The family of a Tennessee woman who vanished while on a road trip to Orange County is asking for help.
It has been three weeks since anyone heard from 33-year-old Nikki Alcaraz. She was driving cross country with her boyfriend Stephen Tyler Stratton who is also missing.
Nikki was on her way from Tennessee to visit her uncle in Orange County and was expected to arrive May 12. The last time Nikki was in contact with her family was May 8.
The couple left their home just outside of Nashville earlier this month driving a black 2013 Jeep Wrangler.
On May 4, her cousin Lonnie Alcaraz said the couple got into a physical fight while in New Mexico. A police report showed Nikki with a black eye and a witness said Stratton punched her in the face. The report says Stratton claimed he was also hit.
“There was a truck driver that saw her on the side of the road who was being beat up by who we found out later was her boyfriend,” Lonnie said. “She was taken to the hospital and a family friend that they know, came from OC to help her.”
Neither chose to press charges and left the station separately. A family friend offered to drive Nikki to California, but she insisted she needed to find her boyfriend, that was on May 6.
That same day a license plate reader picked up Nikki’s Jeep near Flagstaff, Arizona, but police say her phone is out service. Her sister filed a missing persons report on May 12.
This case is getting national attention because of similarities to the Gabby Petito case. Two years ago Petito was found dead after disappearing on a road trip with her boyfriend. The couple also had an encounter with police, after reports she was struck by her boyfriend.
Source: NBC Los Angeles
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