WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin teen who killed his parents and stole their money to fund his plan to kill President Donald Trump with a drone-dropped bomb was sentenced to life in prison Thursday.
Nikita Casap, 18, pleaded guilty in January in Waukesha County Circuit Court to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in connection with the 2025 shooting deaths of his mother, Tatiana Casap, and stepfather, Donald Mayer. Prosecutors dropped seven other charges in the plea deal, including two counts of hiding a corpse and theft.
Judge: Kassap may never change after ‘horrible’ crimes
First-degree intentional homicide is punishable by life in prison. When Judge Ralph Ramirez began the sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon, the only question was whether he would make Kassup eligible for parole at some point.
Ramirez called Kassap’s crimes “horrible” and “incomprehensible” and ultimately sentenced him to two life sentences without the opportunity for long-term supervision, the term used for parole in Wisconsin’s criminal justice system. The judge said he didn’t have a “crystal ball” that could tell him when, if ever, Kasap would change.
“I choose to find that he is not eligible for deferred release because I do not know … when, if, and whether profound and significant changes will occur,” Ramirez said.
Mother and stepfather were killed at home
Investigators believe Kassap shot his stepfather and mother at their home in Waukesha Village on or about February 11, 2025, according to a criminal complaint.
He lived with the decomposing bodies for two weeks before fleeing the country in his stepfather’s SUV with $14,000 in cash, jewelry, a passport, his stepfather’s gun and the family dog, according to the indictment. After four days on the run, he was finally arrested on February 28 during a traffic stop in Kansas.
Federal authorities accuse Kassap of plotting to murder his parents, purchasing drones and explosives and sharing his plans with others, including a Russian speaker. They said in federal search warrants that he wrote a manifesto calling for Trump’s assassination and was in contact with others about his plot to overthrow the U.S. government
“The killing of his parents appears to have been an attempt to gain the financial means and autonomy needed to carry out the plan,” the arrest warrant states.
Detectives found several messages on Kassap’s phone from January 2025 in which Kassap asked how long he would have to stay in hiding before being transferred to Ukraine. The complaint states that an unidentified person responded in Russian, but the document does not specify what the person told Kassap. Kassap asked in another message: “So will I be able to live a normal life while in Ukraine? Even if I’m found to have done it?”
Prosecutor insists Kassap is too dangerous to be released
District Attorney Leslie Boss told a judge Thursday that Kassap is too dangerous and should never be released.
Bosch said in excerpts from Kasap’s interview with the FBI that Kassap and his mother moved to the United States from the Republic of Moldova when Kassap was in elementary school, but as he got older he became increasingly obsessed with what she called “disturbing websites.” She didn’t elaborate, but said at one point he had been researching serial killers and school shootings.
Bose said Kassap hatched a plan in late 2024 to target Trump with an AK-47 rifle mounted on a drone. The teen later decided to use a drone to drop explosives on Trump and then fled by boat to Ukraine, where he planned to hide for ten years, according to the district attorney. Kassap told agents he wouldn’t care how many people around Trump were injured in an assassination attempt.
He started talking to two people online who offered to sell him drones and explosives. Boese said he sent $8,700 in Bitcoin from his stepfather Mayer’s account to one of them without realizing they were defrauding him, and that there was never a drone or any explosives.
“He walked right in,” she said.
Defense lawyer asks for leniency
Kassap’s attorney, Paul Rifelj, asked Ramirez to make Kassap eligible for parole after serving 20 years in prison. He said that in December 2024, Kassap was furious when news emerged that a doctor had driven his car into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. The teenager decided then that he wanted to change the world by killing a politician, Riverly said.
Riverly said two contacts who pledged to help him kill Trump led him to believe they were part of a larger military strategy, providing him with direction and purpose as he became isolated at school.
“Kids are not just on their worst behavior,” he said.
Kassap: ‘I thought I was part of a revolution’
Kassap seemed to be shaking as he listened to both sides make their case. He gave a tearful speech, saying he loved his mother and that he worried about her all the time, even as she reached for something on a high shelf. He said he and Mayer were not that close, but Mayer still treated him like a son.
But he was plagued by hateful thoughts.
“I thought I was part of a revolution,” he said. “I thought I was part of the war. I told myself something bad was going to happen.”
