A Wisconsin teenager has been charged with murdering his mother and stepfather, accused of living with their corpses for two weeks and taking video with at least one of their bodies, prosecutors said.
Nikita Casap, 17, appeared in court Thursday in Waukesha, where he faces a slew of charges, including first-degree intentional homicide, in the deaths of his mother, Tatiana Casap, 35, and his stepfather, Donald Mayer, 51.
Their bodies were found Feb. 28 after Mayer's mother called the sheriff's office and asked for a welfare check on the family. They were found in a state of decay bearing gunshot wounds.
The criminal complaint said that Casap hadn’t been present at school for two weeks and that no excused absences had been provided.
Nikita Casap was arrested Feb. 28 after he ran a stop sign in WaKeeney, Kansas — more than 800 miles from his Wisconsin home. He was found driving his stepfather’s Volkswagen Atlas. His stepfather’s Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum, the victims’ driver’s licenses and spent shell casings were all found in the car, according to the complaint.
The teen was initially charged March 3 with operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent and theft of movable property, in connection with the car and the gun.
On Thursday, he was charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, two counts of hiding a corpse, theft of property over $10,000 and two counts of misappropriating ID to obtain money, the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department and the Waukesha County District Attorney's Office announced.
The teen appeared in court Thursday, when prosecutors laid out grim new details.
His mother was found in a hallway covered with blankets and a towel, and Mayer was found in a first-floor office, covered by a pile of clothing.
District Attorney Lesli Boese said Casap shot his mother at least three times on Feb. 11, twice in the stomach and once in the neck, NBC affiliate WTMJ of Milwaukee reported.
Prosecutors said this month that Casap killed Mayer by shooting him in the back of the head.
Casap is allegedly to have gone to school the next day and continued to live at home for nearly two weeks, until Feb. 23.
Police also found a camera memory card containing video of Casap lighting candles in the office where his stepfather’s body was, and he recorded the corpse about a week after he was killed, authorities alleged.
Boese said Casap fled the home with $14,000 in cash and was communicating with someone to get fake plates put on his stepfather's car to hide that he was stealing it.
Location records from his phone showed he left the Waukesha area in his stepfather's car around 10 a.m. Feb. 24 and passed through Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado, according to the criminal complaint.
“It appears this individual was trying to flee the jurisdiction — not only this state, but this country,” Waukesha County Court Commissioner Christopher Bailey said, according to WTMJ. “A lot of these issues make the court believe that this individual had no intention to be here where he is today.”
The district attorney's office and attorneys for Casap did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
His preliminary hearing is set for April 9.