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Wisconsin Man Pleads Guilty After Killing Parents to Finance Trump Assassination Plan

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  January 09, 2026 8:00 AM

Earlier this year, 17-year-old Nikita Casap was arrested in Wisconsin and charged with the murders of his mother and stepfather as part of a plan to steal their money and use it to assassinate President Trump and incite a "political revolution."

When Casap was arrested, authorities said he'd written a three-page manifesto titled "Accelerate the Collapse" that called for the assassination of President Trump and Vice President Vance by using bombs.

Casap also had messages and images on his phone referencing another manifesto that detailed plans on how to "get rid of the president and perhaps vice president."

One of Casap's classmates claimed the teen had been in contact with someone in Russia and that Casap's plan was to flee to Ukraine.

Casap murdered his parents on or around February 11 and lived with their bodies for a few weeks before fleeing with $14,000 cash, jewelry, passports, a gun, and the family dog. He was arrested in Kansas on February 28.

“He was in touch with other parties about his plan to kill the President and overthrow the government of the United States. And he paid for, at least in part, a drone and explosives to be used as a weapon of mass destruction to commit an attack,” according to investigators in a federal affidavit. 

Now Casap has pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

Here's more:

A Wisconsin man accused of killing his parents and stealing their money to fund a plan to assassinate President Donald Trump pleaded guilty to two homicide counts in a deal with prosecutors Thursday, locking himself into two life prison sentences.

Nikita Casap, 18, 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.

...

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.

Casap was one of several attempted Trump assassins who allegedly had foreign ties, along with Butler, PA attempted assassin Matthew Crooks, who communicated on encrypted platforms linked to Belgium, New Zealand, and Germany, and Ryan Routh, who was in a Ukrainian propaganda video

Each charge carries a mandatory life prison sentence, and District Attorney Lesli Boese said she will push Judge Ralph Ramirez to deny Casap any chance at parole, calling Casap "a danger to the community" and saying she "didn't want to take any chances that he could be rehabilitated."