Wisconsin teen accused of killing parents to fund plot to assassinate Trump pleads guilty to homicide
Courtesy: CBS
An 18-year-old Wisconsin man accused of killing his parents and stealing their money to fund a plan to assassinate President Trump pleaded guilty to two homicide counts in a deal with prosecutors Thursday, locking himself into two life prison sentences.
Nikita Casap pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in Waukesha County Circuit Court in connection with the deaths of his stepfather, Donald Mayer, and his mother, Tatiana Casap, last year. In exchange, prosecutors dropped seven other charges, including two counts of hiding a corpse and theft.
Each homicide count carries a mandatory life prison sentence. Judge Ralph Ramirez could choose to make Casap eligible for parole after he serves 20 years on each count when he is sentenced on March 5.
Casap trembled in his seat at the defense table as Ramirez asked him if he understood the ramifications of his pleas and whether he shot his mother and Mayer. He responded “Yes, your honor” to everything.
Casap’s attorney, public defender Joseph Rifelj, spoke only to confirm the terms of the plea agreement with Ramirez and to say that he had sufficient time to speak with Casap about it. Rifelj left the hearing without speaking to reporters.
District Attorney Lesli Boese told reporters outside court that her goal was to force Casap to accept responsibility for his parents’ deaths and two mandatory life sentences amount to sufficient punishment.
She said she will push Ramirez to deny Casap any chance at parole. She said Casap is a “danger to the community and that she didn’t want to take any chances that he could be rehabilitated.
According to a criminal complaint, investigators believe Casap shot his stepfather and mother at their home in the village of Waukesha on or around Feb. 11.
Nikita Casap appears at his arraignment Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in Waukesha County Circuit Court in Waukesha, Wis. Mark Hoffman / AP
He lived with the decomposing bodies for weeks before fleeing across the country in his stepfather’s SUV with $14,000 in cash, jewelry, passports, his stepfather’s gun and the family dog, according to the complaint. He was eventually arrested during a traffic stop in Kansas on Feb. 28.
Federal authorities have accused Casap of planning his parents’ murders, buying a drone and explosives and sharing his plans with others, including a Russian speaker. They said in a federal search warrant that he wrote a manifesto calling for Mr. Trump’s assassination and was in touch with others about his plan to kill Mr. Trump and overthrow the U.S. government.
“The killing of his parents appeared to be an effort to obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary to carrying out his plan,” that warrant said.
Detectives found several messages on Casap’s cellphone from January 2025 in which Casap asks how long he will have to hide before he is moved to Ukraine. An unknown individual responded in Russian, the complaint said, but the document doesn’t say what that person told Casap. In another message, Casap asks: “So while in Ukraine, I’ll be able to live a normal life? Even if it’s found out I did it?”
Casap’s alleged intentions were detailed in a three-page antisemitic manifesto praising Adolf Hitler, which FBI agents found in images saved on Casap’s phone that appeared to be screengrabs, according to the warrant filed at the federal court in Milwaukee. Excerpts from the manifesto, which are included in the warrant, mention “getting rid of the president and perhaps the vice president,” things the document says prompted the teenager’s desire to spur governmental collapse.
“As to why, specifically Trump I think it’s obvious,” Casap wrote in one excerpt from the manifesto. “By getting rid of the president and perhaps the vice president, that is guaranteed to bring in some chaos. And not only that, but it will further bring into the public the idea that assassinations and accelerating the collapse are possible things to do.”
