Global Courant 2023-05-31 05:04:25
FIRST ON FOX: New Mexico deputies have released gory footage, bodycam video and 911 audio of a domestic violence call involving a Nashville road-tripping couple as police in multiple states try to find the woman — who has been searching for weeks is missing.
Nikki Alcaraz and boyfriend Steven Tyler Stratton were apprehended May 4 in Torrance County, New Mexico, while on a cross-country trip from Tennessee to California.
Now she’s considered missing, though police say she was seen alive at a Walmart store in Northern California this weekend. However, the bodycam video paints a complicated picture of the days leading up to her disappearance.
“There was an altercation between me and my girlfriend,” Stratton can be heard telling an EMT when she arrives for treatment and asks him what happened. He later tells her that he has been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
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Torrance authorities released these photos taken after an altercation on May 4 involving missing Nikki Alcaraz and friend Steven Tyler Stratton. A 911 caller told dispatchers he saw Stratton punch Alcaraz in the face as she sat on the side of the road. (Torrance County law firm)
According to the incident report, a witness told a Torrance County deputy that he saw Stratton punch Alcaraz in the face on May 4 on the side of Interstate 40. Authorities were already on their way to the crime scene after the emergency room received a call from a screaming woman who abruptly stopped responding.
The reporting witness, a truck driver, told a responding deputy that after what he saw, he was ready to fight Stratton.
WATCH: Missing Tennessee woman spotted in bloody bodycam video showing New Mexico police check
“So I was, I was driving, I saw her sitting on the floor and the dude was fucking a dick back and hit her or hit her, and I got family, I got sisters and stuff, I’d never do that, you know?” he says to the officer. “So I stopped. I was ready to fight him, I really did, but he was calm.”
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Instead, he stepped in the middle and asked Alcaraz if she was okay. She asked him to call 911, he said.
Alcaraz had bruises and red marks on her skin and initially told the deputy she wanted to press charges, the video shows. But a few minutes later, when the deputy approached Stratton, he found his face covered in blood.
Nikki Alcaraz, left, disappeared from a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend Steven Tyler Stratton, according to deputies in Cheatham County, Tennessee. The couple was reportedly involved in a New Mexico domestic dispute en route, but no charges were filed. (Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office)
“I don’t know what happened,” the truck driver later told the deputy as they discussed the possibility that the two were mutual combatants. “But just because she was on the floor and he hit her while she was lying down, I don’t think she’s the aggressor.”
“I think she was probably defending herself at one point,” he added.
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The Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee has released this footage of Nikki Alvaraz with bruises on her face and arm. She went missing earlier this month while on a cross-country road trip after an alleged fight with her boyfriend in New Mexico. (Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office)
Stratton was initially sitting on the sidewalk, smoking a cigarette and not wearing shoes when the deputy approached.
The deputy handcuffed Stratton and took a knife from his right front pocket.
Nikki Alcaraz’s black 2013 Jeep Wrangler. (Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office)
Blood ran down the side of the car and deputies determined the two were “mutual combatants” after they allegedly punched each other as they drove down the highway.
The deputy sheriff at one point presses Stratton if Alcaraz may have been the aggressor. The handcuffed man insists he does not want to change his story or press charges.
“We’re in trouble because there’s a lot of other things going on,” Stratton told the deputy. “Mental problems with her.”
Nikki Alcaraz photographed at the site of a stop in New Mexico on May 4. (Torrance County Sheriff’s Office)
The deputy asks if she’s been diagnosed with anything, and he says he’s not sure.
“I’ve never seen Nikki perform like that,” says Stratton. “I don’t want to get her in trouble or anything, but she’s passed out from a beer or two and been beating me for the past two months.”
Nashville woman Nikki Alcaraz on bodycam video days before she went missing on a road trip to California. A witness told police he saw her boyfriend Steven Tyler Stratton punch her in the face on the side of Interstate 40. (Torrance County Sheriff’s Office)
According to the incident report, they both appeared to have been drinking, but both denied being behind the wheel. In the end, the police split them up, seized the car and did not press charges.
Steven Tyler Stratton seen in November. (Tyler Stratton/Facebook)
Before leaving, the witness made one last comment to the deputy.
“She seems like a lovely girl,” he said. “She’s definitely a little rough around the edges, but no one deserves that.”
The day after the altercation, Alcaraz showed up to pick up her vehicle from a tow yard in the company of another man, according to the incident report.
Steven Tyler Stratton handcuffed in the back of a sheriff’s deputy after the May 4 domestic violence call. He was released and not charged after authorities determined he and girlfriend Nikki Alcaraz were “mutual combatants.” (Torrance County Sheriff’s Office)
Just because she was on the floor and he hit her while she was down below I don’t think she is the aggressor.
Alcaraz, also known as Nikki Cunningham, last spoke to family via text message on May 8, according to the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee.
The couple was on their way from Ashland City to Orange County, California in Alcaraz’s black 2013 Jeep Wrangler, authorities said. The license plate is BGL3539 and she has a bumper sticker that reads “Mama Tried” or “Mama Tired”.
Authorities are questioning Steven Tyler Stratton after a domestic violence move in New Mexico on May 4. He allegedly hit his girlfriend Nikki Alcaraz, who is now missing. (Torrance County Sheriff’s Office)
Due to a history of domestic violence, Alcaraz may be in danger, the sheriff’s office said.
Alcaraz is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs about 160 pounds. She has a large tattoo on her chest, a piercing in her upper lip and dark hair.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Alcaraz or Stratton is asked to call Moriarty Police at 505-832-6060.
Authorities are questioning Steven Tyler Stratton after a domestic violence move in New Mexico on May 4. He allegedly hit his girlfriend Nikki Alcaraz, who is now missing. (Torrance County Sheriff’s Office)
The case has 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 just two weeks after the couple was involved in a public domestic violence incident in Utah. .
Global Courant
Police also released 911 audio and bodycam of several deputies who arrived as backup. Fox News Digital is still going through the materials.
Haley Chi-Sing, Matteo Cina and Brooke Curto of Fox News contributed to this report.
Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to michael.ruiz@fox.com and on Twitter: @mikerreports
