Family, Friends Hold Rally for Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain As Husband Appears in Court

Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain was reported missing from Redding, California, nearly six weeks ago, on May 18. Today her family and friends gathered at the Shasta County Courthouse to call attention to her disappearance and to raise awareness of domestic violence. 

Their rally was timed to coincide with the pre-trial appearance of Saelee-McCain’s husband, Tyler Scott McCain. He’s facing multiple felony charges of domestic violence, including felony corporal injury to spouse, false imprisonment, and assault with force likely to create great bodily injury. McCain was charged on December 2, five months before his wife went missing. He pled not guilty to all charges during a May 7 hearing less than two weeks before she disappeared.

Saelee-McCain’s sister, Kaye Ford, said today that there may not be sufficient evidence to move the case against McCain forward, because her sister is missing and therefore unable to testify. She and another of Nikki’s sisters, Chloe Saelee, called on the public to continue searching. They hope to locate their sister before her husband returns to court on July 5. 

About one hundred people showed up to the courthouse rally Friday, including a significant number of women and children, many of whom are part of the local Asian American community.

As McCain entered the courthouse, some chanted “No justice, no peace, while Tyler’s still on the streets.” After he left the courthouse, some members of the community chased McCain’s car into the road, screaming “where is she?!” as he pulled away. 

McCain did not speak to the public or the press. According to court records, he’s being represented by defense attorney Michael Borges. Borges has also defended several high-profile murder suspects in recent years, including a former Shasta County public defender who was convicted of attacking his family with a splitting maul and a man convicted of having killed a gas station clerk in Burney by setting him on fire.

Shortly after midnight on May 18, the day Saelee-McCain went missing, her family says she texted her sister to say that she was driving McCain’s mother’s vehicle back to his mother’s home near the Win-River Casino. She did not respond to texts from her family later that morning at 7 and 8 am. The Chevy Avalanche that McCain-Saelee had been driving was found abandoned eight days later, on May 25, in Tehama County. She has four children, and would not have intentionally left them without notice, the family says.

The Redding Rancheria which operates the Win-River casino has offered a reward of $10,000 for information that leads to McCain-Saelee’s whereabouts. Saelee-McCain is described as being 4’11” and 110 lbs with brown-ish red hair and brown eyes and a floral tattoo on her left forearm. The public is asked to contact the Shasta County Major Crimes Unit (MCU) with any information connected to her disappearance. You can reach the MCU at 530-245-6135 or MCU@shastacounty.gov. 

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