Urgent search for Nikki Alcaraz, who disappeared while traveling with her missing boyfriend and bears an uncanny resemblance to Gabby Petito
A woman has disappeared on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend in a case eerily similar to Gabby Petito’s.
The couple reportedly got into a domestic argument during their trip, which her sister said resulted in the woman suffering a black eye.
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Nikki Alcaraz, also known as Nikki Cunningham, last spoke to her sister Toni Alcaraz three weeks ago.
“I talk to her almost every day, so I’m afraid something has happened to them,” Toni said WKRN.
The 33-year-old mother-of-two traveled in her black Jeep from Cheatham County, Tennessee, to visit family in Orange County, California, with boyfriend Tyler Stratton and a dog.
“It’s a journey she’s made hundreds of times. “Our uncle is still in Southern California and she visits him often,” Toni said.
When the couple was in Torrance County, New Mexico, they got into an altercation with the police.
A witness saw Stratton punch Nikki in the face, according to a May 4 report from the Torrance County Sheriff’s Office available to the outlet.
Stratton claimed he was also hit, causing blood to spurt from his mouth and nose, the report said.
However, no charges were filed.
After Nikki was dropped off by Moriarty police, Toni said she received a call from her sister.
“She was crying and upset. Her eye was already turning black and you could tell she was pretty beat up,” Toni recalls.
Shortly after the domestic incident, Toni said a family friend went to New Mexico and found Nikki to take her to California.
“That morning when they were supposed to leave, she told him she had to go back and find Tyler because she had a bad feeling, so he left without her,” Toni explained.
Toni believes the family friend was the last person Nikki saw on May 6, but Nikki texted Toni two days later and said she was in Arizona and planned to continue the trip to California.
“Then I didn’t hear anything after that Monday morning,” said Toni.
GABBY PETITO LINK
A similar case became national news two years ago after 22-year-old vlogger Gabby Petito disappeared with her fiancé while on a cross-country road trip Brian Laundrie23
She was reported missing on September 11, 2021 and her remains were found days later on September 19 near Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.
It turned out she was strangled by Laundrie, who confessed to murdering Gabby before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
His remains were found near a notebook and backpack that belonged to him at Carlton Reserve in Florida on October 20, 2021.
“All the stories like this that keep happening make it even more terrifying,” Toni said.
Toni still hopes Nikki is alive, even though her phone appears to be dead.
“I don’t think she’s dead out there anywhere, but as of this writing, anything is a possibility and I’m very scared of it, but I pray that’s not the case,” she said.
According to Toni, on May 9, a license plate reader located Nikki’s Jeep near Flagstaff, Arizona.
However, the concerned sister filed a missing persons report in New Mexico, as that’s where Nikki was last seen.
District Attorney Ray Crouch in Cheatham County has requested a statewide extradition of Stratton, the outlet reports.
Stratton has an independent non-appearance warrant for a probation violation related to a theft charge, according to the outlet.