The front of the Shasta County Courthouse in Redding is shown on Sept. 4, 2025. A preliminary hearing is underway in Shasta County Superior Court for Tyler McCain, who’s accused of killing his wife, Nikki Saelee-McCain, in May 2024. Photo by Mike Chapman for A News Cafe.
The first day of Tyler McCain’s preliminary hearing ended with high emotions as the prosecution played a recording of Nikki Saelee-McCain describing a domestic violence incident that occurred a year-and-a-half before her disappearance.
The courtroom fell silent as Saelee-McCain told a Shasta County Sheriff’s Office sergeant in the tape about how she was beaten and left with two black eyes on Nov. 29, 2023.
Sgt. Gerry Maul said on the stand Thursday that he went to Mercy Medical Center in Redding on Dec. 1, 2023, when Saelee-McCain was being treated for her injuries, including facial trauma and abrasions, that occurred several days earlier.
Hearing Saelee-McCain’s voice in the audio brought tears to several of her family members in the courtroom audience. McCain, 40, mostly sat with his head down beside his attorney, Michael Borges, during the daylong hearing.
Domestic assault alleged
Saelee-McCain told Maul that she was home in their master bedroom that November day when McCain beat her for three hours.
She said her husband wasn’t himself. She said he was enraged and told her, “I’m going to kill you tonight.”
During the described assault, Saelee-McCain said her husband pulled her hair and poured water on her face.
She said he hit her 10 to 15 times as her ankles and wrists were bound together and her mouth was covered with tape.
“I was closing my eyes because I didn’t want to see the punches coming,” Saelee-McCain told the officer. “I was really scared,” she added.
Saelee-McCain said she was able to get away and lock herself in her car before leaving.
She told the sergeant that she was “too terrified to go home.”
Maul also interviewed McCain in the jail, who denied assaulting his wife and tying her up.
In the tape, McCain told the officer that instead, his wife had gotten into a fight with a girlfriend.
“Your story is not making sense to me, Tyler,” Maul told him at the time.
A criminal protective order was issued against McCain on Dec. 6, 2023, based on the domestic violence incident, according to the sheriff’s office.
McCain has pleaded not guilty to both one count of murder and a special circumstance that the murder was committed with the intent to prevent testimony. He also faces domestic violence charges.
Officers called to stand
Saelee-McCain has not been heard from since May 18, 2024. Her body has not been found but law enforcement continues to look for her.
Saelee-McCain’s sister, Chloe Saelee, filed a missing-persons report on May 22, 2024. The woman’s abandoned truck was located near the border with Shasta and Tehama counties a short time later.
McCain appeared in court in blue jail clothes but for the first time without handcuffs and foot restraints. Three marshals were present along with six members of the media, including a producer from CBS News’ “48 Hours” newsmagazine.
Several officers were called to the stand by Chief Deputy District Attorney Sarah Murphy and Senior Deputy District Attorney Toby Powell.
One witness, Detective Jeremiah Kasinger, revealed during the investigation into Saelee-McCain’s disappearance that she had sent a text message to her sister, Chloe, warning that “if something ever happens to me, Tyler did it.”
Another witness, Larry Fultz, who is McCain’s cousin, described how McCain asked him for a ride on the night of May 24, 2024, to go to the Bowman Road area to look for his truck that apparently had run out of gas. McCain, who Fultz described as quiet and shy but was mumbling to himself, had brought a gas can with him.
They didn’t find the truck and they returned to Redding.
Other officers testified they were involved in looking for Saelee-McCain after she was reported missing.
Law enforcement found Saelee-McCain’s Chevrolet Avalanche off Highway 36 near Beegum Road after getting a tip from a citizen on May 25, 2024.
Smell of death
Eliseo Brito, a Shasta County sheriff’s deputy at the time, said he located the truck at a turnout that had a bed cover with the tailgate closed.
He testified that the truck appeared abandoned but that the immediate area had an odor that he recognized as “decaying organic matter” that was consistent with a decomposing body. He also noticed flies or gnats flying around.
“Death has a very distinct smell,” Brito said, although an immediate search didn’t turn up a body.
Another Shasta County deputy named Amanda Pruitt testified that a driver hauling logs to Anderson said he saw the Avalanche truck on May 24, 2024, with a man not far down the road who he described as “a tweaker,” about 6 feet tall with short hair.
She said the driver later identified the man in an Aug. 16, 2024, photo lineup as McCain.
As part of their investigation, deputies said they checked with property owners in the area who had motion-activated game or trail cameras, but no vehicles were recorded.
Officers examined credit cards belonging to Saelee-McCain and found none had been used by her since her disappearance.
Dustin Warren, an officer with the county’s Office of Emergency Services, testified that he helped lead two search-and-rescue teams in an effort to find the missing woman.
They searched along Platina Road and nearby without luck, even bringing along a human-remains detection dog to assist.
Warren said the searchers crawled over the tops of brush and down a canyon in the rugged landscape. He said there was too much ground to cover and they were unable to search every square inch of territory.
The preliminary hearing, presided over by visiting judge Thomas Bender, will resume Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. in Department 63.
The hearing, which will determine whether the case will go to trial, is estimated to last another four to six court days.
