Tennessee mom-of-two Nikki Alcaraz, who vanished while on a cross-country trip three weeks ago, was possibly spotted at a California Walmart over Memorial Day weekend — as new details about the fight she had with her boyfriend have emerged.
Alcaraz, 33, was traveling with her boyfriend, Steven Tyler Stratton, and their dog from Nashville to California to visit her uncle when she vanished sometime around May 9.
Five days prior, Alcaraz and Stratten were passing through Torrance County, New Mexico, on MAy 4 when they became involved in an alleged domestic assault that drew the attention of law enforcement.
According to an incident report obtained by The US Sun, a bystander called 911 to report the alleged couple’s quarrel, during which a woman could be heard screaming in the background.
A deputy who responded to the scene observed a black Jeep in a rest area and encountered Alcaraz, Stratten and the bystander who made the report.
The person who called the cops claimed that they saw Stratten punch Alcaraz in the face.
The responding deputy wrote in the report that there were red marks visible on the woman’s face and fingerprint marks on her arms.
Alcaraz also told the deputy that she had bruising on her chest and back. the report stated.
During the conversation with the deputy, Alcaraz reportedly said that she and her boyfriend had dropped a friend off in Amarillo, Texas, and then bought a bottle of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey to drink.
Alcaraz claimed Stratten then “hit her for no reason,” prompting her to jump out of the car when they reached the rest area in Torrance County.
However, Stratten told the deputy that it was Alcaraz who punched him in the mouth “for no reason,” and that she continued hitting him in the car, according to the incident report.
The sheriff’s deputy noted in the report that the man had blood coming from his mouth and nose.
More blood was found on the passenger side door of the couple’s black Jeep, from which Stratten had emerged.
Neither Alcaraz nor Stratten wanted to press charges, and authorities said they were each given rides to different places, with the woman being taken to Moriarty, New Mexico.
At the time of the incident, Stratton had a warrant out for his arrest on a count of probation violation in a theft case, but he was not arrested.
Alcaraz last communicated with her sister, Toni Alcaraz, via text on May 8, telling her she was in Arizona and planned to complete the trip.
Law enforcement officials in Northern California have now come forward saying that the missing woman was possibly spotted at a Walmart on Saturday, May 27.
She was photographed selling her cellphone at an EcoATM kiosk at the superstore in Redding, a deputy with Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office told WKEN-TV. No further details on the woman’s whereabouts have been released.
Toni Alcaraz told KNRN-TV that her sister called her from New Mexico “crying and upset.” She said her eye ” was already turning black and you could tell she was beat up pretty bad.”
According to Toni, a friend drove to New Mexico to bring Nikki to California, but on the morning they were supposed to leave, her sister told the pal that she “had to go back and find Tyler because she had a bad feeling, and so he left without her.” That was on May 6.
Two days later, Toni said she received the text from her sister.
On May 9, a license plate reader clocked Alcaraz’s Jeep outside Flagstaff, Arizona, according to her sister, who filed a missing person report after being unable to reach Nikki.
“Then I didn’t hear anything else after that Monday morning,” Toni told the outlet. “I talk to her almost every day, so I am scared something happened to them.”
Nikki’s brother, Josh Alcaraz, told the station KABC he believes his sister is in danger.
“It’s not like her to not reach out to anybody, especially her kids,” Josh said.
He added that he tried calling and texting his sister, but his calls went straight to voicemail and his texts were left undelivered.
“She always has her phone, so that’s when it was really concerning,” he said.
Addressing his missing sister directly, Josh begged her to make contact out to her family.
“We’re not going to give up,” he vowed. “If you’re in some kind of trouble, everybody loves you, get in contact with us somehow, even if you have to ask somebody to email us….and we’ll come save you.”
Alcaraz’s case has been compared to that of Gabby Petito, who was strangled to death by her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, while the couple were on a cross-country trip in 2021.
Petito and Laundrie were also stopped by police after a domestic incident in Utah, where cops concluded the pair had attacked each other and let them go without charges.
Two months later, Petito’s body was found at a Wyoming campground. As a police investigation closed in on Laundrie in the fall of 2021, he killed himself in Florida.
Nikki Alcaraz is described as 5-foot-6 and heavily tattooed, with brown eyes and dark-colored hair. Her 2013 Jeep Wrangler has Tennessee license plate number BGL3539, a “Mama Tried” sticker and camo seats.
Anyone with information is asked to call Moriarty, NM police at 505-832-6060 or 505-834-2705.