A preliminary hearing that’s underway in Shasta County Superior Court will determine whether Tyler McCain should stand trial in the death of his wife, Nikki Saelee-McCain. The preliminary hearing is expected to wrap up Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. Photo by Mike Chapman for A News Cafe © All rights reserved.
More stunning revelations in the Nikki Saelee-McCain murder case came to light Thursday on the seventh day of husband Tyler McCain’s preliminary hearing in Shasta County Superior Court.
Two people who were living on McCain’s property in Happy Valley testified that sometime after his wife disappeared, they were told secondhand that McCain had incriminated himself in his wife’s death.
Felicia Nelson said her brother, Frans Albert Nelson, came into her trailer and told her that McCain had told him that he had killed Saelee-McCain.
“He was in shock,” Felicia Nelson said of her brother.
Albert Nelson, an inmate at Wasco State Prison in Kern County who uses Albert for his first name, spent the previous day on the witness stand saying he lied to authorities when he told them in earlier interviews that McCain admitted to killing his wife.
Albert Nelson said he made up McCain’s supposed admission in a bid to get out of jail, which worked. He also described himself as not thinking straight because he was coming down off fentanyl.
Felicia Nelson said that after her brother relayed what McCain had said in her presence, she didn’t want to know any more.
“I don’t want to hear it,” Felicia Nelson said she told Albert Nelson.
When asked by Chief Deputy District Attorney Sarah Murphy why she didn’t tell law enforcement about the conversation in previous interviews, Felicia Nelson said: “I don’t know. It was hearsay.”
“I didn’t hear it from Tyler,” she added.
Felicia Nelson said she doesn’t recall her brother ever bringing up the topic again.
Under questioning by prosecutor Toby Powell, the following witness, Justin Karren, said he, too, heard what Albert Nelson had to say, as he was also in the trailer that he then-shared with former girlfriend Felicia Nelson.
Karren didn’t have as good a recollection as Felicia Nelson on the stand. When asked if Albert Nelson ever told him that McCain “did it,” Karren replied: “Not that I recall.”
Karren did say that Albert Nelson told him in the talk that McCain “broke down and cried,” adding he didn’t remember the nature of the conversation.
“I didn’t know what he was going to say, but I didn’t want to hear it,” Karren said.
To refresh Karren’s memory, Powell played a video of Karren previously being interviewed by law enforcement.
In the video, Karren told an officer that Albert Nelson told him that McCain said: “I did it.”
It wasn’t clear from the video what McCain was referring to, but the inference was that he was talking about Saelee-McCain’s death.
Earlier, Felicia Nelson said she talked to her brother about Saelee-McCain’s Chevrolet Avalanche being moved around the property soon after the woman’s disappearance and hearing a “thud.”
Confidential informant returns
Thursday’s hearing started out with Albert Nelson being recalled to the stand after he was questioned all day Wednesday.
He reiterated that the previous stories he originally told authorities about McCain admitting to killing Saelee-McCain were all made up.
“It takes pride to say I was lying about everything,” the convicted felon said.
Not long into prosecutor Powell’s interrogation, Albert Nelson clammed up, saying: “I don’t want to answer any more … I’ll take a contempt (charge).”
Albert Nelson said, though, he would answer questions from McCain’s attorney, Michael Borges.
“I only want answers that are true,” Borges told him.
Albert Nelson said he’s serving a prison sentence for robbery and drug sales. He said he originally planned to plead the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday, but was told by his attorney, Shon Northam, that the Fifth didn’t apply to him.
Albert Nelson was asked about a recording device and a vape pen with a built-in camera the sheriff’s office gave him with the idea of recording McCain.
He said he got rid of the two devices after he got out of jail because he never intended to use them.
“As soon as I got out the door, I was gone,” Albert Nelson said, adding that he ran on bail and didn’t check in with the probation department.
After he was captured in a police chase, Nelson said he was worried he would be charged with no longer having the two devices, which he was told were worth $9,000.
Albert Nelson went on to answer several questions from Powell, but only in relation to testimony he gave to Borges.
In response to Borges, Albert Nelson said: “I just now came forward (that) I was lying.”
Albert Nelson explained again that when he cooperated before with detectives, that he was “coming off fentanyl.”
“I was a heavy drug user,” he added.
Later in the afternoon during today’s hearing, the lead detective in the case, Kilee Holroyd, testified that she has training in detecting people under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Holroyd said that although Albert Nelson is in the habit of talking fast, in her opinion, he did not show signs of being under the influence during the interviews.
No sign of Nikki
In other testimony, Detective Jeremy Ashbee of the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office testified about interviewing Michael Ripley, a nephew of Karren, about seeing Saelee-McCain’s missing Avalanche truck on a turnout in the area of Highway 36 and Bowman Road the night of May 23, 2024.
Ashbee said Ripley told him he earlier saw McCain on the side of the road when he went to the Platina Road area off Highway 36 to pick him up.
Another detective, Molly Roberts, testified she obtained medical records for Saelee-McCain that revealed she didn’t show up for a dermatology appointment on May 21, 2024.
Another major crimes detective, Jacob Duncan, took the stand to say he investigated whether Saelee-McCain had left the country.
He talked to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security who said there is no record of her taking domestic or international flights – nor making any border crossings – after May 18, 2024.
Although the search continues, Saelee-McCain’s body has not been found.
Wide-ranging testimony
Also from the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, a Detective Salazar testified he followed up on tips in the Saelee-McCain case.
On various topics, the detective said in broad testimony that he interviewed McCain’s cousin, Larry Fultz, who told him that McCain was a jealous individual.
Another witness in the case, Saelee-McCain’s boyfriend Luis Barajas, told the detective that she showed up at his residence before Thanksgiving in 2023 and said her husband had beaten her.
“She could barely walk and her eyes were almost completely shut,” Salazar said Barajas told him. Barajas also told the detective that McCain had “anger issues.”
Salazar said Barajas told him that according to Saelee-McCain, one time McCain fired a shotgun over Saelee-McCain’s head, and had suffocated her with a pillow.
Salazar said Barajas also relayed that Saelee-McCain was afraid of leaving McCain and also afraid he would come after her family.
On another topic, Salazar said he met with a man who found four credit cards with Saelee-McCain’s name on them at the roundabout near Costco in Redding.
Salazar said he found one more credit card on his own in the same area.
Jarring Ring video of McCain
Lead Detective Holroyd closed out Thursday’s testimony on several topics.
She said that Sou Saefong, the fiance of Saelee-McCain’s sister, Chloe Saelee, told her in June 2024 that he heard McCain say something strange when he and Chloe went to pick up her sister’s belongings.
“Everyone thinks I killed her. I was going to pay Nikki a lot of money to not say anything to anyone,” Saefong said McCain told him.
In addition to murder, one of the charges against McCain is a special circumstance that he killed his wife to prevent her from testifying in a domestic violence case against him filed in December 2023.
In jarring testimony that closed out Thursday’s hearing, Holroyd said Chloe provided her with Ring camera footage that showed an enraged McCain pounding on the front door of Chloe’s residence when her sister was once temporarily staying there.
The video was played on the courtroom screen showing McCain screaming at the front entryway telling Saelee-McCain to let him in.
“Open the door,” McCain yelled. “If you don’t open the door, I’ll fucking kill you.”
“I swear to God I’ll fucking kill you,” McCain said.
It appeared Saelee-McCain responded by saying from inside: “You scare me.”
McCain was recorded saying that he’d also kill “everyone in there.”
Visiting Judge Thomas Bender adjourned the hearing until Tuesday, Sept. 23. Murphy told Bender she may need at least two more hours to present more digital evidence.
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