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An 18-year-old from Wisconsin will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering his mother and stepfather in order to fund a plot to assassinate President Donald Trump.

Getting into it: Nikita Casap of Waukesha pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the February 2025 killings of his mother, Tatiana Casap, and his stepfather, Donald Mayer. On Thursday, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Ralph Ramirez sentenced the now-18-year-old to two life sentences in prison with no possibility of parole. Prosecutors said Casap murdered his parents on Feb. 11, 2025, inside the family’s home. According to investigators, Casap shot Mayer once in the back of the head while he was working at a desk in his den, then later shot his mother three times shortly after she walked through the door after returning home. Authorities say he remained inside the home for roughly two weeks with their decomposing bodies before leaving the state. During that time, he took about $14,000 in cash, jewelry, passports, his stepfather’s gun, and his mother’s vehicle before eventually fleeing across the country. He was arrested during a traffic stop in Kansas on Feb. 28, 2025.

Investigators said Casap carried out the killings in order to obtain money and independence to fund a plan to assassinate President Trump. According to prosecutors and federal investigators, the teen had developed a plan in late 2024 to attack the president using a drone equipped with explosives or a rifle. Authorities said he also discussed fleeing the US afterward and hiding in Ukraine for up to a decade.

Casap also communicated online with people who claimed they could supply him with a drone and explosives and even sent $8,700 in bitcoin from his stepfather’s account, though prosecutors later said he had been scammed and there was never a drone. According to prosecutors, Casap had become radicalized online and spent significant time researching serial killers and mass shootings while also communicating with individuals discussing violence and political upheaval. Investigators also found writings and messages indicating he believed assassinating a political figure could spark a broader revolution.

During sentencing, prosecutors argued Casap should never be released, describing the murders as calculated and motivated by an extremist plot. His defense attorney asked the court to allow the possibility of release after 20 years, arguing that Casap was just 17 at the time of the killings and had been manipulated online and influenced by violent events in the news. Judge Ramirez ultimately rejected that request, saying the brutality and motive of the crime were impossible to rationalize. “I can’t understand, I don’t know anybody could understand or put any kind of rationale behind what happened,” the judge said.

Casap addressed the court during the hearing, expressing remorse and breaking down in tears as he spoke about his parents. “I thought I was part of a revolution. I thought I was part of a war. I told myself bad things had to happen.” He also acknowledged the gravity of what he had done, telling the court, “This was the mother I killed…the person who loved me. What I did was vile. What I did was thoughtless. What I did was wrong.”