Reportedly, on Tuesday, police in Northern California said they found a woman who went missing earlier in the month, as she traveled cross-country from Tennessee with her boyfriend. In a statement released by the Redding CA Police Department, they announced-
"On May 30, 2023, at around 4:30 P.M., the Redding Police Department learned Missing Person Nikki Alcaraz was contacted earlier today by the Eureka Police Department and found to be safe. The Redding Police Department has been in contact with the Moriarty, New Mexico Police Department and confirmed Nikki is no longer considered a missing person. The Redding Police Department would like to thank our allied agency partners who assisted with efforts to locate Nikki. Photographs from the original post have been removed out of respect for the involved,"
-Redding Police Department Statement
New Mexico deputies, earlier on Tuesday, released bloody images, on a bodycam video and a 911 audio of a domestic violence call, involving the cross-county, road trip of a Tennessee couple. Reportedly police in multiple states were attempting to find the woman, who had been missing for weeks. After Nikki Alcaraz and her boyfriend Steven Tyler Stratton, were pulled over on May 4 in Torrance County, New Mexico, Alcaraz, reportedly went missing.
Although police said she was seen alive over the weekend at a Walmart store in Northern California, bodycam video, demonstrates a complex picture of the events leading up to her disappearance. According to Torrance County Attorney’s office, a 911 caller, a truck driver, told dispatchers he saw Stratton punch Alcaraz in the face, while she was seated on the side of the road. The driver later told the police-
"So I was, I was driving, I seen her sitting on the ground and the dude f---ing cock back and either slap her or punch her, and I got family, I got sisters and stuff, I would never, you know?" … "So I pulled over, I was ready to fight him, really, but he was calm."
-Anonymous Witness
The driver reportedly, got in the middle of them, asking Alcaraz if she was OK. He also said she asked him to call 911. Stratton can be heard telling an EMT, regarding what happened, "There was an altercation between me and my girlfriend," Later, Stratton admitted that he has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
The video shows, that Alcaraz had bruises and red marks on her skin, initially telling the deputy she wanted to press charges, But minutes later when the deputy approached Stratton, he found his face also covered in blood. According to the Torrance County Sheriff's Office, Stratton after he was questioned, was released and not charged after authorities determined he and girlfriend Nikki Alcaraz to be "mutual combatants." in the domestic abuse call.
Both of them appeared to have been drinking, according to the incident report, however each denied having been behind the wheel. Ultimately, police split them up, impounded the car and filed no charges. The day after the altercation, Alcaraz reportedly showed up to retrieve her vehicle from a tow yard, in the company of another man.
The case, garnering national attention, had drawn comparisons to the murder of Gabby Petito, who was killed in Wyoming during a cross-country "van life" road trip, with former fiancé Brian Laundrie. Petitio was murdered just two weeks after the couple was involved in a public domestic violence incident in Utah. Sadly violence, which continues to occur in relationships such as these, is never a solution.
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
-Mahatma Gandhi