Early Tuesday morning, May 30th, Eureka Police Officers were dispatched to an address in Eureka regarding reports that a woman reported missing while traveling from Tennessee to California earlier in the month had been seen at the Eureka address on Monday, May 29th, according to a press release from the Eureka Police Department.
According to reports, the missing woman, identified as Nikki Michelle Alcaraz, had been on a road trip from Tennessee to California with her boyfriend, Steven Stratton. On Tuesday, May 9th, an alleged act of domestic violence occurred between Alcaraz and Stratton in New Mexico.
Both Alcaraz and Stratton were released after investigation into the incident, and several days later, Alcaraz and Stratton left the area together and had not been seen since, leading to a missing person report being filed on Alcaraz in New Mexico.
Eureka Police Officers investigated the sighting in Eureka just after 7:00am Tuesday morning, and were able to confirm that both Alcaraz and Stratton were still together and had been at the location.
At approximately 2:25pm Tuesday afternoon, May 30th, Eureka Police Officers were advised by a citizen by phoned that they had seen the vehicle associated with Alcaraz and Stratton traveling south on Broadway.
Officers were dispatched to the vicinity and located the vehicle parked at Pacific Plaza. Both Alcaraz and Stratton were contacted inside the vehicle. Alcaraz and Stratton cooperated with officers. Alcaraz told officers that she was okay and didn’t need any assistance.
However, a background check on Stratton revealed that he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest out of Tennessee with full extradition. Stratton’s warrant was for failure to appear on a theft related offense, and he was taken into custody without incident, transported, and booked at the Humboldt County Correctional Facility.
Alcaraz was provided information on local resources and released from the scene. The reporting agency in New Mexico was notified of the contact with Alcaraz.
