A Wisconsin teen has been charged with murder after killing his mother and stepfather and living with their bodies for two weeks. Prosecutors say he also recorded videos with at least one of the corpses.
Nikita Casap, 17, appeared in court on Thursday, facing first-degree intentional homicide charges in the deaths of his stepfather, 51-year-old Donald Mayer, and his mother, 35-year-old Tatiana Casap.
Authorities discovered the bodies on February 28 after Mayer’s mother requested a welfare check. When officers arrived at the home, they found the victims in an advanced state of decay, both with apparent gunshot wounds.
His mother was discovered in a hallway covered with towel and blankets while Mayer was found in the office on the first floor, covered by clothing.
Officials also found a memory card containing videos of Casap lighting candles where his stepfather’s body was. He also filmed the decaying body for about a week after he was murdered.
According to the criminal complaint, Casap had not attended school for two weeks and had no excused absences on record.
Casap was arrested on February 28 after running a stop sign in WaKeeney, Kansas—more than 800 miles from where the murders took place. He was driving a Volkswagen Atlas that belonged to his stepfather.
Inside the vehicle, officers found his stepfather’s firearm along with spent shell casings.
On March 3, Casap was charged with theft of movable property and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent.
On Thursday, he was charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, theft of property worth more than $10,000, two counts of hiding a body, and two counts of using a fraudulent ID to obtain money.
These new details were revealed during his court hearing on Thursday.
District Attorney Lesli Boese stated that Casap shot his mother multiple times—twice in the abdomen and once in the back.
Prosecutors said he killed his stepfather with a single gunshot to the back of the head.
After committing the murders, Casap allegedly attended school the next day before staying home for the following two weeks.
According to Boese, he eventually fled the home with over $14,000 in cash and was in contact with someone about obtaining fake plates for the stolen car.
Location records show that on the morning of February 24, he left Waukesha in his stepfather’s vehicle, traveling through Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.
Court Commissioner Christopher Bailey noted that Casap appeared to be “trying to flee the country”.
His preliminary hearing is currently scheduled for April 9.
