ointment.
Speaker 9 (27:10):
The search for Niki Sale McCain continues, extending now onto
tribal land. The Wind River Casino granted permission for family,
friends and concerned citizens to come together on two days
to search the grounds and by plane. Chloe Sale, Nikki's sister,
tells local news reporters that the area is close to
where McCain was last seen or heard from. Other parts
(27:31):
of tribal grounds remain private due to tribal sovereignty. Access
has to be requested and granted before an area can
be searched.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Oh, Dear Lord in Heaven, you know how many times
I've run up against this when I would be told
or get credible information there had been a murder, that
there was an ongoing child molestation, ongoing domestic violence, that
would result in a homicide on tribal territory. I can't
(28:02):
just run in there with a search warrant just bust
up in the county issue Crown Victoria. That is not
gonna happen. It doesn't work that way, Dave Matt, What
can you tell me? I mean? It took how long
before the Renchria could be searched.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
It did take a number of days, and the Rentria
actually agreed to allow them to search in an area
near the casino, near the area where she was last seen.
They did not allow for a further investigation. They didn't
go further onto the property, but the area right around
the casino.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Dave Matt, Please, I gotta dissect twit you're saying, Hold
on all right? So they who is? They say, searchers
can come on, but only around this limited area. Like what, yes,
you think you ever took NICKI is gonna put her
in with a Christmas bow on a silver platter right
(28:58):
there at the casino doorstep. They would not allow searches
to go beyond a certain area. Is that what you said?
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Exactly what I'm saying?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Okay, pick it up right there, please, So.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
They allowed for the search to take place, but only
in a very limited area. And it was right thereby
the casino where they believe she might have last been,
and that was it. Now the rancheria actually is contributing
to the reward money. They've been participating in this again,
(29:30):
but it's so limited. Nick. They haven't just said come
on in and look. They've said you can look right here,
but other areas sovereign, you can't have it.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Brian Fitzgibbons. That is not helping me.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
Yes, so that the tribe is limiting the search areas
that these search parties can go on. You know, they
have put up a billboard, they have offered a ten
thousand dollars reward. These public shows of support have been made.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Wait a minute, Wait a minute, Brian, I appreciate the money.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
I would rather have a full.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
On search with scent dogs, bloodhounds, cadaver dogs, shoulder to shoulder, cadets, volunteers,
Chloe Kay, everybody searching as far as they can not. Hey,
don't get past the shadow of this casino. Absolutely, that
is not helping me. Fitzgibbons, What is their problem? I
(30:24):
don't care if they hear me.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Yeah, what's the problem.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Why wouldn't they let the searchers search beyond that?
Speaker 4 (30:31):
I couldn't agree more, Nancy.
Speaker 8 (30:33):
I mean, these public shows that support mean nothing when
you don't allow the search parties to completely search the
tribal lands where Nicky was last known to be. So
you know they have to jump in here and actually
open up access to these search parties.
Speaker 9 (30:53):
Family members have released their own missing persons flyer with
hopes of finding Nikki Chang Siley McCain. McCain described by
officials as four to eleven and weighing one hundred and
ten pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Relatives
say she has a tattoo of roses inside a geometric
shape on her forearm.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Family and friends plead for tips as the search continues
for Niki Chang Sale McCain, missing for over a month.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
In family and friends' efforts to find Niki, the biggest
missing person flyer you will ever see has gone up
as a billboard Lessen.
Speaker 9 (31:33):
It's the biggest missing person flyer you'll see. A billboard
has gone up along North Interstate five and Andersen near
Ball's Ferry Road exit that says help find Nicki Ching
Sale McCain. Besides photos of sale McCain, the phone numbers
for North cal Alliance for the Missing, and Shasta County
Sheriff's officer provided. It's not known who paid for the Billboard.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
Crime stories. With Nancy Grace joining me in allstar panel,
including Nicki's two sisters, Chloe and Kay, Chloe to you,
did the authorities not take her disappearance seriously? Why was
there such a slow start in the search for Nicki?
Speaker 5 (32:21):
You know, in the beginning, I did make a missing
person's report through RPD, which is Fredding Police Department, and
then after giving that officer information, it turns out that
because of where they were living and where kind of
where she was last seen, it was in a different county,
and so then it got switched over from the RPD
(32:43):
department to the Chefs County Sheriff's department.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
So that was a slow down in addition to the
weekend delay, in addition to the eight days it took
to find her Chevy Avalanche parked under an overpass. But
now can we talk about the elephant in the room. Listen?
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Nicki Salia McCain was last seen by her family on
May seventeenth, with the text message received just after midnight
on the eighteenth. This is eleven days after her husband
appears in court for a hearing and pleads not guilty
to beating his wife of thirteen years. The next court
date for the felony domestic violence case is set for
June twenty eighth. Since Nicki is the prosecution's only witness,
(33:22):
if she doesn't show up for court, the case could
be dismissed. Judge Daniel Flynn decides to continue the hearing
until July fifth to give the prosecution more time to
find Nicki or other evidence in the case.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Chloe, how long had the abuse and the beatings by
the husband gone on?
Speaker 5 (33:43):
So in the beginning, my sister didn't want to tell me,
but it had been going on for about maybe three
and a half four years.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Tay, did you know about your sister's beatings that she
was enduring in her home.
Speaker 6 (33:58):
We did know that their altercations in their fights became
fiscal in the last like I said, three to four years,
we didn't know to which degree it had escalated. So
the incident in December was definitely eye opened her for
us to which degree she was living with the domestic violence.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
I'm hearing in my ear to make sure in her
mind everyone that these are just allegations. Okay, that said, Chloe,
why do you believe your sister kept the beatings a secret?
I mean he has tied up her wrists and ankles,
poured cold water over her after he beat her, put
(34:42):
tape over her mouth so she couldn't speak. She endured,
she lives, She survived through that incident. Chloe, why do
you believe she wouldn't tell you what was happening.
Speaker 6 (34:55):
I think she was afraid.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
She's my older sister, so she wanted to be I'm
your older sister, and I'm okay, And she didn't want
to scare me, I think, and she was so terrified.
But I think she put up at the front like
she was grave and that she was okay.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
Take a listen to this.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
After three hours of Tyler McCain allegedly beating his wife,
the mother of his four children, hitting her about the
face and head, blackening her eyes, pulling out her hair,
and taping her mouth shut, he leaves her alone and
goes into the kitchen, getting herself loose from the bindings.
Nikki Sale McCain grabs a rope with her car keys,
runs outside and gets in her car. Tyler McCain chases
(35:35):
Nicki out of the house and jumps onto the hood
of the car, telling her to stop. Ignoring his demands.
Nicki flees to the safety of her sister's home.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
In reading all of this said, do you believe her
disappearing maybe a way to escape her husband? Do you
think she went on her own? No?
Speaker 6 (35:55):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
No she I don't either, And I'll tell you why.
Four reasons. Seven years old, nine years old, eleven years old,
and thirteen years old. Those are the four reasons I
don't think she left on her own. Why does it matter?
All that matters right now is finding Niki.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
And I can tell you this much.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
The Reading and Rancheria is part of the problem. They
have slowed down the search for Niki.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
The Redding Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe with the
reservation in Shasta County, California. The Reading Rancheria is actually
a combination of multiple indigenous tribes that formed in the seventies,
gaining official recognition in nineteen seventy nine. The Reading Ranchera
established the Wind River Resort and Casino along California State
Route two seventy three near I five between Reading and Anderson.
(36:46):
It has produced significant revenue for the tribe, enabling capital
payments to each member and Tyler. McCain is a direct
descendant of one of the Reading Rancheria's original tribal elders,
Art Hayward. Nicki Salia McCain was seen by her family
on May seventeenth, with the text message received just after
midnight on the eighteenth. This is eleven days after her
(37:07):
husband appears in court for a hearing and pleads not
guilty to beating his wife of thirteen years. The next
coordinate for the felony domestic violence case is set for
June twenty eighth. Since Nicki is the prosecution's only witness.
If she doesn't show up for court, the case could
be dismissed. Judge Daniel Flynn decides to continue the hearing
until July fifth to give the prosecution more time to
(37:29):
find Niki or other evidence in the case.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Question to UK this, Nicky's sister has a husband been
out searching for his wife?
Speaker 6 (37:37):
She has not attended any of the searches that we've done.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Have you spoken to him, Kay about where's Nicki? We
have and he said, what.
Speaker 6 (37:45):
He doesn't really, he says he doesn't know.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
That day when you guys drove out to the house
and asked him, where's NICKI? What were the what were
the choices he gave you as to where she may be?
Speaker 4 (37:57):
Chloe? She said he.
Speaker 5 (37:58):
Didn't know, and that she took an uber and left somewhere.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Okay, So I understand that he gave different theories as
to where she went. What else did he say beside
she took an uber.
Speaker 5 (38:08):
That's what she had told me, But he had told
my other family members that she took off with a
lesbian lover. And then he had also said that she
took off with a guy to Las Vegas.
Speaker 1 (38:21):
So he says, A, she took an uber somewhere, I
don't know. B she took off with a lesbian lover.
Did you know anything about a lesbian lover?
Speaker 6 (38:32):
No?
Speaker 4 (38:34):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (38:34):
At three, that she took off with a mail to
go to the casino.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
Is that what you said?
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Those are the three choices?
Speaker 6 (38:42):
To Las Vegas?
Speaker 4 (38:43):
Yes, to Vegas? Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
There's no way in ac double l Nikki would leave
these four children just alone, if in for themselves. That's
not going to happen. She's never taken me time. You know,
a lot of moms they go off to a spa,
they go to girls' weekends.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
Not her.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
No, that did not have happen. If can anybody give
me a straight answer on who was supposed to pick
her up from her mother in laws that night?
Speaker 6 (39:07):
NICKI said it would be one of the roommates that
lived with him at the house.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Okay, all right, at least I know that much, and
I'm sure that roommate has already been questioned. Now let
me understand something, Ted Debias joining us the former US attorney,
former assistant US Attorney in DC, and author of no
body homicide cases?
Speaker 4 (39:29):
Did you hear this?
Speaker 1 (39:30):
And I think this is really important, Ted, that Nicki
is the state's only witness and that aggravated assault case.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
Did you hear that?
Speaker 1 (39:43):
And now it's time for the case. And the judge,
who was Judge Daniel Flynn at least decided to continue
further notice, delay the hearing until July five, that's about
to happen, to give the execution time defined Nicki or
evidence in the case. Now, I'm not coming at this
(40:06):
from a legal angle, because you and I both know
we could get in excited utterances. We could get what
she said to cops, We could get.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
A lot of her here'say.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
Comments in as evidence, but that's not going.
Speaker 4 (40:17):
To really fly if there's a jury.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
So the significance of the timing ted jump in.
Speaker 10 (40:23):
So, Nancy, it is very important because what you often
see in nobody homicide cases, which of course we all
hope this is not, but you often see what's called
a triggering event, and a court case is a classic
triggering event. And you recall here there was a court
hearing on May seventh where the case was going to
be going forward. Now we have less than two weeks later.
(40:46):
Of course Nicki is missing. That to me is very important.
Over fifty percent of nobody murder cases involve domestic relationships.
It can be husband, wife, can be boyfriend, girlfriend. It
is very common and all of the things we're seeing
here are very common in nobody murder cases. Unfortunately, and
(41:06):
as you correctly pointed out, if Nicky cannot testify at
that trial for whatever reason, the charges are going to
be dropped. From the little that we know about the case,
it seems as if, and I think the DA has
already mentioned this, the case cannot go forward, and that case,
Nancy is even in the realm of dovestic violence, strikes
(41:28):
me as a very serious, significant case. And what especially
strikes me and is concerning is what you've already pointed out.
The taping of the hands, the taping of the legs,
the tape over the mouth, all of that is not
something you typically see in a domestic violence case. Those
are very concerning actions allegedly by Tyler McCain against his
(41:50):
wife NICKI.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
I know nobody wants to hear this ted debias, but
that attack on Nicky was like a dry run.
Speaker 4 (42:00):
I agree, yes for k for a murder.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
When do you tie someone's hands, their feet, their mouth,
You torture them poor cold water on them, turn them
over on their stomach to make it even more difficult
to talk. And keeping in mind that this strong likelihood
all the children were at home when this happened to
Chloe and Kate. Number one, our prayers are going up tonight,
(42:27):
as you must know. Number two, it disturbs me that
the family and friends have had to do so much.
I haven't heard about this case. I haven't read about it.
You know how I found out about it. One of
you wrote me on Twitter. One of you tweeted me,
that's how I found out Niki was missing. Where is
(42:51):
the support for Niki? Please hear us. I know you
don't know Niki. I know you've never met her, but
there are four children as young as seven years old
hanging in the balance. There is a ten thousand dollars
reward tip line five three zero two four five six
(43:15):
one three five. If she's still alive, she can be found.
But we need help. The family needs help, her children
need help. Five three zero two four five six one
three five. I want to thank all of our guests
for being with us, for you joining us, but especially
(43:38):
to the sisters Chloe and Kay leading the search for
their sister, Nikki. Nancy Grace signing off, goodbye friend,