WAUKESHA, Wis.—A Wisconsin teenager who killed his parents and stole their money to fund his plan to kill President Donald Trump with a bomb dropped from a drone was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday.
Nikita Casap, 18, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in Waukesha County Circuit Court in connection with the shooting deaths of his mother, Tatiana Casap, and stepfather, Donald Mayer, in 2025. Prosecutors dropped seven other charges in a plea deal, including two counts of hiding a corpse and theft..
Judge: Casap May Never Change After ‘Horrific’ Crimes
First-degree intentional homicide carries a mandatory life sentence. The only question as Judge Ralph Ramirez began the sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon was whether he would make Casap eligible for parole at some point.
Calling Casap’s offenses “horrific” and “inexplicable,” Ramirez ultimately handed down two life sentences with no chance at extended supervision, the term the Wisconsin criminal justice system uses for parole. The judge said he didn’t have a “crystal ball” that would tell him when Casap would change, if ever.
“I choose to find he’s not eligible for extended release because I do not know … when and if and whether a profound and significant change can occur,” Ramirez said.
Mother, Stepfather Killed in Their Home
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, 2025.
He lived with the decomposing bodies for two 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 after four days on the run.
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 Trump’s assassination and was in touch with others about his plot to 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 relocated 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?”
