Tennessee woman goes missing while traveling across country with her boyfriend
A Tennessee couple goes missing after embarking on a cross-country trip just weeks ago — in a case that dates back to the 2021 disappearance of travel blogger Gabby Petito.
Nikki Alcaraz, 33, left for the field trip sometime in late April, leaving her home a few miles outside of Nashville with the intention of arriving in Southern California several days later to see family.
Alcaraz’s friend, Tyler Stratton, and Alcaraz’s dog were on the nearly 2,000-mile ride.
Somewhere along the way, the 33-year-old mother got up and disappeared, police say — with witness statements and police reports now indicating some kind of struggle took place shortly before her disappearance.
The altercation took place in New Mexico on 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 released without charge — just as Petito and her boyfriend Brian Laundrie were apprehended by Utah police following a similar bustup.
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Tennessee couple Tyler Stratton and Nikki Alcaraz are both missing after embarking on a cross-country journey from Tennessee to Southern California several weeks ago — in a case that dates back to the ill-fated travel blogger’s 2021 disappearance
Somewhere along the way, the 33-year-old mother got up and disappeared, police say — with witness statements and police reports now indicating some kind of struggle took place shortly before her disappearance.
A witness told officers 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 the small town of Moriarty, which has a population of about 1,900 and is located just outside of Albuquerque.
Speaking to Pix11 News Sunday, Alcaraz’s sister, Toni Alcaraz, recalled receiving a frantic phone call from Nikki later that day — days before she was last seen.
“She was crying and upset,” Toni recalls of the outlet, describing how she and others have so far failed to track down her sister or her boyfriend.
“Her eye was already turning black and you could tell she was pretty beat up,” she added.
The Tennessee native went on to tell how a family friend drove to New Mexico after the alleged fight to meet her sister — who has two school-aged children at home — hoping to drive her to California herself.
However, when that unnamed visitor arrived and was due to leave with Alcaraz on May 6, they were rebuffed – the still-missing woman said she had decided to stay and intended to track down her boyfriend.
As far as police know, that person was the last person Alcaraz saw — though Toni told Pix11 she received a text from her sister’s phone three days later, claiming to be in Arizona and on her way to California.
Nearly three weeks later, Alcaraz has yet to arrive – with her boyfriend, dog and car all nowhere to be seen either.
Alcaraz’s sister, Toni Alcaraz, told Pix11 News on Sunday how she received a frantic phone call from Nikki the day police said she got into a physical altercation with Stratton — days before she was last seen
The pair left Tennessee in late April in this black jeep, which has yet to be found. The car belongs to Alcaraz and was last found by a license plate reader in Arizona on May 9
Also missing is Alcaraz’s dog, who accompanied the pair on a 2,000-mile journey lasting a few days.
As officials search for clues about the missing couple’s location, Toni told the outlet she fears something happened between the two that led to her sister’s disappearance.
As officials search for clues about the missing couple’s location, Toni told the outlet she fears something may have happened between the two.
“I’m afraid something happened to them, whether they got into another fight or they crashed her jeep somewhere,” said a concerned relative of Alcaraz, revealing that she had driven west to see their uncle.
“I talk to her almost every day, so I’m afraid something happened to them,” she said. “It’s a journey she’s made hundreds of times.”
Speaking at the station on Sunday, Toni explained that she and other family members are frantically searching for their missing relative, with help from Moriarity police.
Federal officials have yet to get involved in the search, which so far has turned up no leads — other than the fact that Alcaraz’s black 2013 Jeep Wrangler was located by a license plate reader near Flagstaff, Arizona, on the day she called sister to tell her she was in the Grand Canyon State.
On Sunday, Toni told Pix11 that despite the grim foreshadowing of the headline case involving the late Petito, who was found dead two months after refusing to press charges against an abusive laundromat, she hopes her sister is still alive.
“I don’t think she’s dead in there anywhere, but it’s all a possibility right now, and I’m really scared about that, but I’m praying that’s not the case,” she said.
On the similarities to the Petito case, she further noted, “All the stories 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 released without charge — just as Petito and friend Brian Laundrie were apprehended by Utah police after a similar failure in August 2021 (seen here)
Despite the grim precursor to the headline case surrounding Petito, who was found dead two months after her feud with Laundrie, Toni said she hopes her sister is still alive
Meanwhile, prosecutors in the sisters’ hometown of Tennessee are working to gather evidence from law enforcement in both New Mexico and Arizona in hopes of locating one of the missing parties.
District Attorney General Ray Crouch said this week his office has filed for nationwide extradition for the still-missing Stratton, who is wanted for failing to appear on a probation violation stemming from an unrelated robbery charge.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Crouch’s office for comment.