11 Shocking Updates in Missing Mother Murder Case

There are bombshell new details in the. murder of Nikki Saley McCain, a. California mom who went missing in 2024. And despite not finding her body, Shasta. County authorities charged her husband, Tyler McCain, with killing her. For more. than a week, witnesses have taken the. stand during a preliminary hearing with. a judge expected to decide soon if this. case will in fact go to trial. We are. learning a lot more about what was. allegedly happening behind closed doors. at this family home and why one witness. says he wants to take back what he said.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. [Music]. A preliminary hearing is underway in. Reading, California in the case of Tyler. McCain, who is accused of killing his. wife Nikki to keep her from testifying. against him in a domestic violence case. For days, McCain, as well as Nikki's. friends and family, have been inside a. Shasta County courtroom hearing. testimony about what happened or. allegedly happened in the leadup to.

Nikki going missing in May of 2024, as. well, by the way, as well as what clues. were on Earth during the desperate. search for this mom of four. Now, Nikki. was reported missing just before she was. supposed to testify against her husband, Tyler, about brutal domestic violence. that put her in the hospital. But when. law enforcement couldn't locate Nikki, the charges against Tyler had to be. dropped. And as prosecutors announced in. August that not only were they reopening. the domestic violence case, but they.

were also charging Tyler with Nikki's. murder. And though Nikki's remains have. yet to be found, she is believed to be. dead. And as we go through what happened. day in and day out of this preliminary. hearing, you will get a sense of what. prosecutor's theory is. According to the. district attorney though, this is the. first time a nobody murder case has been. charged in Shasta County. Now, here is. what the sheriff had to say about. Tyler's arrest. A day after taking the. missing person's case, detectives served.

a search warrant at Nikki and Tyler's. residence. Various items of evidentiary. value were seized as evidence. However, Nikki was not located. On May 25th, 2024, Nikki's vehicle, that Chevy. Avalanche was located by a citizen off. of Highway 36 in an area near Plina, kind of on the border of Shassa and Taha. counties. Detectives and crime scene. invest in investigators processed the. vehicle and located physical evidence.

which indicated foul play. The area where Nikki's vehicle was. located was searched extensively by. sheriff's office employees and our. search and rescue teams. But again, Nikki was not located. Since the start of this investigation, detectives and law enforcement and. allied agencies have worked tirelessly. to locate Nikki and to determine the. events surrounding her disappearance. Detectives have served search warrants,

conducted numerous field searches, multiple interviews of member of family. members, friends, and acquaintances, all. to no avail, we still have not located. Nikki. Based on the evidence gathered, information learned from interviews, and. the fact that no one in Nikki's family. has seen or heard from Nikki since her. disappearance, the detectives has. determined that Nikki is a victim of. homicide. Detectives also further concluded that.

Nikki's husband, Tyler Scott McCain, is. responsible for Nikki's death and. disappearance. Detectives recently obtained a murder. arrest warrant for Tyler McCain. And. today, at about 10:15 a.m. Tyler McCain. was arrested. He was ultimately booked in the Shast. County Jail with no bail for the murder. of Nikki. And then there was a press. release that prosecutors had put out at. the time that gave more information. about the terrifying violence that Nikki.

allegedly experienced behind closed. doors. It read, "A confidential. informant provided a statement to. detectives reporting that Tyler McCain. admitted to killing Nikki on May 18th, 2024 after a domestic violence incident. Further investigation revealed a history. of domestic violence between Tyler. McCain and Nikki dating back to. approximately 2020. On December 1st, 2023, Nikki filed a report with the. Shasta County Sheriff's Office following. a domestic violence incident with Tyler. McCain the week prior. The sheriff's.

deputy contacted Nikki at Mercy Medical. Center, where she was seeking treatment. and observed obvious injuries to Nikki's. face, including blackened eyes and other. facial trauma. Nikki stated on November. 29th, 2023, she was physically assaulted. by her husband, Tyler McCain, at their. home for approximately 3 hours. During. this time, Tyler McCain struck Nikki in. the face multiple times, pulled her. hair, poured large amounts of water over. her, bound her ankles and wrists. together with tape, and covered her. mouth with tape. Nikki stated based on.

the event she was in fear for her life, and believed she was going to die. After. he was arrested, Tyler entered a. not-uilty plea to all 12 charges that he. faces. Includes murder, false. imprisonment, possession, and ammunition. after a criminal protective order, forgery. This is according to KRCR. He's. been locked up with no bail. But over. the last several days, this is what we. want to talk about. He has been inside. the Shasta County Courthouse hearing. details about the case against him as a.

judge has to determine whether or not. there is enough evidence against him for. this to go to trial. Is there enough. probable cause here? That is what we. talk about when we refer to a. preliminary hearing. So, to break down. this hearing, which has lasted more than. a week, it still isn't done. And I want. to bring in attorney Anthony Oso. Anthony, so good to see you. You've been. following this case uh for months. Criminal defense attorney, former. prosecutor. Would love your perspective. on this because unfortunately uh your. experience is with a lot of domestic. violence situations and that's at the.

center of what we're talking about here. based on the prosecu prosecutor's. allegations. So I want to go through. what has been presented at this hearing. so far. Now, to be clear, cameras. haven't been allowed in the courtroom, but we're getting these reports from. local outlets like KRCRTV. We also have independent media. organization Shasta Scout. Uh there's. newspaper Record Search Light. They have. provided details about what witnesses. had to say each day. So, we go to day. one, September 4th. The prosecution. called its first witness, Reading PD.

detective Jeremiah Cassinger, and he. testified that Nikki's sister, Khloe, reported her missing when Nikki stopped. responding to texts. The tech the. detective testified that Khloe told him. Nikki had made several domestic violence. reports, including one where Tyler. allegedly pointed a gun at her, threatening to kill her. The next. witness was Tyler's cousin, Larry Fultz. He said on May 20th, two days after. Nikki was last seen, Tyler came to his. house asking for a ride, holding a gas.

can, suggesting his car had run out of. gas. Faultz testified that Tyler seemed. to be mumbling to himself. He believed. that Tyler was high on meth, and Faultz. had said that both Tyler and Nikki had. used meth. A deputy testified about. finding Nikki's missing Chevy Avalanche. on May 25th off Highway 36, saying, quote, "He smelled death, saw flies and. gnats around the covered truck bed." The. truck showed signs of having been used.

to transport a body, but Nikki's. remains, by the way, truck showed signs. of having been used to transport a body, but again, Nikki's remains weren't. inside. They weren't nearby. Another. detective described investigative leads. which included information from an. eyewitness who said they saw the missing. truck and what they described as a white. tweaker looking male walking on a remote. road. That witness later identified. Tyler in a lineup. According to the. detective, in the afternoon on that. first day, Nikki herself was heard.

There was an audio recording that was. played where Nikki described that brutal. assault by Tyler back in 2023. So. Anthony, that's all on day one. What. stands out to you? >> Well, I think you've got a repetitive. behavior of violence by Tyler towards. Nikki in this case. And so when we're. looking at murder and specifically. domestic violence murders, that's nature. nature of the relationship evidence that. the prosecution will likely use to prove. motive in this case. >> And by the way, preliminary hearings. generally, do they need to even present.

this much or is it saying, "Look, we're. going above and beyond to show you that. this case should go to trial." I think. the latter, Jesse. Um I don't think that. it's a requirement. Probable cause is a. lower standard than guilt innocence. Um. beyond a reasonable doubt. Uh and and. really I think in other jurisdictions. outside of California, you don't really. see the use of these preliminary. hearings as much. Um but in California, there's a big emphasis for efficiency. and kind of not leaving. Um you know,

kind of putting their cards out. I think. that's what the prosecution is doing. here. By the way, little side note, we. have been super busy here trying to. update you on sidebar about all of these. breaking stories and I'm always looking. for ways to not think about other things. so I can just, you know, focus on. Sidebar. I'll tell you what, I don't. want to focus on my phone bill and I. don't want to think about a bloated. wireless charge. So, let me tell you. about Mint Mobile because with our. sponsor, Mint, you can get the same. great coverage and speed that you're. used to, but for a fraction of the cost. Seriously, all of Mint's plans come with.

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for first three months only. Speeds may. slow above 35 gigabytes on an unlimited. plan. Taxes and fees are extra. See Mint. Mobile for details. But the defense. looks at this and they say, "Okay, now. we have a road map of where where the. prosecution's going." Right. So, we can. use this to our advantage. >> Absolutely. It's hugely beneficial for. the defense anytime you've got an. opportunity to cross-examine the state's. witnesses before your um before you're. set for an actual trial. That's going to. be a huge benefit. >> Okay, now we go to day two. There's like.

seven days here so far. So, day two, Sheriff's Office Detective Sergeant. Jerry Maul showed photographs of Nikki's. injuries after reportedly being beaten. by Tyler. These are graphic images. allegedly showing facial trauma, black. eyes, cuts, bruises. Two deputies also. testified about a traffic stop when they. pulled Tyler over back in April after he. was seen throwing things out the window. According to Record Search Light, they. said they found Nikki's partially burned. driver's license inside Tyler's wallet.

A forensic technician took the stand to. reveal the evidence found when Nikki's. truck was located. She also remarked on. the strong odor of decomposition. This. was coming from the covered truck bed. and inside there was a white sheet with. apparent blood stains and dried blood. was smeared on the truck bed along with. strands of dark hair. Technician also. revealed an absolutely horrifying detail. that when the avalanche was placed on a.

lift so they could check underneath it, blood pulled and started dripping out. Now Anthony, it's horrific. I think it. gives you an idea that Nikki is dead, but does it directly tie back into. Tyler? >> Well, I think with the burnt ID, it can. in a sense, but the bigger point of all. that evidence to establish, look, that. there that she is in fact dead, right? When we're dealing with a murder case. and we don't have a body, um the. prosecution's really got to lean into.

that circumstantial evidence to. establish that um she is in fact dead. And when you've got her car with what. looks to be like a murder crime scene. and the fact that she is missing and. hasn't been found, um, I think can lead. to at least established probable cause. of the element that she's no longer. alive. >> and how difficult is it to prosecute no. body cases? It's significantly more. difficult than when you have a body. because in the end of the day, um the.

defense can always kind of lean on the. look, that's reasonable doubt, no body, reasonable doubt, right? And so, um it's. sort of a couched in defense and it's. you don't have that medical examiner. testimony that you would normally have. in in a regular murder trial. So, um it. creates a really difficult position for. the prosecution. We got to talk about. what happened on day three. Okay, so. according to reporting, Tyler had sat.

basically motionless in his chair at the. defense table, maybe his head in his. hands, only looking up every once in a. while well before putting his head back. down. But then on day three of this. preliminary hearing, Tyler reportedly. had an outburst and it came during. testimony about photos that a witness. had seen along the walls of the family. home during a search. And that is when. Tyler reportedly shouted, "This is BS.". He obviously said it, "This is BS." Now,

according to the Shast the Scout, quote, he asked the court why placing photos of. his family on the wall of his home would. be a bad thing before stating. emphatically that he should never have. been arrested. So, the judge ended up. calling for a short break while Tyler's. attorney spoke with him. Um, Anthony, what do you think about that? I, you. know, in a preliminary hearing, Jesse, where it's just a judge um that's acting. as the factfinder, I think it's not as. big of a deal as if you were to have 12.

people in the box, you know, a full jury. watching this. Um, so obviously you. can't have Al House in court, but I. think the the level of detriment to. Tyler McCain is is less because it's a. judge and the judge is supposed to, you. know, act out of logic and and be. neutral and not act out of emotion. >> Yeah. The substance of the outburst. though, the idea that he seemingly was. upset about these photos being shown, uh, he it seemed, again, I'm not a mind.

reader. I'm not a psychologist, but it. seemed that he didn't quite understand. why that was relevant, right? Why is it. bad that there are photo, you know, having photos in the house? Why is that. something being used by the prosecution? Why is that coming into evidence? I. >> I I can't say. Um, I don't necessarily. know their angle here. um he's probably. aware that these proceedings are public. and you know anytime something's in the. news and is out in a hearing that it's. likely potentially going to be in the.

media and so I think that could lead to. a level of frustration. Um but not every. single piece of evidence the prosecution. puts in necessarily goes towards an. element. Sometimes it just creates a. familial framework. And so, um, it could. just be for the judge to have a better. understanding of the nature of Tyler. McCain and Nikki McCain's relationship. >> By the way, this outburst was not the. only thing that happened on day three. There's more we got to talk about. So, on day three, the forensic technician. testified again about some of the. evidence that was found in the.

investigation. She said that a community. member had found partially burned credit. cards with Nikki's name on them, turned. them into investigators. The prosecution. showed photos that compared the burn. patterns on the credit cards to the burn. pattern on Nikki's driver's license. They appeared the same. There was also. testimony about a search of a garage. belonging to Janette Hayward. This is. Tyler's mom. Now, investigators say they. found a partially burned white comforter. stuffed in a corner of the garage. And.

because of soot found on the ceiling and. some burned spiderw webs, technicians. determined that something had been. burned inside the garage fairly. recently. And Anthony, you couple that. with the testimony about the gas can. find the body, the remains, other. evidence of burning. I think there's a. conclusion that prosecutors are reaching. here. >> Sure. I think they're they're really. relying on circumstantial evidence, especially without a body, without a. direct crime scene, um sort of building.

these blocks to create um the bigger. picture that there's possible burning to. dispose of of Nikki McCain. >> So, day four brought new information. about how Nikki's truck was abandoned, as well as revelations about an affair. she apparently had been having. So, a. man named Justin Karen, also apparently. known as Tutll, lived on a trailer on or. near the McCain property, and he. reportedly was with Tyler when Tyler.

moved the avalanche to the rural area. where it was abandoned. Karen said that. he asked Tyler if the truck and. something in it needed to disappear, to. which Karen claims, Tyler replied, "Yes." Now, in the afternoon session of. day four, the court heard from a man. named Lewis Barahas. Now, he said he met. Nikki while he was working at a phone. store and their relationship eventually. turned romantic. He said Nikki told him. that she was getting a divorce. He also. testified that Nikki showed up at his.

home after having been beaten and. tortured by Tyler in that vicious. domestic violence incident. Now, Anthony, let's go to this. Why is the. affair the here this apparent affair? Why is that important testimony? >> It's motive, Jesse. Um, it's. sort of the reason, the culmination of. all this violence that's led up and and. potentially the realization of that fact. is what led Tyler McCain to murder Nikki. McCain. Um, it's a double-edged sword.

because it does open up potential sudden. passion defense for the defense. But I. think if you really break down that. witness's testimony, um he too talks. about repetitive violent behavior by. Tyler towards Nikki, which would. establish that he wasn't acting out of. passion um when he committed this crime. >> Yeah. And and by the way, just to be. clear about a point of law, he's also. right a good a witness to corroborate. the violence, the alleged violence that. she endured, the domestic violence. But.

this is a tricky case, I imagine, for. defense attorneys because for. prosecutors, they would want to. introduce evidence of domestic violence. and they would want to introduce. evidence that Nikki was about to testify. against Tyler, right? But where does it. cross the line that if they just. introduce so much evidence of domestic. violence, it can be overly prejuditial. for the defendant? Or does that not. apply here? because the domestic. violence is tied so closely to the. motive here.

>> The latter, Jesse, I think when you're. looking at a homicide between a husband. and wife, any sort of violence. beforehand is going to be highly. relevant and it's going to pass any sort. of balancing test as far as prejudice. goes. Um, you know, it's prejuditial, I. think, but it's not overly prejuditial. So that's what. >> le let's talk about day five. So day. five, Barahas continued his testimony. and he said that he and Nikki were. intimate on the night of May 17th, 2024,

which was the last time that he saw her. They were texting, they were calling. each other after that into the early. morning of May 18th. But then Nikki's. side of the conversation abruptly. stopped. Now, in a twist, the defense. brought up messages between the two of. them that seemingly through suspicion on. Barahas. So, in some of their last. communications, they were fighting. According to the Shasta Scout, Nikki had. gotten a ride from Justin Karen. And in.

texts, Barahas allegedly accused her of. sleeping with Karen, saying things like. he was going to release all his evil on. her and that she was going to pay. He. also said that Nikki believed she could. sometimes feel the presence of spirits. around her. So he said he hoped that. whatever was lying around her home got. her. Now Barahas told the court that. those messages came from a place of. insecurity and it wasn't about her. relationship with anyone else. Uh. Anthony problem certainly a problem. Um.

this definitely creates um another. suspect that the defense can blame this. case on and especially when you don't. have a body. um that's another sort of. wrench the defense can throw on the. prosecution's chain to try and throw. them off or get the jury um to find that. there's reasonable doubt. So, it's it's. definitely a problem and I think it's. going to be really important for the. state to use that forensic evidence to. try and tie things back to Tyler McCain. >> What about this? We had another witness.

who testified, a DNA expert from the. Department of Justice, and she testified. about the blood that was found on a. sheet in the truck bed. Her analysis. showed that the blood on that sheet and. in the truck bed belonged to Nikki. And. she was able to reach that conclusion. thanks to kinship DNA. She compared the. blood to the DNA of Nikki and Tyler's. daughter. But she also testified that. blood and other fluids on the sheet show. quote very strong support for inclusion.

of Tyler. What do you make of that? >> That's that's a lynch pin for the. prosecution. Um it's that piece of. evidence that's going to. go against any defense theory that it. was Barahas or that Tyler wasn't. involved. I think when you couple that. with the examiner's. evaluation that they smelled. decomposition, um those are great facts to for the. prosecution to lean on to establish that. she in fact was murdered and that Tyler.

was part of the murder itself as well as. the disposal of the body. >> Right. By the way, uh KRCR reports that. Tyler's mom, Janette, uh testified on. day 5, too, but really didn't provide. that much information. They basically. said she didn't remember many of the. details. But then you go to day six. So. day six brought shocking testimony from. just one witness. Remember earlier when. I mentioned that a confidential. informant told investigators that Tyler. had admitted that he killed Nikki? That. informant took the stand and said he.

made it all up. Yeah. Here's what we. know from record search light reporting. The informant is a man named France. Nelson. And at one point he apparently. lived on the McCain family property. So. prosecutors showed an interview that. Shasta County deputies had recorded of. Nelson, who at the time was in jail in. an unrelated case. In the video, Nelson. said that Tyler had told him that he and. Nikki were quote wrestling in the bed. and then went to sleep. Claimed that. Tyler told him that when he woke up, he.

saw vomit, tried to do CPR on Nikki, and. Nelson said that Tyler was crying when. he told him that, quote, he had probably. killed her. According to record search. light, Nelson also said on the video. that he would wear a recording device to. try and get Tyler to say what happened. What came of that recording, if there. ever was one, unclear. But then Nelson. said in court, he made it all up. Yeah. He admitted that law enforcement had. said that he would get out of jail if he. cooperated with them. He testified that.

he'd said a lot of false things to the. detective. Record Search Light quoted. Nelson as saying, "I was trying to get. out of jail. I made it all up. I wasn't. ready to go back to prison. I was saying. whatever I could to get out of jail at. the time. Have you ever been behind. bars? You're going to say whatever you. can to get out of jail? This is my fifth. prison term. Now, Anthony, how did prosecutors miss this? They Is. this what they wanted him to testify to? I mean, what's going on here? >> No, I don't think so. I mean, in the end.

of the day, witnesses, live testimony, things happen in trial and they happen. in hearings. And so, um, the prosecution. has an ethical responsibility to just. ask their witnesses to tell the truth. And I think that's likely one of the. benefits to the prosecution about having. this preliminary hearing is what are the. witnesses going to say? Let's tie them. down to the record. So, here they have a. good idea that that uh, France might. Nelson might not be their strongest. witness for their case. Um, but I don't.

think an admission is necessary in a. case like this, although it would have. definitely been helpful. >> Yeah. I was going to ask you this. reverse course, does it affect whether. or not this preliminary hearing whether. or not there's enough probable cause to. move forward with the case against. Tyler? >> I don't think so because I think that. they have enough evidence through other. witnesses to establish that there's. probable cause. Um, >> yeah. >> I think it presents problems for this. witness to testify in an actual trial,

though, because. >> Oh, yeah. >> two separate accounts of of um what. happened. >> Uh, real quick, before we go to day. seven, final day that we're going to. talk about, uh, how would it even be. allowed for him to testify about what. Tyler told him? Isn't that hearsay? >> No, it's not hearsay. Well, there's a. lot of exceptions to the rule of. hearsay. And so, um, a party opponent. admission doesn't amount to hearsay and. it's admissible in court. So, um, Santa. say California verse Tyler McCain, anything that Tyler McCain says can be.

used against him. There you go. Okay, day seven. So, day seven brought what I. would say were some of the most. disturbing evidence so far in this very. long preliminary hearing. neverbeforeseen. ring camera footage that showed Tyler or. allegedly showed Tyler outside of a door. screaming at his wife. According to. reporting from record search light, Tyler yelled, "Open the bleeping door.". To which a person inside believed to. have been Nikki replied, "No, if you.

don't open the door now, I swear I will. bleeping kill you." Then a short time. later in the video, I'm asking you. please nicely to open the bleeping door. I will kill everyone in this bleeping. house. I swear everyone in the family. will die. And then later, I'm calm now. Open the door. Open the door. Open the. door. Open the door. It's pretty. terrifying. Even if you don't watch it, you're just saying it. You can get a. sense of what we're talking about here. Now, that video was apparently taken at. Nikki's sister, uh, Khloe Sy's home. Uh.

the date it was recorded is unclear, but. according to the detective testifying. about the video, Nikki had moved in with. Khloe for a while during a really rough. patch in their marriage. Uh and this is. several years before Nikki's. disappearance and death. By the way, Record Searchlight reports that Khloe. currently has custody of the four. children that Nikki had with Tyler. There are protective orders in place to. keep Tyler from contacting his children. and his wife's family. Um, Anthony,

that's really disturbing. How can that. come into evidence if it is semi-. removed from the events in question? >> I I think it goes back to it being. nature of the relationship evidence. And. so oftent times um under the murder. statute, it allows for that evidence to. come back into play. Most of the time. you'll have to you'll have to tie that. back into um whether the complainant in. this case whether Nikki was aware uh.

that he was acting that way. But again, I I think I think even if you couldn't, it just goes to show that violent sort. of behavior by Tyler towards Nikki that. is going to be relevant in this kind of. trial. >> He can't deny that it's his voice if. that recording is what it is, right? I. mean, defense attorneys would say what? Yeah, he was angry. Who hasn't been. angry? doesn't mean doesn't make him an. actual killer. >> You could argue that. Um but I think. that there's other evidence and other. violent acts that the prosecution kind.

of just rebut that with. But yeah, the. defense probably has to explain it in. that fashion. >> Well, look, a lot at stake here. He's. facing life in prison without the. possibility of parole if he's convicted. of murder. So, we'll see how this case. ultimately progresses. But, uh Anthony. Oso, thank you so much for taking the. time. Really appreciate it. >> Thanks for having me on. Good to see. you. And that's all we have for you. right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcast. You can follow. me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber.

I'll see you next time. [Music].