It’s been 10 months since 40-year-old Happy Valley resident Nikki Saelee-McCain was last heard from by her family and friends, and went missing. In those 10 months, community members have risen up and dedicated countless hours to help locate Saelee-McCain.
Volunteers searched for Saelee-McCain all over Shasta County and its surrounding areas. National and local news outlets, television journalists, and numerous podcasters covered the story that Saelee-McCain had gone missing, seemingly without a trace.
Some Shasta County residents plastered the greater Redding area with posters to alert the public of Saelee-McCain’s disappearance. Others stuck bumper stickers with Saelee-McCain’s face on their cars that read #JUSTICEFORNIKKICHENG.
Psychics even stepped forward with attempts to predict Saelee-McCain whereabouts.
But Saelee-McCain is still missing.
On Friday morning, under a freakishly rare March snowfall, Shasta County Sheriff’s Office officials, FBI agents, and members of Homeland Security served a warrant on and raided the Happy Valley home in which Saelee-McCain once lived with her husband Tyler McCain and their children.
Later that night, the search for Saelee-McCain took an unexpected, tragic turn when SCSO shared with the public a media release that announced that the current search for Saelee-McCain was now ruled as a homicide investigation.
“Based on evidence gathered, information learned from interviews and the fact that none of Nikki’s family members have heard from Nikki since May 18, 2024, detectives have determined Nikki is a victim of a homicide,” the SCSO media release reported.
The media release also said, “… detectives have identified persons of interest in her homicide, however identities are being withheld due to the ongoing nature of this investigation.”
Raid occurred just days after press conference
The raid on the McCain home, as well as the announcement that Saelee-McCain’s disappearance is now classified as a homicide investigation, came just days after the SCSO organized a news media press conference on Mon., March 10, for Saelee-McCain’s family to remind the public that Saelee-McCain is still missing, and to once again ask for the public’s assistance in finding her.
FBI officials were present at the press conference.
To the bewilderment of many, however, the SCSO did not provide a statement or answer questions at the press conference.
McCain, Saelee-McCain’s husband, spoke for a short time during the press conference. With often downcast eyes, and stilted words that were sometimes difficult to decipher, McCain apologized to his kids for not doing more to find their mother. McCain said he didn’t know what else to say, other than to acknowledge that he hadn’t dealt with the situation well.
As observed by “Anonymous” member on the Justice for Nikki Facebook page, McCain’s subdued behavior at the press conference was in stark contrast to the crass bravado he’d displayed last June while walking into the Shasta County Superior Courthouse to face driving-related criminal charges, a month after Saelee-McCain went missing.
At that time, he flipped off Saelee-McCain’s sisters and others who’d gathered at the courthouse to confront Tyler McCain about his missing wife’s whereabouts, and to express support for Tyler McCain’s prosecution for the domestic violence charges Saelee-McCain had levied against her husband.
Tyler McCain, as previously reported by A News Café, allegedly told members of Saelee-McCain’s family after Saelee-McCain’s disappearance that she’d left to hook up with a lesbian lover. He changed his story at one point and claimed Saelee-McCain ran off to Las Vegas with another guy.
Saelee-McCain’s family didn’t believe McCain.
McCain receives support from family members
McCain’s grandmother, Sandy Hayward, left a lengthy comment under a KRCR News Facebook video clip of McCain speaking at the SCSO press conference:
“Tyler, so proud of you, people are so quick to judge, they don’t know the whole story, and they don’t know you. We love her and she knows that we were the family she turned to, we are always here for her and always will be, and she knows that. I understand why people are like they are, I love you and when she comes back people will hopefully learn not to be so judgmental.”
Likewise, McCain’s step-mother, Rosy McCain, shared her support for McCain below the KRCR News video clip:
“I know how nervous you were. You did a wonderful job. I know the many nights of tears you have been through. As a family we pray each night and day for our Nikki Cheng McCain to come home safely.” (“Cheng” is Nikki Saelee-McCain’s Mien name.)
The involvement of the FBI, however, even before the case turned into a formal homicide investigation, suggests that law enforcement officials may have already suspected, before the press conference, that Saelee-McCain’s disappearance involved possible foul play.
Clearly, McCain’s checkered criminal history finds him mired in multiple potential legal entanglements. First, he faced possible felony domestic violence charges for an alleged violent attack on Saelee-McCain shortly before she went missing. Second, he has alleged direct and familial connections to locations of at least two suspicious fires still under investigation by Cal Fire. Finally, his home was raided by law enforcement officials, where a woman with a substantial criminal record was arrested.
Family notified FBI was involved
Left to right: Sisters Kaye Ford, Nikki McCain, Mey Martin and Chloe Saelee. Photo courtesy of the Saelee family.
Saelee-McCain’s sister, Kaye Ford, shared with A News Café that she and her family were notified two weeks before the SCSO press conference that the FBI had become involved with the case.
However, Ford and her family were not told why nor how the FBI was involved.
While some have speculated on social media that the FBI is involved because the missing person-turned-homicide investigation is tied to members of the Redding Rancheria (McCain, his mother, and numerous other relatives are members of the Redding Rancheria), Redding Rancheria Tribal Chairman Jack Potter told A News Café that he has not been in contact with the FBI. To Potter’s knowledge, the FBI has not had any contact up to this point with the Redding Rancheria regarding the search for Saelee-McCain.
New information in sheriff’s office media release
The SCSO media release said detectives are asking the public to help identify and locate the driver of a red truck who may have picked up a male adult in the area of HWY 36 in the western portion of Tehama County near R Wild Horse Ranch or the Beegum Gorge bridge between May 18 and May 25, 2024.
The R Wild Horse Ranch is a 14,080-acre private, members-only, recreational property 37 miles west of Red Bluff. Its entrance is situated along HWY 36.
The search for the driver of a red truck that may have picked up an adult male in western Tehama County is significant because Saelee-McCain’s truck was located along HWY 36 on the four mile stretch between the R Wild Horse Ranch and the Beegum Gorge bridge on May 25, one week after she went missing.
Screenshot from Google Earth shows Platina Road and HWY 36 intersection (red dot), Beegum Gorge bridge (yellow dot), location where Saelee-McCain’s truck was allegedly located (orange dot), and R Wild Horse Ranch.
Tyler McCain not arrested during raid
McCain was reportedly not home when law enforcement officials arrived to raid his and Saelee-McCain’s home.
However, multiple eyewitnesses near the scene of the Friday raid told A News Café that McCain arrived as a passenger in a vehicle during the raid, but was not allowed to enter the property. He was not, at that time, questioned by authorities, or taken into custody.
As previously reported in detail by A News Café, according to multiple sources, Saelee-McCain had allegedly long been the victim of domestic violence committed by McCain during their 16-year marriage.
Saelee-McCain was hospitalized in December of 2023 after reportedly being violently assaulted by McCain in their Happy Valley home. Because of this alleged assault, McCain was facing four felony domestic violence charges that, if found guilty, could have resulted in a lengthy prison sentence for McCain.
Saelee-McCain went missing shortly after the domestic violence court proceedings started on May 7 against McCain. It was around this time when she told one of her sisters that she planned to divorce McCain.
On July 5, 2024, Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett dismissed the domestic violence case against McCain. Bridgett explained that Saelee-McCain had not been located, and Saelee-McCain’s presence was necessary to proceed with the case. The DA’s justification for dismissing the case was offered despite the existence of a report on the alleged incident of domestic violence written by a SCSO deputy who met with Saelee-McCain in the hospital. The SCSO report included graphic details about Saelee-McCain’s condition, and gave Saelee-McCain’s first-hand account of gruesome violence McCain reportedly inflicted upon her before Saelee-McCain was able to escape their home and flee for safety.
Included in that SCSO report was Saelee-McCain’s testimony that she believed McCain was going to kill her during the previous alleged attack.
Suspicious fires
As previously reported by A News Cafe, two suspicious fires occurred just a few days before DA Bridgett dismissed the domestic violence case against Tyler McCain.
On July 2, the Yolla Fire – as it came to be called by Cal Fire – burned 19 acres beside a remote property off Platina Road owned by McCain’s cousin, Tara Webb, and her husband Joshua Webb. The Webbs reside in a home located on the property.
The Yolla Fire, which is listed online by Cal Fire as being under investigation, occurred not too far from where Saelee-McCain’s truck was located. Platina Road is the only main road in the area that stretches from the southern portion of Shasta County to HWY 36 in western Tehama County.
Tara Webb’s mother, Michelle Hayward, is McCain’s aunt. As recently as 2022 Hayward served as the Vice Chair of the Redding Rancheria’s Tribal Council.
On July 3, one day after the Yolla Fire, a fire ripped through a portion of McCain’s and Saelee-McCain’s 3.5-acre Happy Valley property. The Olinda Fire – as it came to be called by Cal Fire – burned 98 acres. Although the Olinda Fire did not damage or destroy any homes, it did lead to some nearby evacuations, and it destroyed several vehicles on Saelee-McCain’s and McCain’s property.
McCain claimed the fire was sparked by a hot catalytic converter, and he was cited for the fire, but not arrested.
Like the Yolla Fire, the Olinda Fire is still being investigated by Cal Fire.
Raid on home nets felon
Although Tyler McCain was not arrested during the Friday raid on the McCain property, the event netted one arrest, 32-year-old Christina Waneve Adams. Adams was arrested and charged with violation code 1203.2(A) (50126) PC – meaning there is probable cause that Adams violated a term in her probation, or was involved with a new crime.
According to sources who spoke with A News Café, after Saelee-McCain went missing, Adams started living with McCain in his and Saelee-McCain’s home.
Long criminal history
According to Shasta County Court records, Adams has a lengthy criminal history that dates back to 2017 when she pled guilty to felony charges for carrying a loaded firearm. Adams spent 20 days in jail and was given three years of probation.
That was just one of many charges. A search for Adams’ name in the online Shasta County Court records database revealed 87 items related to various felony and misdemeanor criminal charges and convictions faced by Adams over the last decade.
Christina Waneve Adams was arrested during a Friday raid on the McCain property. This is a booking photo from when Adams was arrested and taken to the Shasta County Jail in July of 2023 following her arrest after stolen property was recovered by Anderson Police Department officers. Photo courtesy of KRCR TV.
In 2022, Adams was charged with a felony for unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, a felony for receiving a stolen motor vehicle, a misdemeanor for resisting, delaying, or obstructing an officer, and a misdemeanor for driving on a suspended license.
All of the charges — except the felony for receiving a motor vehicle, to which Adams pled guilty — were dropped, and Adams received probation.
McCain’s checkered past
McCain, who also has a lengthy criminal history, was last arrested in July of 2024 for driving with a suspended license, and for a misdemeanor violation of a court order.
As previously reported by A News Café, McCain’s arrest records date back to 2008 when he faced felony burglary and misdemeanor vandalism charges. The burglary charge was dismissed, and McCain pled guilty to misdemeanor vandalism, which resulted in three years of probation.
In 2020, McCain, received three years of probation for a DUI conviction before being arrested in May of 2023 for driving with a suspended license.
Hours-long raid at McCain home
Soon after SCSO, FBI, and Homeland Security officials served the search warrant and raided McCain’s and Saelee-McCain’s home and property, multiple private citizens who have been working to help find Saelee-McCain showed up and began to record video footage of the raid. They later widely shared their footage across Facebook and other social media platforms.
All of the video footage showed that a vast portion of the 3.5-acre property was surrounded by yellow crime scene tape.
Video footage shared on Facebook of the raid by Charles WM showed six unmarked vehicles at the McCain property, as well as multiple SCSO vehicles and a CSI van.
In addition to searching the McCain home, over the course of several hours authorities searched a travel trailer on the property, as well as multiple vehicles parked on the property. They also searched the area of the property burned by the July 3, 2024 fire.
Live video footage recorded by DeAnna Ward and broadcast on TikTok showed authorities removing multiple brown evidence bags and cardboard boxes filled with items from the home, as well as a carpet cleaning device. Ward later shared the live video on Facebook.
Ward’s video footage also showed authorities searching the main garage attached to the McCain home, and looking at tools located in the garage.
FBI and Homeland Security brings ‘breath of fresh air’
While recording the live video, Ward uttered a sentiment shared by many when she said she was relieved that authorities were finally searching the home.
“It was emotional, to see them finally there,” Ward said to A News Café.
“I was praying they would find something to help the family know more. It was also a breath of fresh air to see FBI and Homeland Security here and taking the lead.”
Little did Ward and others know then, but by the day’s end, the Saelee-McCain missing person case would become a homicide investigation.
On Saturday March 15, Saelee-McCain’s younger sister Chloe Saelee posted a message on the Justice for Nikki Facebook group page. Saelee-McCain thanked everyone for their support, and assured the public that she believes law enforcement is working hard to find out what happened to her sister.
“We ask that you still keep an ear out for anything that may help us locate where she is so we can properly lay her to rest, in the respected way she deserves,” said Saelee.
“We need to start our Mien funeral ceremony for her so she can cross the bridge to the other side.”
A combined reward of up to $30,000 still stands for anyone who provides information that leads to Saelee-McCain’s location. Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact the Shasta County Major Crimes Unit by email at MCU@shastacounty.gov or at 530-245-6135.
