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SHOCK: HUBBY'S BRUTAL ASSAULT CHARGES DROPPED, MOM NIKKI MISSING · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A husband's brutal assault charges
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Speaker 1: are dropped this while his wife, a young mom, Nikki Chain,
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Speaker 1: is still missing. That's right. Charges are dropped. Why because
0:23
Speaker 1: the state's chief witness cannot be found. Wow, I wonder why.
0:29
Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime Stories. I want to
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Speaker 1: thank you for being with us.
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Speaker 2: A California mom of four missing for over a month now,
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Speaker 2: her husband found torching a car.
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Speaker 1: Okay, too much, too fast, drinking out of the fire
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Speaker 1: highrant yet again, But that's not new in criminal cases.
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Speaker 3: We learn in the last.
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Speaker 1: Hours that the husband, Nikki's husband's car coincidentally catches on
0:59
Speaker 1: figh A catalytic converter is blamed. Okay, that timing is
1:06
Speaker 1: really odd and as I like to say, there is.
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Speaker 3: No coincidence in criminal law.
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Speaker 1: There you go. These are the photos that came pouring
1:15
Speaker 1: into crime stories. What happened? His wife is missing, He
1:24
Speaker 1: is the defendant and a very very serious aggravated assault case.
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Speaker 3: Or they may have turned it a simple assault.
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Speaker 1: All I know is Sarah claims his wife, Nikki's wrists
1:38
Speaker 1: and feet were bound. She was beaten horribly, Her mouth
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Speaker 1: was covered in tape, cold water was poured on her
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Speaker 1: and whoa, whoa, wait a minute, do I have my
1:50
Speaker 1: dates right, Jackie? Just as they're supposed to go to
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Speaker 1: court on that, she goes missing and his car is
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Speaker 1: set on fire. Excuse me, has a catalytic converter fire
2:05
Speaker 1: with him standing right there? Okay, what some people would
2:10
Speaker 1: suggest the car was set on fire to get rid
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Speaker 1: of evidence. Some people might suggest that, but we are
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Speaker 1: told that the car's fire was started due to a
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Speaker 1: catalytic converter issue. Now, I'm not a mechanic. I'm just
2:30
Speaker 1: a trial lawyer. Doesn't have crime scene tape around it.
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Speaker 1: I don't know anything about it, but I do know
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Speaker 1: she's missing and the charges against him are dropped. Now,
2:45
Speaker 1: before we blame the prosecutor, can you prosecute a case
2:54
Speaker 1: where your chief witness to testify to what happened? Isn't there?
3:00
Speaker 1: What do we know about domestic violence? Beatings? Let's not
3:05
Speaker 1: call it domestic violence. That's certainly an euphemism. Putting perfume
3:08
Speaker 1: on the pig. Domestic violence. It sounds like a Hallmark movie, right,
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Speaker 1: domestic uh uh. It's brutal, it's horrible, women are murdered,
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Speaker 1: but it all happens behind closed doors. I guarantee you
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Speaker 1: Nikki Chan would do everything she could not to let
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Speaker 1: her children or her family know she's being beaten and abused.
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Speaker 1: Of course, these are just allegations. The defendant remains innocent
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Speaker 1: in the eyes of the court until proven guilty beyond
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Speaker 1: a reasonable doubt.
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Speaker 3: Let's just state that upfront.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, him, toddlem Kay not a suspect, Let's be clear.
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Speaker 1: And just before she is set to testify, she goes missing.
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Speaker 1: Funny how that worked right, and his car catches on fire.
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Speaker 3: Again.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. You know, don't blame
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Speaker 1: me for being angry. I've just seen this scenario play
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Speaker 1: out over and over and over. A young mom goes missing,
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Speaker 1: children are left without a mother, and nothing ever happens.
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Speaker 1: The only witness is Niki Chain and she's gone. You
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Speaker 1: think she wanted her children to see what was happening
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Speaker 1: to their mother. I doubt that very seriously. But let's
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Speaker 1: get to the fire. Take a listen to this.
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Speaker 4: A fire at the home of missing mom before Nikki
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Speaker 4: Sale McCain brings out law enforcement, the media, and the
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Speaker 4: Shasta County Fire Department. The reading PD Shasta County sheriffs
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Speaker 4: and CalFire Ellie all witnessed the growing blaze and multiple
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Speaker 4: officers spotted walking the property while it's still on fire.
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Speaker 4: Firefighters create a fire line to stop the fire from
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Speaker 4: spreading the nearby homes, but several vehicles on the property
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Speaker 4: appear to be completely burned.
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Speaker 1: I catalate to converter and several cars are burned. Okay,
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Speaker 1: joining me in all star pedal. It makes sense of
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Speaker 1: what we know right now. Straight out to Lauren Colin,
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Speaker 1: investigative reporter and host of the Outlaiwer podcast, Lauren Conlin,
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Speaker 1: how did multiple cars catch on fire from one catalytic
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Speaker 1: converter problem or did they all have catalytic converter problems
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Speaker 1: at the same time and spontaneously catch on fire.
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Speaker 5: No, Nancy, this is very suspect to me. So when
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Speaker 5: the car caught on fire, cal Fire reported that they
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Speaker 5: tried to contain it. But this fire spread ninety eight acres.
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Speaker 5: That is not a small amount. I mean, I guess
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Speaker 5: in terms of California fires, sure you could argue that
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Speaker 5: it is a small amount, but it went well onto
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Speaker 5: other people's property.
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Speaker 1: Everybody on the panel, did you hear that ninety eight
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Speaker 1: acres and it all starts with his car.
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Speaker 3: Is that correct, Lauren Comlin, That's correct, his car, their
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Speaker 3: house completely fine.
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Speaker 1: Beside me right now are Chloe and Kay. Chloe Sale
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Speaker 1: and Kay Ford. These are Nikki's sisters joining us, Lauren Colin.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to come back to you for all the facts.
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Speaker 1: Ted Tobias with US former prosecutor and author of nobody
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Speaker 1: homicide cases and Brian Fitzgivens, Director Operations USPA Nationwide Security,
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Speaker 1: who first alerted me about the fire. But I want
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Speaker 1: to go to Chloe and Kay to you. Chloe, when
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Speaker 1: did you find out about the fire on your sister's
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Speaker 1: husband's property?
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Speaker 6: Actually found out pretty quick. My sister Kay had sent
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Speaker 6: us a text message in the family group chat and
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Speaker 6: said Tyler's house is on fire, And immediately I was like,
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Speaker 6: holy crap, there's no way the house is on fire.
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Speaker 3: Kay for joining me.
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Speaker 1: Nikki's other sister, Kay, when did you learn about the fire?
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Speaker 7: We have some friends that live out there that had
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Speaker 7: been keeping an eye on the house, So we found
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Speaker 7: out pretty quickly, probably within four or five minutes of
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Speaker 7: the fire starting, and we got video footage almost directly
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Speaker 7: after that.
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Speaker 1: Chloe, is this also Nicki's home. Yes, so both of
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Speaker 1: them own it together. Correct, Yes, Wow, Okay, back to you,
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Speaker 1: Lauren Colin joining us investigative reporter.
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Speaker 3: Back to the facts. What else can you tell me, Nancy?
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Speaker 5: This was incredibly interesting because Tyler McCain owned up to
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Speaker 5: starting this fire, and he was just cited for negligently
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Speaker 5: causing a fire and burning another's land, and as I said,
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Speaker 5: he had to evacuate. I mean, there was an evacuation
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Speaker 5: in the area, and about a month prior, another man
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Speaker 5: did essentially the same thing the lawnmower, but it was
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Speaker 5: contained to forty five acres and that man was arrested.
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Speaker 5: So it kind of made me scratch my head as
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Speaker 5: to why Tyler McCain wasn't arrested for this fire.
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Speaker 3: Lauren Colin, investigative reporter.
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Speaker 1: You just stated that the husband in this case, Nikki's husband,
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Speaker 1: owned up.
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Speaker 3: To starting the fire. What do you mean by that?
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Speaker 5: He admitted it right away, even when news crews came
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Speaker 5: to the scene. Normally, cal fire doesn't give away who
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Speaker 5: started it, who was involved, but Tyler McCain told the
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Speaker 5: local news stations.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was me.
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Speaker 1: Okay, hold on just a moment, how did he reportedly
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Speaker 1: start the fire.
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Speaker 5: Lauren, Well, as you said, he parked on dry grass,
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Speaker 5: and that's another head scratcher. As a resident of California,
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Speaker 5: a lifelong run, you would think that he would know
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Speaker 5: not to do that, especially with the weather as it
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Speaker 5: is so hot, essentially a desert.
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Speaker 1: Very curious about how a catalytic converter actually starts a
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Speaker 1: blaze like this to Brian Fitzgibbons joining us USP a
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Speaker 1: nationwide security Brian, how does that work?
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Speaker 8: Well, I'll piggyback on something that Lauren just said. There
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Speaker 8: has been extreme heat out here. In reading the temperatures
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Speaker 8: on July third, the day that the fire started, we're
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Speaker 8: up into one sixteen around the time of the fire.
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Speaker 8: So you know exactly how that happens with a catalytic converter,
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Speaker 8: I couldn't tell you, but you know, this is certainly
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Speaker 8: very suspicious.
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Speaker 9: You know, the big question hanging over our heads right.
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Speaker 8: Now is was there anything of evidentiary value in that
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Speaker 8: vehicle that was destroyed?
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Speaker 9: And you know what was this intentional? Sidental?
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Speaker 8: And as it stands right now, looks very suspicious.
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Speaker 3: Just FYI, everybody.
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Speaker 1: The EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, has regulations in place
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Speaker 1: to control the safety of catalytic converters so they don't
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Speaker 1: spontaneously catch on fire. So what this one car in
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Speaker 1: the middle of a search for a missing wife somehow
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Speaker 1: evades the EPA regulations joining us ted to bias out
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Speaker 1: of DC. Former assistant US attorney and author of nobody
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Speaker 1: homicide cases Ted.
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Speaker 3: What do you make of this?
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Speaker 9: Well, Nancy, I think it's highly suspicious.
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Speaker 10: As you said, catalytic converters generally don't spontaneously combust, and
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Speaker 10: as I think Lauren pointed out, you'd think someone who
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Speaker 10: lived in California would know not to park their car
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Speaker 10: on dry grass. More concerning is when you have a
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Speaker 10: missing person's case that this is the places the police
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Speaker 10: are going to be interested in are a suspects or
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Speaker 10: a victim's car, the suspect or victim's place of living,
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Speaker 10: their home, and the suspects or missing person's property. Well,
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Speaker 10: now two of those three things have been burned. The
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Speaker 10: suspects car has been burned, and now you have the
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Speaker 10: suspects property being burned. It sounds like the house was
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Speaker 10: not burned, but that's not entirely clear at the moment.
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Speaker 10: So to me, as I said that is highly suspicious
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Speaker 10: that these areas which could be fruitful areas for evidence
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Speaker 10: in either a missing person case or god forbid a
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Speaker 10: nobody homicide case, those things are now burned. That's a
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Speaker 10: fire is going to do significant damage to any type
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Speaker 10: of forensic evidence. And the timing of it, as you said,
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Speaker 10: is highly highly suspicious.
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Speaker 3: Tend to bias.
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Speaker 1: I prosecuted a lot of arson cases and investigated more
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Speaker 1: than I prosecuted. You know it would catch on fire
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Speaker 1: if an abnormal amount of fuel is fed to a catalyst.
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Speaker 1: An abnormal amount of fuel, Now let's think this through
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Speaker 1: an abnormal amount of fuel being fed.
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Speaker 3: Once a fire.
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Speaker 1: Originates in a car and the car burns to smither ings,
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Speaker 1: how do you know if accelerant was poured where the
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Speaker 1: catalytic converter would be because you expect to find a
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Speaker 1: certain degree of accelerant.
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Speaker 3: I eat gas in a car.
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Speaker 1: So would that be deemed by arson investigators as normal
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Speaker 1: to find fuel? What I'm trying to say is, how
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Speaker 1: do I know it was a snaffo on the part
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Speaker 1: of the catalytic converter? It just start just spontaneously combusted.
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Speaker 1: That doesn't make sense to me.
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Speaker 10: I think what the higher likelihood is is if the
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Speaker 10: car was intentionally placed over dry gas after being run,
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Speaker 10: the undercarriage of the car is going to be hot,
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Speaker 10: and it is possible that without any problem with the
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Speaker 10: catalytic converter, simply putting a hot catalytic converter over dry grass.
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Speaker 10: And Brian has pointed out how dry it has been
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Speaker 10: out in California, well known the dangers of wildfires, that alone.
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Speaker 9: Could start the fire. Whether that car was.
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Speaker 10: Intentionally placed there or accidentally placed there, we don't know
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Speaker 10: at the moment. But to cause this amount of a
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Speaker 10: fire that damage ninety six acres is a significant fire,
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Speaker 10: and it's hard to believe, given Tyler McCain situation, that
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Speaker 10: this is absolutely completely unintentional. I personally find that very surprising.
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Speaker 10: When I found out, the first thing I thought of was,
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Speaker 10: this appears to be an attempt to destroy evidence.
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Speaker 1: Again, Tyler McCain has not been named a suspect or
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Speaker 1: a person of interest right now, this fire is deemed
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Speaker 1: to have been caused by a catalytic converter. Crime Stories
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Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace Lauren Colin. You said that Nikki's husband
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Speaker 1: stated or owned up to your words starting the fire,
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Speaker 1: but it was my understanding. He owned up to having
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Speaker 1: the vehicle on dry grass. When it's spontaneously combusted, say
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Speaker 1: I set it on fire.
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Speaker 3: To get rid of evidence.
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Speaker 5: You're absolutely correct, he stated to local reporters. The fire
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Speaker 5: was ignited after he parked a car on dry grass.
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Speaker 3: That was it. He never said I started a.
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Speaker 1: Fire, gotcha, you know, Brian Fitzgibbons, I hate when that happens,
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Speaker 1: when you park your car and all of a sudden
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Speaker 1: it just starts on it just it spontaneously combusts. That's terrible.
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Speaker 1: I want to point something out. Having worked also at
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Speaker 1: the Federal Trade Commission, we worked very closely with EPA
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Speaker 1: and they have very very rigid guidelines and regulations regarding
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Speaker 1: any emission control system that it shall not in any
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Speaker 1: way on its own put consumers at risk, including special
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Speaker 1: insulation for catalytic reactors that in itself has been specifically
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Speaker 1: addressed by federal guidelines. Now, while fires may still occasionally happen,
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Speaker 1: if an abnormal amount of fuel is fed any catalyst,
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Speaker 1: there could be a fire.
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Speaker 3: What do you make of it? Fors Gibbons.
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Speaker 8: It's an amazing coincidence, Nancy, that this fire happened two
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Speaker 8: days before a big court date for Tyler McCain.
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Speaker 9: Okay, that's what sticks out to me.
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Speaker 8: As you mentioned, the EPA has strict guidelines. Catalytic converters
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Speaker 8: aren't spontaneously combusting all across the United States. This one
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Speaker 8: just happened to combust two days before Tyler was due
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Speaker 8: in court for these horrific, horrific charges of the violence
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Speaker 8: in torture he committed against Nicky.
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Speaker 1: And Tyler's on the street.
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Speaker 9: No justice, no Keith ef Tyler's on the streets.
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Speaker 3: No justice, no peace, And Tyler's.
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Speaker 4: On the street.
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Speaker 3: Where's my stor?
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Speaker 1: Tyler to Chloe Sale and Kate Ford. First of you, Chloe,
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Speaker 1: who is yelling at where's my sister?
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Speaker 3: It was me?
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Speaker 1: Has he Tyler McCain, not a suspect spoken to you?
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Speaker 1: Says NICKI went missing.
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Speaker 6: He spoke to me a couple of times, and a
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Speaker 6: lot of it was through text message and then a
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Speaker 6: phone call.
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Speaker 3: I'm very curious what did he have to say, Chloe.
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Speaker 6: One of the phone calls was he asked if his
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Speaker 6: He texted me and asked if he could see if
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Speaker 6: his mom could see the kids. And then another time
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Speaker 6: was he wanted to wish his daughter a happy birthday.
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Speaker 1: Okay, where are the children?
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Speaker 7: The children are with our family.
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Speaker 1: Does he not want the children?
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Speaker 7: The children have been revived from the home of a
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Speaker 7: while back when a lot of the domestic violence started
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Speaker 7: to escalate, so he does not he is not able
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Speaker 7: to see the children.
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Speaker 9: The children.
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Speaker 1: All I know is I would be lying on the
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Speaker 1: front of the courthouse steps screaming to get my children back.
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Speaker 3: But hey, that's just me.
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Speaker 1: Let's get back to proving anything about the catalytic converter.
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Speaker 3: Let me go to you tend to bias.
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Speaker 1: You've prosecuted a lot of cases as a former assistant
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Speaker 1: US attorney. You know, one of the hardest cases to
18:26
Speaker 1: prove is an arson case. You've got to first prove
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Speaker 1: a crime was committed, because there are more accidental fires
18:35
Speaker 1: than there are arsons. So once you prove a crime
18:40
Speaker 1: has been committed, then you've got to prove who did it.
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Speaker 1: So it's some kind can be sometimes can be a
18:49
Speaker 1: very difficult case to prove.
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Speaker 9: That's that's correct, Nancy.
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Speaker 10: Here though, we have the suspect in the arson, Tyler McCain,
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Speaker 10: admitting that he parked car on dry grass in a
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Speaker 10: situation where the environment is incredibly dry, prone to fire
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Speaker 10: is well known by everybody, and so therefore the who
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Speaker 10: started the fire is pretty clear. How the fire started
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Speaker 10: is also pretty clear, because it does seem as if
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Speaker 10: the hot catalytic converter, maybe there was damage to the
19:21
Speaker 10: heat shield, maybe didn't have a heat shield, that that's
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Speaker 10: what started the fire. The question becomes, nancy is did
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Speaker 10: he do this intentionally or not? That's the difficult part.
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Speaker 10: That's the difference between, as you know, having a prosecutable
19:35
Speaker 10: arson case versus having a case that is just an
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Speaker 10: accidental fire, which seems to be at the moment what
19:41
Speaker 10: cal Fire thinks it is. But did cal Fire know
19:44
Speaker 10: the full background of Tyler McCain. Did they know he
19:47
Speaker 10: had a missing wife, Did they know that there were
19:50
Speaker 10: active searches going on for the wife? Did they know
19:53
Speaker 10: that there was perhaps evidentiary value in that car, evidentiary
19:57
Speaker 10: value in that property and in that home. And that's
20:00
Speaker 10: what's going to be the determination between did Tyler McCain
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Speaker 10: truly do this accidentally or did he do it on
20:07
Speaker 10: purpose because he was hoping to destroy some evidence, either
20:11
Speaker 10: in that car or elsewhere. That's going to be the
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Speaker 10: difficult part. In this arson investigation, Nancy.
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Speaker 1: Charges against the husband in this case, Tyler McCain. Charges dropped.
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Speaker 1: Why because the States only witness to the alleged brutal
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Speaker 1: assault on Nicki is Nicki, and Nicky's gone back to
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Speaker 1: the catalytic converter fire again. As of right now, there
20:40
Speaker 1: is no arson claim. The timing highly highly unusual. But
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Speaker 1: I want to clear one thing up, Lauren Colin, and
20:48
Speaker 1: I'm going to circle back to Chloe Saley and k Ford,
20:51
Speaker 1: because we still don't have a clear understanding of how
20:56
Speaker 1: Nicki got on a Friday night midnight from her mother
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Speaker 1: in law's house home to her place and where her
21:03
Speaker 1: own vehicle Chevy Avalanche plays into that. Lauren Conlin, joining
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Speaker 1: US investigative reporter hosts of the Outlier podcast. Lauren, Let's
21:14
Speaker 1: be clear, Nikki's vehicle, Chevy Avalanche has been found on
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Speaker 1: a remote county road. The vehicle that spontaneously caught on
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Speaker 1: fire is the husband Tyler and McCain, not a suspect's vehicle.
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Speaker 3: Is that correct? That is correct?
21:36
Speaker 5: And I just want to point out a statement from
21:39
Speaker 5: cal Fire as to why Tyler McCain was not arrested
21:44
Speaker 5: for this. Representatives shared that they have to have enough
21:47
Speaker 5: evidence to prove a level of criminal negligence necessary foreign
21:52
Speaker 5: arrest based on factors set out in California law, and
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Speaker 5: in this case, in the case of the fire at
21:59
Speaker 5: the McCain residence, factors were not present.
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Speaker 9: You know.
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Speaker 1: To Ted Debias joining us, a veteran trial lawyer and
22:08
Speaker 1: author of No Body Homicides. That's now, every arson case
22:13
Speaker 1: I have ever investigated and prosecuted takes time to develop.
22:20
Speaker 1: Every piece of that vehicle has to be taken apart
22:24
Speaker 1: and looked at. For instance, they're not all this easy.
22:28
Speaker 1: And one high profile arson I prosecuted, where a.
22:33
Speaker 3: Millionaire murdered his wife.
22:36
Speaker 1: I walked in and looked at where the fire dog,
22:39
Speaker 1: the accelerant dog hit, you know, like a drug dog
22:42
Speaker 1: or a cadaver dog or a send dog they hit.
22:45
Speaker 1: I looked where it looked like to the naked eye,
22:49
Speaker 1: someone had poured coca cola all over the kitchen floor
22:52
Speaker 1: and it dried. That's what it looked like post fire.
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Speaker 1: I could see it. It was not hard to see
23:00
Speaker 1: at all that accelerant had been poured on the floor.
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Speaker 1: He later claimed, wait for it, that he had been
23:07
Speaker 1: up late that night cleaning his wife's shoes.
23:14
Speaker 3: With a shoe cleaner, much like Figuernaut polished.
23:18
Speaker 1: That contain toiling, which of course is an excellent correct
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Speaker 1: just let that soak in, pardon the pun. So what
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Speaker 1: I'm telling you is right there on the scene, you
23:32
Speaker 1: don't really know what happened. You have to investigate it
23:35
Speaker 1: painstakingly debias.
23:38
Speaker 9: Yes, that's exactly right, Nancy.
23:40
Speaker 10: Arson cases are notoriously tough to prosecute because they are
23:45
Speaker 10: very difficult scientific cases, forensic cases to look at and
23:49
Speaker 10: to determine how did.
23:50
Speaker 9: This fire start.
23:52
Speaker 10: The case you talked about happened indoors, where at least
23:55
Speaker 10: you could see some things and take measurements. Outdoors, It's
23:59
Speaker 10: going to be incredibly difficult. You mentioned earlier about the
24:03
Speaker 10: volume of gasoline. Well, of course in a car there
24:06
Speaker 10: is an entire tank of gasoline. There might be twenty
24:09
Speaker 10: fifteen gallons of fuel slash accelerant there. That is going
24:13
Speaker 10: to make this investigation incredibly difficult.
24:17
Speaker 1: Guys, what do we know? We know that her vehicle
24:22
Speaker 1: and listen, I know I'm talking about the vehicles a lot.
24:26
Speaker 1: Why because last thing we have of Nicki Chang it's
24:29
Speaker 1: a Chevy Avalanche and it's parked out on a remote
24:31
Speaker 1: county road. Let me understand something, Chloe Sally and Ka Ford,
24:38
Speaker 1: because I'm not getting an answer. You get a text
24:43
Speaker 1: from your sister Nicki. She says, I'm taking my mother
24:47
Speaker 1: in law's vehicle back to her home. I'm getting a
24:52
Speaker 1: ride back to my home. Can we confirm that ever happened,
24:58
Speaker 1: not the text, because you've already told me Lead the
25:00
Speaker 1: text was in fact from her who was supposed to
25:03
Speaker 1: bring her home. Did the mother in law's car make
25:07
Speaker 1: it too the mother in law's home. Did the mother
25:10
Speaker 1: in law see her or did she drop it off,
25:12
Speaker 1: hop in a car and leave? What do you know
25:14
Speaker 1: about that, Chloe, because that point is where all the
25:18
Speaker 1: stories diverge.
25:20
Speaker 6: Yeah, so that part is very unclear. We don't know
25:23
Speaker 6: if she actually got a right back to her home.
25:27
Speaker 6: We don't even know if she even made it to
25:28
Speaker 6: her mother in law's house or if she did what
25:32
Speaker 6: exactly happened.
25:32
Speaker 9: Right after that?
25:33
Speaker 1: I don't understand that, Chloe, where's the mother in law
25:36
Speaker 1: in this scenario? Because I would assume that she would
25:40
Speaker 1: be screaming into a microphone somewhere. Nikki is the mother
25:45
Speaker 1: of my grandchildren, she dropped my car off here at
25:50
Speaker 1: X time, and I didn't see her since so and
25:55
Speaker 1: so picked her up and that's the last time I
25:57
Speaker 1: saw her. I'm not hearing that.
26:00
Speaker 3: Why am I not hearing that? Chloe?
26:03
Speaker 9: Me?
26:03
Speaker 3: Same with me too.
26:04
Speaker 6: We're all wondering the same thing as fall Nancy.
26:06
Speaker 1: Okay, Chloe, yes, have you tried to contact the mother
26:09
Speaker 1: in law?
26:10
Speaker 3: I did.
26:10
Speaker 6: I had asked her if Nikki took an uber out
26:13
Speaker 6: from her house and she did tell me nope, not
26:16
Speaker 6: out of here.
26:17
Speaker 3: Did she tell you NICKI brought the car?
26:19
Speaker 6: She did not.
26:20
Speaker 1: Did you ask her if NICKI brought the car?
26:22
Speaker 6: I did not?
26:23
Speaker 1: Okay, you know what, Chloe, I'm not attacking you because
26:27
Speaker 1: I looked back at things I did during stressful situation.
26:30
Speaker 1: I'm like, why did I say that? Why did I
26:32
Speaker 1: do that? Why didn't I fill in them link? It
26:34
Speaker 1: could be anything. But you did call the mother in
26:38
Speaker 1: law and you did ask how did she leave? And
26:41
Speaker 1: her response was Nikki did not leave in an uber.
26:44
Speaker 1: That's what she said. Did she say anything else?
26:46
Speaker 6: That was it?
26:47
Speaker 9: That?
26:47
Speaker 6: It was through text message? And then that was all
26:51
Speaker 6: she just said. She did not uber out of here.
26:53
Speaker 1: Okay, I've got a question. Do you have your cell
26:55
Speaker 1: phone with you right now?
26:56
Speaker 3: Chloe?
26:56
Speaker 9: Yes?
26:56
Speaker 2: I do?
26:57
Speaker 1: Oh okay, could you text her right now and ask
26:59
Speaker 1: her did Nicky drop your car off that night? Yes?
27:02
Speaker 3: I could do that.
27:03
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you. We may or may not get
27:05
Speaker 1: an answer. We'll find out.
27:07
Speaker 2: California mom of four missing for over a month humby
27:12
Speaker 2: found with car torged.
27:15
Speaker 1: Okay, charges against the husband dropped straight out to Lauren Colin,
27:21
Speaker 1: investigative reporter. What happened, Yes, on.
27:23
Speaker 5: Friday, everybody was so disappointed as the DA Stephanie Bridget
27:29
Speaker 5: threw out the charges because she didn't have her star witness. Now,
27:33
Speaker 5: what's very confusing and perplexing to a lot of people
27:36
Speaker 5: is Stephanie Bridget actually formed the Family Violence Unit, which
27:41
Speaker 5: specializes in prosecuting offenders that harm the.
27:45
Speaker 3: Most vulnerable like women and children.
27:49
Speaker 5: And so everybody was extremely disappointed in this decision by
27:53
Speaker 5: DA Bridget.
27:54
Speaker 1: Trying to understand exactly what happened. Take a listen to this.
27:58
Speaker 4: The eminent domestic violence case against Tyler McCain now dismissed.
28:02
Speaker 4: Why because Nicki Salia McCain, the alleged victim and state's
28:06
Speaker 4: only witness, is still mysteriously missing. Without Nikki, there's not
28:11
Speaker 4: enough evidence to go forward. The DA's office reserves all
28:14
Speaker 4: rights to refile the case in the future. Nicki's sister says,
28:17
Speaker 4: Tyler McCain is escorted into court by police through a
28:20
Speaker 4: back door and once charges are dismissed, he leaves through
28:23
Speaker 4: the back door and directly into a police van.
28:26
Speaker 1: Joining me and all Star Powell want to go to
28:28
Speaker 1: a veteran former prosecutor now author, Ted Tobias.
28:33
Speaker 3: The only witness is missing.
28:36
Speaker 9: Yes, that makes it very difficult.
28:39
Speaker 1: I would argue the case could go forward as some
28:44
Speaker 1: sort of a dying declaration, which is a hearsay exception,
28:48
Speaker 1: an exception to the hearsay rule. Based on what Nicki
28:53
Speaker 1: said to other people, There's been a lot of nobody
28:58
Speaker 1: cases prosecuted. You're the author. You wrote the book on
29:03
Speaker 1: nobody cases. That's the name of it, Nobody homicide Cases.
29:06
Speaker 1: A practical guide to investigating prosecuting in winning cases. When
29:10
Speaker 1: the victim is missing, how could the state go forward?
29:14
Speaker 1: Did they have to drop the charges?
29:16
Speaker 10: So it's hard to say without knowing all the evidence
29:18
Speaker 10: the state had. Clearly not having the star witness, the
29:22
Speaker 10: victim in this case, makes it difficult. But as you know, Nancy,
29:26
Speaker 10: there are excited utterances, there are maybe statements for treatment
29:31
Speaker 10: for medical purposes. There are, of course, possibly photographs of
29:35
Speaker 10: the injury. There are statements made to others that could
29:38
Speaker 10: come in in a domestic violence case. So you'd have
29:42
Speaker 10: to look at all of the evidence and say, can
29:45
Speaker 10: this case go forward without the victim? As you know,
29:48
Speaker 10: in domestic violence cases, Nancy, it is not at all
29:51
Speaker 10: uncommon for a victim who is not missing, who is present,
29:55
Speaker 10: to decide they do not want to cooperate, right. It
29:58
Speaker 10: is very common in domestic viole cases for women, because
30:01
Speaker 10: women are typically the victim to come forward and say
30:04
Speaker 10: he's nice. Now, we don't have a problem. I don't
30:07
Speaker 10: want him to go to jail. He's the father of
30:09
Speaker 10: my children, needs the bread winner, all of those things,
30:12
Speaker 10: and the cases still can go forward without that victim testifying.
30:17
Speaker 10: You have to look at the circumstances though, And I'll
30:19
Speaker 10: add one other thing, Nancy, in most states, if a
30:24
Speaker 10: person procures the absence of a witness and the government
30:29
Speaker 10: can prove that, that can be used in the underlying
30:32
Speaker 10: assault case. In other words, if big, if he's only
30:36
Speaker 10: a suspect if Tyler McCain had something to do with
30:39
Speaker 10: Nicky's disappearance, and the government can prove that, they can
30:43
Speaker 10: certainly move forward on the domestic violence charge as well
30:48
Speaker 10: as any type of murder case.
30:49
Speaker 9: If that's in fact what we're looking at here, and
30:52
Speaker 9: you are.
30:53
Speaker 1: Right, Tobias, he is a suspect. And the brutal assault
30:58
Speaker 1: on Nikki hands and feet were tied, Tate was placed
31:03
Speaker 1: over her mouth, she was beaten severely and cold water
31:08
Speaker 1: poured on her. Chloe, seely, did Nicki ever discuss the
31:13
Speaker 1: beating with you?
31:14
Speaker 9: Yes, she did.
31:15
Speaker 3: What did she say?
31:16
Speaker 6: She told me exactly what was in the report, and
31:19
Speaker 6: she did tell me she thought she was going to die.
31:23
Speaker 1: You know what, Chloe, those words must taste like dirt
31:27
Speaker 1: in your mouth. I've had so many cases, Chloe and Kay,
31:33
Speaker 1: where women have said to their friends or their sisters like.
31:36
Speaker 3: You, one of these days, he's going to kill me.
31:39
Speaker 3: He's going to kill me or if I go missing.
31:42
Speaker 1: He did it, I mean, and now here you are
31:46
Speaker 1: telling me that she said that. Kay Ford also joining
31:50
Speaker 1: me Nicki's other beloved sister, Kay. Did Nicki ever tell
31:56
Speaker 1: you what happened during that particular beating.
31:59
Speaker 7: Yes, she did say that, like Kue said, she thought
32:06
Speaker 7: that was going to be the end, that was going
32:07
Speaker 7: to be the time he did it, and she was scared,
32:10
Speaker 7: scared to death, She was scared for her life. And
32:13
Speaker 7: she did state that the next time, if it were
32:16
Speaker 7: ever happen again, it could be could be it.
32:20
Speaker 1: And this time she actually pressed charges. She actually went
32:26
Speaker 1: for help Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Kay, I believe
32:44
Speaker 1: that assaults of this brutality, it's not the first time
32:50
Speaker 1: the woman has been attacked. You know, go from zero
32:54
Speaker 1: to one hundred and sixty mph in a matter of seconds. Kay,
32:59
Speaker 1: Do you know of any prior assault by McCain on Niki.
33:06
Speaker 7: There were several assaults on Nicki. She didn't feel comfortable
33:11
Speaker 7: or like we've mentioned before, she didn't want to rip
33:15
Speaker 7: the family apart, so anytime the police would come, she
33:18
Speaker 7: would she would.
33:21
Speaker 3: Not make a report. And this time because the beating.
33:23
Speaker 7: Was so severe she endured it for three hours. Because
33:28
Speaker 7: of this incident, we pushed her to go to the
33:31
Speaker 7: hospital and make that report.
33:32
Speaker 3: What did she say happened to her during the attack.
33:36
Speaker 7: That she was bound and beaten and that he tried
33:40
Speaker 7: to drown her, but he was too tired, so that's
33:42
Speaker 7: why he poured the water on her face and she
33:46
Speaker 7: was able to get away because he was so exhausted
33:48
Speaker 7: from the beating that she was able to have a
33:52
Speaker 7: few moments that she ran away, that she escaped.
33:56
Speaker 1: Where were the children when they aggravated assault occur?
34:00
Speaker 7: They were in the care of our family.
34:03
Speaker 11: The search for Nicki Sale McCain continues, extending now onto
34:07
Speaker 11: tribal land. The Wind River Casino granted permission for family, friends,
34:11
Speaker 11: and concerned citizens to come together on two days to
34:14
Speaker 11: search the grounds and by plane. Chloe Sale, Niki's sister,
34:18
Speaker 11: tells local news reporters that the area is close to
34:21
Speaker 11: where McCain was last seen or heard from. Other parts
34:24
Speaker 11: of tribal grounds remain private due to tribal sovereignty. Access
34:28
Speaker 11: has to be requested and granted before an area can
34:31
Speaker 11: be searched.
34:32
Speaker 1: And that area has not been fully searched. I'm understanding
34:36
Speaker 1: the reading. Rancheria is telling the family they don't know
34:40
Speaker 1: if video exists. Really what casino doesn't have video? They're
34:47
Speaker 1: better than NASA for Pete's sake. Lauren Colin joining me
34:51
Speaker 1: investigative reporter hosts of the outlier.
34:53
Speaker 3: What do we know about the Rancheria? This is very interesting, Nancy.
34:57
Speaker 5: The reading Rancheria tribe, Tyler mc haynes's family essentially runs it.
35:03
Speaker 3: They have major ties to this.
35:05
Speaker 5: His mom's sister, his aunt is the vice chairman, and
35:09
Speaker 5: other family members.
35:11
Speaker 3: Their last name is Hayward. Other family members are council members.
35:15
Speaker 5: So many locals that I've spoken to are very frustrated
35:19
Speaker 5: as to why they are not being more helpful in
35:22
Speaker 5: this search.
35:23
Speaker 3: Chloe Saley and kay Ford. Let me go to you.
35:27
Speaker 1: Chloe, I did not realize the ties between Nikki's husband
35:34
Speaker 1: Tyler McCain family with the Rancheria now stating did they
35:40
Speaker 1: actually say they.
35:42
Speaker 3: Don't know if they've got video?
35:45
Speaker 6: So that's what I've been reading online as well too,
35:48
Speaker 6: and I hope that's not true because I know they
35:51
Speaker 6: have the best security system, our security and best camera system.
35:55
Speaker 1: To wife. It is Gibbons joining us Director Operations USPA
36:00
Speaker 1: and why Security. You can find them at uspasecurity dot com.
36:04
Speaker 3: Brian, help me out.
36:06
Speaker 1: Why are we not getting a full search of the Rancheria.
36:11
Speaker 1: Why are they saying they may not have video of
36:14
Speaker 1: the night she was there.
36:17
Speaker 3: I don't understand this.
36:18
Speaker 8: Yeah, this is absolutely concerning Nancy, especially with the familial
36:22
Speaker 8: ties that Tyler has to the leadership of the Rancheria.
36:28
Speaker 8: We all know that the casino will have unbelievable footage
36:33
Speaker 8: and security systems. We've heard and we're aware that the
36:39
Speaker 8: Rancheria has only allowed two days of searches to take
36:43
Speaker 8: place on tribal lands. This is we're at the point
36:48
Speaker 8: that these search parties need to have full access. Public
36:52
Speaker 8: shows of support from the Rancheria mean nothing at this point.
36:58
Speaker 8: They really need to open up access to the tribal lands.
37:00
Speaker 1: A show of support my rear end I want to
37:03
Speaker 1: search the land, but at this point, let's be real, Brian.
37:06
Speaker 1: If it's Gibbons, time is passing, every day is passing.
37:11
Speaker 1: Whoever is responsible from Nicky's disappearance has had plenty of
37:16
Speaker 1: time to move evidence if it was ever on that
37:21
Speaker 1: tribal land.
37:22
Speaker 3: Who are we kidding right now?
37:23
Speaker 9: Correct?
37:24
Speaker 8: Every day that goes by, this investigation gets harder and harder,
37:28
Speaker 8: and you know, with the terrain out here as it is,
37:32
Speaker 8: it's as difficult as can be, so full access needs
37:36
Speaker 8: to be granted immediately.
37:38
Speaker 1: But you know, of course, you cannot force tribal land owners.
37:45
Speaker 1: The federal government, much less local state government cannot get
37:50
Speaker 1: in there. They can't get in there unless the tribal
37:53
Speaker 1: authorities allow it. Guys, if you know or even think
37:57
Speaker 1: you know anything about the disappearance of Nikki Chain, please
38:02
Speaker 1: dial five three zero.
38:05
Speaker 3: Two four five six five.
38:07
Speaker 1: Four zero repeat five three zero two four five six
38:12
Speaker 1: five four zero, or you can call NORCL Alliance for
38:17
Speaker 1: the Missing five three zero, three seven eight four four
38:22
Speaker 1: nine one. There is a ten thousand dollars reward. Goodbye friend,