District Attorney Releases Statement on the Open Investigation, and Dismissed Case, Related to Missing Person Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain

Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett told news station KRCR this week that her office has made every possible attempt to find a legal way to continue to pursue multiple felony domestic violence charges against Tyler McCain, the husband of missing woman Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain.

Right now, Bridgett said, it’s impossible to do so given McCain’s constitutional right to face his accuser, Saelee-McCain, in court.

“In the United States everyone has a constitutional right to confront the witnesses against them,” Bridgett said. “That means the accuser, the victim, must be present in trial to confront them and we haven’t been able to locate her.”

Saelee-McCain went missing on May 17, just ten days after her husband was arraigned on the charges she filed in December. Those charges included felony corporal injury to spouse, false imprisonment, and assault with force likely to create great bodily injury. All were dismissed last week, on May 5, at the DA’s request.

The right to face one’s accuser is found in the Constitution’s 6th Amendment, Bridgett explained, saying that there are some narrow exceptions to this rule but none apply in this case.

Moving the case forward now without Saelee-McCain’s live testimony, Bridgett said, would jeopardize the court’s ability to ever hold McCain accountable for domestic violence even if he admitted it later. That’s because of because of a legal term known as double jeopardy, she said, which essentially forbids retrying an individual for the same crime twice.

The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment includes the Double Jeopardy Clause which says, “”No person shall . . . be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb . . ..”

Bridgett emphasized that felony domestic violence has a three-year statute of limitations, meaning even though the case has been dismissed for now due to these challenges, it can be refiled anytime within the next two-and-a-half years if and when evidence comes to light that allows the case to move forward.

“And that is what we want to be able to do,” Bridgett said. “We want to pursue, preserve that ability to hold him liable for that case.”

Today, July 10, Bridgett’s Office released an additional statement regarding the dismissed domestic violence case as well as the ongoing missing person investigation which she said the DA’s Office is also dedicating resources to.

In her statement, Bridgett asked community members to take care not to share misinformation with the public, including the press.

“Misinformation fuels distrust and disappointment,” Bridgett wrote. “I assure you that dismissing the domestic violence case is the best path forward at this time as it preserves our ability to re-file the case once Nikki is located or sufficient evidence is obtained to utilize her statements in her absence.”

 “Both the domestic violence case and missing person case are being actively worked on by my office as well as the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office,” Bridgett’s statement continues. “The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit is the lead agency on the missing person investigation. My office has one Deputy District Attorney assigned to her domestic violence case, a Senior Deputy District Attorney to the missing person’s case, and a Chief Deputy District Attorney is overseeing all work being done on both.”

“The District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation has been involved in multiple operations to locate Nikki,” Bridgett continued, “and we are working closely with the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office. We also have an advocate who has been assigned to the domestic violence case and was working with Nikki up until her disappearance and continues to work with Nikki’s immediate family on both the domestic violence case and the missing person investigation.”

“We know Nikki’s disappearance and our decision on the domestic violence case is upsetting to many of you. I hear your frustrations and your desire for justice. I assure you that I and everyone in my office share your frustrations and your desire for justice. Not only in the domestic violence case but also her safe return home.”

Shasta Scout has reached out to the District Attorney’s Office for data related to domestic violence charges and convictions over the last five years and is awaiting a full response.

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