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A Tennessee couple is missing after embarking on a cross country trip several weeks ago – in a case that harks back to the 2021 disappearance of travel blogger Gabby Petito.
Nikki Alcaraz, 33, set out on the excursion sometime in early May, departing her home a few miles outside Nashville with the intent of arriving in Southern California some days later to see family.
Along for the nearly 2,000-mile drive was Alcaraz’ boyfriend, Tyler Stratton, and Alcaraz’s pet dog.
Somewhere along the way, the 33-year-old mother up and vanished, cops say – with witness accounts and police reports now indicating that some sort struggle transpired shortly before her disappearance.
The altercation happened in New Mexico in May 4, and left Alcaraz with a black eye.
The injury is visible in a Torrance County police report filed later that day, after the pair were booked and later let go without any charges filed – just as Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie were when stopped by police in Utah after a similar bustup.
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Tennessee couple Tyler Stratton and Nikki Alcaraz are both missing after embarking on a cross country trip from Tennessee to Southern California several weeks ago – in a case that harks back to the 2021 disappearance of the ill-fated travel blogger
Alcaraz, seen here with a black eye after a May 4 altercation with her boyfriend , set out on the excursion sometime in early May, departing her home a few miles outside Nashville with the intent of arriving in Southern California some days later to see family.
Somewhere along the way, the 33-year-old mother up and vanished, cops say – with witness accounts and police reports now indicating that some sort struggle transpired shortly before her disappearance, as they piece together what happened
A witness told responding officers that they saw Stratton – who, like Laundrie, is wanted for an unrelated offense – punch her in the face.
The report also states that Stratton claimed he was also hit during the altercation in small-town Moriarty, which has a population of roughly 1,900 and is set just outside Albuquerque.
Speaking to Pix11 News Sunday, Alcaraz’s sister, Toni Alcaraz, recalled how she received a frantic call from Nikki later that day – days before she was last seen.
‘She was crying and upset,’ Toni recalled to the outlet, detailing her and other’s so-far failed efforts to track either her sister or her boyfriend down.
‘Her eye was already turning black and you could tell she was beat up pretty bad,’ she added.
The Tennessee native went on to detail how after the alleged fight, a family friend drove to New Mexico to meet with her sister – who has two school-aged kids at home – in hopes of bringing her to California herself.
However, when that unnamed visitor arrived and was set to head off with Alcaraz on May 6, they were rebuffed – told by the still- missing woman that she had decided to stay, and was intent on tracking down her boyfriend.
To cops’ knowledge, that person was the last person to see Alcaraz – though Toni told Pix11 she received a text from her sister’s phone three days later, in which she claimed to be in Arizona and en route to California.
Nearly three weeks later, Alcaraz has still yet to arrive – with her boyfriend, dog, and car all also nowhere to be found.
Speaking to Pix11 News Sunday, Alcaraz’s sister, Toni Alcaraz, recalled how she received a frantic call from Nikki the day cops said she got into a physical fight with Stratton – days before she was last seen
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The pair departed Tennessee in late April in this black Jeep, which has yet to be located. The car belongs to Alcaraz, and was last located by a license plate reader in Arizona on May 9
Also missing is Alcaraz’s pet dog, who accompanied the pair during what was supposed to be 2,000 mile, few-day trip
As officials search for leads as to the location of the disappeared pair, Toni told the outlet that she is worried that something may have happened between the two leading to her sister’s disappearance
As officials search for leads as to the location of the disappeared pair, Toni told the outlet that she is worried that something may have happened between the two.
‘I am scared something happened to them, whether they got in another fight or if they crashed her Jeep somewhere,’ Alcaraz’s concerned relative said, revealing that she had been driving out West to see their uncle.
‘I talk to her almost every day, so I am scared something happened to them,’ she said. ‘It’s a trip she’s done hundreds of times.’
Speaking to the station Sunday, Toni explained that she and other relatives are frantically searching for their missing relative, with help from the Moriarity Police Department.
Federal officials have yet to involve themselves in the search, which has so far failed to turn up any leads – aside from the fact that Alcaraz’s 2013 black Jeep Wrangler was located by a license plate reader near Flagstaff, Arizona, on the day she called her sister to tell her she was in The Grand Canyon State.
On Sunday, Toni told Pix11 that despite the grim precursor provided by the headline-case surrounding the late Petito, who was found dead two months after she refused to press charges against an abusive Laundrie, she is hopeful her sister is still alive.
‘I don’t think she is dead out there somewhere, but it’s all a possibility at this point, and I am really scared of that, but I’m praying that’s not the case,’ she said.
Of the similarities to the Petito case, she further remarked: ‘All the stories like that that seem to happen and seem to happen more often make it more terrifying.’
The injury is visible in a Torrance County police report filed later that day, after the pair were booked and later let go without any charges filed – just as Petito and boyfriend Brian Laundrie were when stopped by police in Utah after a similar bustup in August 2021 (seen here)
Despite the grim precursor provided by the headline-case surrounding Petito, who was found dead two months after her bustup with Laundrie, Toni said she is hopeful her sister is still alive
Meanwhile, her brother, Josh Alcaraz, told local Fox affliliate Fox10 that his sister was left battered after the encounter with her at-large beau – but still refused to press charges.
‘He beat her up pretty badly,’ he said. ‘A truck driver had to pull him off of her, call the police, the police picked him up, took him a couple exits down and dropped him off. She was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, and a broken hand or wrist.’
Of his relatives prospective whereabouts, he added: ‘She left on a mission to find Tyler, and that is the last anybody has really heard [from her].’
In the meantime, DA’s in the sisters’ native Tennessee are working to compile evidence from law enforcement in both New Mexico and Arizona in hopes of locating any of the missing party.
District Attorney General Ray Crouch said this week that his office has requested nationwide extradition for the still-missing Stratton, who is wanted for failure to appear on a probation violation stemming over an unrelated theft charge.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Crouch’s office for comment on their progress with the search. Both Alcaraz and Stratton remain missing as of Monday.
