Killing for Chaos /// Part 1 /// 839

Summary

True Crime Garage Episode Summary: "Killing for Chaos /// Part 1 /// 839"

Podcast Information:

• Title: True Crime Garage
• Hosts: Nick and The Captain
• Description: Hosts Nic and the Captain invite listeners to delve into true crime cases each week, blending in-depth discussions with light-hearted banter and a casual atmosphere.

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Introduction

In the "Killing for Chaos /// Part 1 /// 839" episode of True Crime Garage, hosts Nick and The Captain unravel a chilling case from Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Amidst their usual blend of insightful analysis and camaraderie, they guide listeners through the complexities of a seemingly routine welfare check that spirals into a disturbing double homicide investigation.

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Case Overview

Date of Incident: February 28, 2025
Location: Cinder Hills Drive, Waukesha County, Wisconsin
Individuals Involved:

• Donald Mayer: Husband and father
• Tatiana Kassap: Wife and stepmother
• Nikita Kassap: 17-year-old stepson

Initial Concern: The episode begins with a welfare check prompted by two separate reports:

1. From Judith Mayer: Donald Mayer and his family hadn't been seen for several days, with particular concern over Nikita's unexplained absences from Waukesha West High School (0:38: Nick).
2. From Officer Edwards: The school's resource officer reported Nikita's sudden and unexcused absences over the past two weeks (0:37: Nick).

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Investigation Details

First Welfare Check:
On the morning of February 28, 2025, Waukesha County deputies arrived at the Mayer residence for a welfare check. The well-maintained home exhibited signs of normalcy with its large lawn, three-car garage, and basketball hoop. However, upon knocking, no one answered, and neighbors reported no recent activity (5:29: Nick).

Suspicious Communications:
Investigators uncovered odd text messages purportedly from Donald Mayer and his phone, indicating illness and social media absence. These texts raised red flags about the family's welfare (9:19: The Captain).

Flock Camera Footage:
Law enforcement utilized Flock Safety's Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras to track the family's vehicles:

• Donald Mayer's 2018 Volkswagen Atlas: Last spotted on February 23, 2025 (16:48: Nick).
• Tatiana Kassap's Vehicle: Last seen on February 11, 2025 (16:48: Nick).

School and Work Pings:
Nikita's school-issued computer last pinged in Waukesha on February 23, aligning with the discovery of Donald's vehicle on ALPR cameras. These data points suggested movement away from the residence (18:38: Nick).

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Discovery of Homicide

Entering the Residence:
At approximately 1:52 PM, deputies entered the residence and discovered a deceased female in the first-floor hallway. She exhibited signs of decomposition and potential gunshot wounds, indicating foul play (19:12: Nick).

Second Victim Found:
Later that day, a second body was located—a male with a gunshot wound to the back of the head. The absence of both stepfather and Nikita raised further suspicion (20:34: The Captain).

Securing the Scene:
Law enforcement secured the residence, ensuring all actions would hold up in court as the investigation shifted focus to a homicide case (21:34: Nick).

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Progress of the Investigation

Additional Findings:

• Missing Black Dog: Neighbors reported a family dog missing, which was later found deceased in the vehicle with Nikita (22:29: Nick).
• Purchase of Firearm: Records revealed that Donald Mayer had purchased a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum firearm, though it was not found at the residence (43:06: Nick).

Vehicle Tracking:
Nikita's phone pings indicated movement towards Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming, approximately 980 miles from Waukesha. This led investigators to track his movements across multiple states, eventually identifying him at a truck stop in Walcott, Iowa (25:15: The Captain).

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Arrest and Evidence Recovery

Traffic Stop in Wakini, Kansas:
On the night of February 28, 2025, Nikita was pulled over in Wakini, Kansas, for failing to stop at a stop sign. His stolen Volkswagen Atlas, flagged by prior reports, matched the investigation's leads. Officers found Nikita alone with a small black dog and a handgun in the vehicle (42:18: The Captain).

Evidence Collected:

• Donald and Tatiana's driver's licenses
• Unused ammunition and spent shell casings
• Large sums of US Currency and Euros
• Two cell phones belonging to Donald and Tatiana

Vehicle Details:
The Volkswagen Atlas matched Tatiana's registered vehicle, and the presence of Nikita without a driver's license further complicated the case (43:21: Nick).

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Hosts' Analysis and Theories

Nick's Insights: Nick posits that the evidence points towards Nikita as the likely perpetrator. He illustrates a scenario where Nikita might have murdered his parents and fled the scene, using their resources to disappear (47:03: Nick). He emphasizes the methodical uncovering of evidence, from ALPR data to the recovered gun, which aligns with Nikita's ownership (43:21: Nick).

The Captain's Perspective: The Captain discusses the possible motives and circumstances surrounding the murders, including the sudden shift from a welfare check to a homicide investigation. He underlines the importance of thorough police work and the complexities involved when a missing individual becomes a suspect (13:01: The Captain).

Speculative Scenarios: The hosts explore various possibilities, including domestic disputes leading to murder or potential abductions, but ultimately focus on the mounting evidence against Nikita (37:27: Nick).

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Conclusion and Cliffhanger

As the episode concludes, Nick and The Captain recap the progression of the case, highlighting the swift arrest of Nikita and the substantial evidence against him. They tease the ongoing nature of the investigation, promising further exploration in the next episode (51:27: The Captain).

Notable Quotes:

• Nick: "This is a great move by law enforcement... you're getting two independent reports that these people have been unaccounted for for days." [13:01]
• The Captain: "You have a murderer or a victim and are they dead or alive?" [43:05]
• Nick: "We've reviewed here in the garage... He's a juvenile who by this time, just about 13 hours after the police had entered the home." [43:21]

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Final Thoughts

"Killing for Chaos /// Part 1 /// 839" masterfully balances investigative detail with engaging dialogue. Nick and The Captain guide listeners through each development, offering thoughtful analysis while maintaining an approachable tone. The episode not only sheds light on a harrowing case but also underscores the complexities and challenges faced by law enforcement in unraveling such mysteries.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where the investigation continues to unfold.

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Remember: The True Crime Garage podcast invites you to explore the depths of true crime cases each week. Whether you're an armchair detective or a mystery enthusiast, join Nick and The Captain for an immersive and insightful experience.

Transcript

[Unknown Speaker 1]

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[Nick]

Oh wow. I love this song.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

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[Nick]

One more stuff, one more stance. SA welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick and with me as always, is a man with a reminder that too many cooks spoil the soup. Here is the captain.

[The Captain]

No soup for you. It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.

[Nick]

This week we are very excited to be featuring Wanna Go west by the wonderful and generous folks over Steel Tank Brewing and beautiful Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Wanna Go west is a west coast style ipa. It's a collaboration beer which is always interesting and often adventurous. You win with people so why not get some more people involved. The result here, a great delicious beer with good flavor and balance. ABV 7% garage grade three and three quarter bottle caps out of five. And let's give some thanks and praise to our great friends. First up, a long distance cheers to Magdalena from Gabriellen, which is a small village just outside of Warsaw, Poland.

[The Captain]

And a big we like your jib goes out to Miles from Henderson, Kentucky.

[Nick]

Next up, here's a cheers to Grant from Bossier City, Louisiana.

[The Captain]

Talk hands in the air to Catherine in Glasgow, Scotland.

[Nick]

And last but certainly not least, we have Diana Jones from Athens, Alabama. Everyone we just mentioned, they went to truecrimegarage.com and helped us fill up this stunningly beautiful garage beer fridge for this week's shows. And for that we thank you.

[The Captain]

Yeah BWR you and beer run. And while you'[e-mail] make sure you sign up on the mailing list and curl. That's enough of the business.

[Nick]

All right everybody gather round, grab a chair, grab a beer. Lets talk some true crime.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

Chaos is disorder, confusion, unrest and lawlessness. And when you have chaos, fear and panic ensues. Some want chaos for one reason or another. Some people set out on a mission of chaos to see what it will bring. An agent of chaos commits a single or even multiple acts with the purpose of intentionally disrupting or destabilizing a system. Whether it be a political system, a relationship or any other social or natural system. Death, destruction and fear of either can trigger a chaos domino like effect. And it doesn't have to be a life changing or world changing event. There's the butterfly effect. In theory, a small change, one part of a chaotic system can have large unpredictable effects later on triggering a cascade of events leading to a larger unexpected outcome, often drastic outcomes leading to amplified chaos. Now fear and panic levels have hit 10x spreading even more chaos and chaotic occurrences. Until we reach complete disorder and instability there is no recovery. Your only hope is to rebuild and start over. Chaos is always out there in theory and in action and there is always someone looking to create, incite and spread it. This is True Crime Garage.

[Nick]

For today's true crime story we go out to Wakesha County, Wisconsin. This is a story that just broke here recently, about two months ago. The story starts on the morning of Friday, February 28, 2025 when Waukesha county deputies arrived at a lovely home on Cinder Hills Drive. The house is large with a three car attached garage positioned to the left side of the house at the top of the driveway. The yard is large as well and backs up to a wooded area. The lawn is well manicured. There's a basketball hoop at the back of the driveway. The house has pea green siding and a stone facade. As you make your way from the driveway, there's an extended walkway leading to the front door of the home. Shrubs line the left side of the walkway. The officers approach the front door doing their usual police protocol of casually looking in the windows of the home as they walk by them. The house looks dark inside and from their vantage point there isn't much to see. It's a quarter to 10am that morning. The officers are knocking on the door. The purpose for their visit? A welfare check at the residence. The officers were dispatched to the home after receiving a call from a Mrs. Judith mayor. Mrs. Mayer told dispatch that her son, Donald Mayer and his wife Tatiana Kassap and Tatiana's son Nikita Kassap had not been heard from or seen for some time and there was growing concern for the family of three's general welfare. This concern by Donald's mother was compounded by Nikita's absence from school. Nikita was a student at Waukesha West High School where their mission, as they say on this school's website, is to challenge minds, foster compassion and pursue excellence. There, a member of law enforcement, this is Officer Edwards, working in the capacity as the school's resource officer, is making some routine school related phone calls that morning. One call was concerning Waukesha west high school student, 17 year old Nikita Cassap Casap was a good student, very smart and very focused. The concern with the youngster wasn't grades or his behavior, it was simply his absence. Nikita previously had a perfect attendance up until about two weeks prior to this date. Since then, the boy had not been at school at all. These are all unexcused absences as no excused absences had been provided to the school by either Nikita's mother or stepfather with whom the boy lived with. Neither parent had called Nikita in as absent. However, the school did receive a single email that the school was not able to confirm that it had actually come from the family or actually anyone with the authority to give notice of the boy's absence.

[The Captain]

Yeah, sometimes when your child is sick, you'll call it in, or if they have a doctor's appointment, you call it in or maybe even send a note with them when they come back to school. But like you said, Nikita has not been back in school. And he's just 17 years old. But his, his mother is only 35, his dad's only 51. So then you think, well, did they go on vacation and just not tell us about it?

[Nick]

And if you, if an email could get you out of school, my friend, I would have sent many a forged email back in the day to, to go on and have some fun.

[The Captain]

Would say. The, the official email of the colonel's parents at gmail dot com.

[Nick]

So what we have here, Captain, are essentially two welfare checks, right. Requested both for the same home. One for the husband and stepfather, Donald Mayer and family, that one coming from his mother. And we also have one coming from the school regarding the student and son, Nikita Kassap. And at the scene of this welfare check, officers were not able to make contact with anyone at the residence. So no one answers the door. They could see no sign of activity at the home. A deputy checked with neighbors and was able to make contact with, with one neighbor who stated that they had not seen the family or any activity at all at the family's property for several days.

[The Captain]

It's a big house too.

[Nick]

Yes, it's a big looking house, Nice looking home in a really cool neighborhood.

[The Captain]

Yeah, it's one of those neighborhoods where everybody probably has one to two acres. And then you got a three car garage. You have this giant driveway for a basketball hoop. It's fenced in next to a pond. I mean you just go, man, this, this is a family that has made it.

[Nick]

Lots of people cutting lots of grass.

[The Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

So deputies reached out to Donald's mother back to the high school resource officer to collect some more information. Since they weren't able to make contact with anybody at the home, what they find is really like some odd and weird suspicious text messages. Okay, so Donald's mother tells police she received suspicious or weird text messages on February 23, purportedly from her son. So this is five days prior to the welfare check. But she says she has not heard from any member of the family of three since. Further, she stated that Donald's sister had last talked to Donald on February 18th. So this is 10 days prior to the welfare check. But this communication was simply via text as well. And equally suspicious to the one that Donald's mother received. This text to Donald's sister was from Donald's phone and saying that he was pretty sick and was going to take some time off of social media. The school resource officer at Waukesha West High School, Officer Edwards, the one who also requested a welfare check, told police that the son, Nikita, had previously had a perfect school attendance but had not been present at the school for two weeks. It's very strange, even though this is more of the same. They are dispatched to this area, to this residence, to knock on the doors, maybe look into the windows, see if there's any activity, and when they don't see that, they are doing their due diligence to go back to check with dispatch. Where did these welfare check calls come from? Who is requesting them? Can we speak with those individuals directly to figure out if there's any more information that could help us locate one or all three of the family members?

[The Captain]

Now, am I correct in the. In the sense that if you're law enforcement, you're going to do this welfare check, that you're also looking for probable cause to enter the property?

[Nick]

Yeah. You're going to look for suspicious activity, because right now these people are by persons that know them.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

They're unaccounted for. And by. By both reports, they're getting two independent reports that are telling you these people have been unaccounted for for days by this point. And, and the truancy officer, the resource officer, is saying this boy with perfect attendance has not been at the school now for two weeks. And we've not heard anything from anybody except for this email that we don't. We, we, the public, don't have any details about that email other than the school simply saying we weren't able to verify that this email was legit.

[The Captain]

Well, I think that's an important thing that you just said about the Text message that would have came from. Yeah, from his stepdad's phone is. We can't just assume that because it comes from somebody's phone or it comes from somebody's email that that's coming from that individual.

[Nick]

Shortly after 10am deputies asked dispatch to check with local hospitals. So could you call the local hospitals, ask them if all three or any of these three are, had been admitted to a hospital or receiving any kind of medical attention at any hospital. And they complied. The dispatch complied, contacted all local hospitals and none of the three residents in question were located using those calls to the hospital. Okay, so now we have a full throttle investigation that is going to be ramping up rather quick, quickly. So we have Wakesha County Deputy Sponder, last name Sponder, spoke with Donald's boss, called Donald's boss at his place of employment. So the boss explained to Officer Sponder that they had been in somewhat regular contact with Donald, but only via text message, telling the officer that Donald sent text message contact with him between February 13 and February 25, with Donald telling him that he was too sick and couldn't talk on the phone. Further, deputies discovered that the postman indicated that there was a vacation hold on the mail at the residence. So here to put it plain and simple, shit's just not adding up, right? Either these three are skipping out on work and school for two weeks or something is very, very wrong. So law enforcement then checked flock cameras in the area of the residence. I love Batman utility belt type technology. This is that. They are looking for movement of two vehicles. One, Donald Mayer's 2018 Volkswagen Atlas. This is one of those crossover vehicles and or the vehicle that was registered to Tatiana Cassatt. So you are hoping with this check of these flock cameras to get a hit on one or both of these vehicles. Of course, this is going to be your breadcrumb trail. So we follow a quick aside here. Flock cameras are automatic license plate reader cameras. They are somewhat common, especially in more populated areas.

[The Captain]

Big Brother is watching.

[Nick]

Data. Data. However you want to say it, Captain. It is how we catch criminals. The eye in the sky equals physical evidence. And much more importantly, as in this case, what detectives crave. Leads.

[The Captain]

Yeah, you say data, I say potato.

[Nick]

So these flock cameras, or ALPR's cameras, capture images of vehicle license plates and other details such as make, model and color. And in some of the more advanced types, they can also detect gunshot sounds. These images and data are stored and can be accessed by law enforcement to help investigate crimes, locate stolen vehicles or wanted individuals. Flock Safety provides this technology to various entities, including but not limited to police departments and law enforcement agencies. So remember, at this time they are only checking this in the area. Right, the. The media area where these folks live. They do get a couple of hits. Donald's 2018 Volkswagen Atlas was spotted by an ALPR camera on February 23, 2025. Again five days prior to the welfare check. And Tatiana's vehicle was last seen on flock camera on February 11, 2025. So considerably earlier here in our timeline. So, good news, bad news situation. Right. You have some more information to work with. But it's also been quite some time since the vehicles were seen and active.

[The Captain]

Well, and they're not confirming who's driving the vehicles.

[Nick]

Correct. So again, February 28th is the welfare check. So five days for Donald's vehicle and 17 days for Tatiana's utility belt. Resource number two, Officer Edwards, the school resource officer, had the Waukesha West High School ping Nikita's school issued computer. And the last IP address for the computer was in Waukesha on February 23, 2025.

[The Captain]

That's a smart move by law enforcement.

[Nick]

Brilliant move. And furthermore, think about what's starting to line up here now too. His. His computer last pinged in the Wakesha area on the same day that a Flock camera picks up the Volkswagen Atlas. So at that same day, we're still on the same day as the welfare check. But now we're going to zoom forward a couple of hours. Right. We talked about the investigation that was going on behind scenes. But now at 1:52pm the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department entered. They actually go in and enter the residence. And rather quickly they located a deceased female on the first floor hallway.

[The Captain]

Oh, shit.

[Nick]

The female was wearing a jacket and had towels over her legs and a blanket over her body. Her face was blackened from decomposition. And they also found quite a bit of dried blood on the floor around her. Now we need to note here, Captain, that she could not be identified at the scene. This due to the DCOMP Deputies observed a possible exit wound in the female's back near her right shoulder. And further observed a possible bullet hole in a wall in that hallway where she was located so near the body.

[The Captain]

I mean, in layman's terms, this means that she's been there for quite a while.

[Nick]

She's been there for quite some time. And even though she can't be identified at the scene, what the deputies are seeing is you're. You're seeing obvious signs of a homicide.

[The Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

And so now this. This case Is just completely flipped into a whole different type of investigation. So what they're going to do here is they're going to leave, they're going to exit the residence upon finding her body, they're going to secure the residents. And this is something that we talk about a lot here in the garage. And I think it gets overlooked because people like to pick at nicks with what law enforcement does and what they don't do. And where I get frustrated is, look, there are plenty of times where law enforcement botch it, right? Or where they just. They just screw it up, or there's somebody lazy or stupid on the case and it just doesn't work out.

[The Captain]

Or they're just human and they made a mistake.

[Nick]

Yes, a lazy, stupid human. Now, what they're doing here, captain, is very brilliant. We talk about this often. You need to not only be investigating and doing your job and protecting everyone, but at the same time, once you all of a sudden realize you got a major case, this is now a homicide situation, you need to make sure that all of your actions going forward from the minute you found out this is a homicide, that all of our actions going forward and what we do will hold up in court one day. Because our end goal, our first goal was to find these people alive and well and report back to the family in school that, hey, they're fine. It was just a misunderstanding. That goal doesn't look like it's going to be able to be achieved because right now you're sitting with a situation with, we found a dead person. We don't know who she is. 100% right. And we still have two other missing people. We now have a homicide case. So now our goal is to solve this homicide and get justice for this victim. So they exit the residence and they secure the home. Now, upon exiting, they do make some observations. These observations are twofold. One, deputies did find Tatiana's vehicle at the residence in the garage, but what they didn't find in the garage was Donald's vehicle. So that's not located at the residence.

[The Captain]

Well, and if you're law enforcement and if you have any idea of what's going on behind the scenes, because the people doing the welfare check or law enforcement doing the welfare check might not be the same individuals that are privy to some of this information, that Donald's cell phone was at least communicating with his work. So you have a missing mother. You stumble upon a victim that's probably roughly her age. So we can assume a little bit that this could be the mother. We can lean towards that idea, but we haven't found the father. So you start then thinking, well, was there some kind of dispute? And then the father kills the mother and now where is the stepson?

[Nick]

Right. Unfortunately, there's no shortage of domestic disputes, violence or homicides in this country.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

And so now what, what's going to be taking place at the scene, at the residence is after it's secured, you're really just waiting on paperwork at this point. You're. You're presenting everything that you now know to a judge, getting them to sign off on a proper search warrant. Right. Because before you entered the home under probable cause, now you want to enter the home armed with paperwork saying that we can legally do what we are going to do and we can collect evidence because now we've identified that there's been a homicide that took place in this residence. So at this time, while they're waiting on the paperwork to come through, which, which will be expedited and come through rather quickly, deputies were able to locate a neighborhood and speak with him. His name is Paul France. Paul France tells deputies that on February 23rd at approximately 12:11pm, so shortly after noon that day, he says he was pulling into his residence and he passed Donald's Volkswagen Atlas and he observed that it was being operated by Nikita, the son. The 17 year old son.

[The Captain]

Right. Which he might have a license.

[Nick]

Well, he tells the deputies that this Nikita kid appeared to be alone. And a different neighbor told investigators that the family had a small black dog and that the dog had not been seen outside in quite some time. And one thing that the deputies didn't see when they were inside the residence was a small black dog. They didn't see a dog at all. The officers ran Nikita's driving record and quickly found out that he has never been issued a driver's license. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. Growing up, we all heard the phrase money doesn't grow on trees. While true, that cliche didn't teach us much about the saving and budgeting lesson we need in life. Pick up where your parents left off. Teaching you about money with Greenlight. Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for families that helps kids learn how to save, invest and spend wisely. Parents can send money to their kids and keep an eye on kids spending and saving. Meanwhile, kids and teens build money, confidence and skills in a fun, accessible way. I wish we had green light. When I was a kid, I had a paper route and I spent my earnings as soon as the money came in. There are so many reasons to get the Green Light app for your family. Teaching your kids to be responsible and good, smart financial decision makers will pay dividends for a lifetime. Start your risk free green light trial [e-mail] garage that's greenlight.com garage to get started. Greenlight.com garage as temperatures climb, it's easy.

[The Captain]

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[Nick]

Cheers to you Colonel Double fisted. Tall cans in the air. Cheers to everybody for checking out. Off the record and a reminder, we will be at God willing, we'll be at Crimecon Denver in September. And if you want to save a little cash, please use our promo code, tcg. We're told that it will save you a little bit of cash and we hope to see all of you, as many of you as possible out there in Denver in September. All right, so this what you were hoping. You're an officer. You're arriving at this residence and you're hoping that this would be a pretty routine welfare check. Officers make more of these welfare checks than I think most citizens are aware of. And most of the time somebody answers the door, it's a misunderstanding. Just like a lot of missing teenager cases or missing persons cases where the person will be located within the first 24 hours. But now we have a whole different set of circumstances. Things went from questionable to horrible upon entering the residence and finding the body of a female.

[The Captain]

Yeah, with gunshot blast.

[Nick]

And you have to be working under the assumption that because she lived there, that the deceased female is in fact one of the three people who you were looking for, that it's likely.

[The Captain]

Tatiana, you're either going to find two more bodies or you're going to have to start looking for individuals that might be responsible for the deaths.

[Nick]

Yeah, if that proves true, well, then you are still missing two other people that lived at that house. So, Utility belt resource number three. An exigent ping was placed for Donald's and Nikita's cell phones. And it was learned that both cell phones pinged in Cheyenne, Wyoming. So this is approximately 980 miles away. So roughly a 13 and a half to 14 hour drive west of the residents in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

[The Captain]

Right. So we have a murder victim and it looks like we have somebody on the run.

[Nick]

Now, we do have another report and I do want to state that both are from very reputable sources. This report is stating that the phone's pinged in Laramie, Wyoming, which is a considerable distance from Cheyenne. And kudos to the folks at, AT&T who complied and acted so quickly to help with those emergency pings. Now, both reports, I believe, Captain, are likely accurate because to me, these phones appear to be on the move. You said somebody might be on the run. These phones appear to be on the move. And if they are, you're going to be requesting updated GPS information regularly. And so both reports could be very true if these phones are in fact on the move later that day. We're still on February 28th. This is at approximately 5pm The Waukesha County Sheriff's office. They now have search warrant in hand, so they execute that search warrant at the residence upon entering the home once again. And now that they are armed with this judge signed paperwork permitting the full search of the residents. A second deceased subject was located in what is best described as an office room. Again on the first floor of the home. That subject was a male with a gray beard and was covered by a pile of clothing. The deceased male at that time was believed to be Donald Mayer. Officers observed an obvious wound to the back of the victim's head. Now, through records, this is advanced location records that were obtained, police learned that Nikita's phone appeared to leave the Waukesha area on February 24th at approximately 10am the device took a very general route through multiple states. Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado. These records indicating that the device belonging to Nikita appeared to stop at Iowa 80, the world's largest truck stop located in Walcott, Iowa, on February 24th between the approximate times of 2:25pm and 2:50pm so, Detective Jensen, you can see this, Captain, is an all hands on deck situation. We got.

[The Captain]

Well, that's a great name for a detective if you're the chief. Jensen.

[Nick]

It's great for the chief.

[The Captain]

And Jensen, in my office now. Jensen.

[Nick]

It's also great if you are a character on an HBO crime thriller.

[The Captain]

Yeah, Jensen, what do we have here?

[Nick]

So, Detective Jensen contacted the Walcott, Iowa Police Department and he's requesting that they check the video at the world's largest truck stop for the date of the 24th. Yeah, and provided them with the window of time that was in question. They needed to determine if they could observe Donald's Volkswagen Atlas there because we know that Nikita's phone was there. And they also want if they can spot that vehicle, or maybe not by plate, just a vehicle matching that description. You want to see, is there any cameras that might tell you who may be driving the vehicle? The police department there sent officer. Sent Officer Tim Horihan, who responded and went out to the scene, reviewed the security video, and bingo. Officer Horihan observed a vehicle matching Donald's Volkswagen Atlas on camera. During the time frame of interest, the sheriff's office provided the Iowa Police Department with a photo of Nikita. And based on that school photo, Officer Horahan believed the lone occupant that he could see in surveillance footage of that vehicle was in fact Nikita. And in fact, the footage was so detailed here, Captain, that the. The officer said that he could see a small black dog was with the lone occupant of that vehicle. So this of course, consistent with the dog that was missing from the residence.

[The Captain]

Yeah, like you said, we have this welfare check law enforcement. I mean, you don't know, so you're hoping for the best. But there's also situations, you. You know, where something goes wrong and there's a. A poisoning, right? Carbon monoxide poisoning. But you show up now, you have this victim by gunshot. You find another victim by gunshot.

[Nick]

Appears to be a gunshot. You and appears to a gunshot hole in the hallway wall of the residence as well.

[The Captain]

And it's a large property, like we said. So then you're looking for the sun. And then you do not Find the son, then you have other options. Okay, now is the son responsible for this or was this, did somebody break into the house? Is this kid kidnapped by somebody? You have multiple possibilities. So now we are tracking this car and once you see that it is just the son by himself, he has made no contact with the school or authorities, family members or friends that we know of. Right? And he's all by himself with the dog, driving his stepdad's car. It doesn't look good. No, it looks like a situation where the 17 year old murdered his mother.

[Nick]

And stepfather and appears to have moved the phones of the murdered victims. The stepson doesn't have a driver's license. And look, it wouldn't be crazy to think of any other scenario because we've reviewed here in the garage. I think it was seven or eight years ago, the middle of the night, some maniac shows up and guns down two parents and kidnaps the, the teenage daughter, right? Holds her captive for an extended period of time. And detectives, and they probably had a better idea of what was going on. But us, the public, the general public, we were left clueless. We were like, what was, was the kid involved? Is the kid dead somewhere? You know, we were left with no answers.

[The Captain]

A murderer or a victim and are they dead or alive? And so at least we're getting some answers here. We two dead parents, the child's alive. Now you have to start going, you're.

[Nick]

Narrowing down the possibilities, especially when you see the sun by himself identified by a photograph and in the company of the missing dog from the residence in a vehicle that matches the stepdad's vehicle description. Now you had said they don't find the son at the home. What they do find during this continued search of the residents, they find paperwork. This paperwork is telling them that Donald Mayer at some point purchased a Smith & Wesson.357 Magnum firearm and that a search of the home. They could not find that gun. They could not find that firearm. It's not discovered within the residence during that search. So here we go. Captain, we are going to a tiny little town called Wakini, Kansas.

[The Captain]

Yeah, that's what I wear to the, to the beach. A Wakini.

[Nick]

That's right.

[The Captain]

It's a three piece, 17 piece.

[Nick]

This is approximately so it's over 800 miles from the welfare check residence. This is in Trago County, Kansas. Waiki. Other than being located right in tornado Alley, this place looks very cool to me. Population less than 2000. Shout out to the brazen bull. Which if I'm ever in Wakini. I'll be dropping by for a beer and a burger over there. I looked Wakini police department up on Facebook and on X just to see what their activity is. Because nowadays, like, there's constant communication from a lot of these law enforcement agencies and some of it's just kind of happy, cheerful stuff. And others like, hey, we're looking for this person, right? Or stolen vehicle situation. The Waukena Police Department, Facebook. It's. It consists almost primarily. And when I say primarily, Captain, I mean it's like 95% missing dog found. Like, this is a very community, community oriented area. Small, small town. Everybody knows everybody. And the police department's nice enough that, you know what, we don't have much crime going on here. So we go, go around and collect stray animals that we find posted on Facebook. And we're returning. We're returning pets to their owners. Owners are collecting their pets. That is a lot of what the law enforcement activity is or appears to be via Facebook anyway, right here in this small little town. So. All right, let's focus. I'll focus. It's 11:25pm so late at night. This is still the night of February 28th. The same day as the welfare check. The same day as two bodies found still unidentified back in Wisconsin. The Waukenie Police Department while working traffic, stopped a vehicle with out of state plates. The officer lit him up and pulled him over at 745 S. First St. The traffic stop was initiated due to the vehicle exiting Interstate 70 and then failing to stop at a stop sign. The officer ran the plate and the vehicle came back as stolen out of Wisconsin. So the Trago County Sheriff's office responded to back up the officer as well as another member of the Waukenie Police Department. They arrive on the scene. Information from the Wisconsin Sheriff's Office that was provided to the officers at the traffic stop scene is telling them that the person driving this vehicle could be armed with a handgun.

[The Captain]

Right.

[Nick]

The vehicle, of course, was a Volkswagen Atlas. They believe that it was likely Nikita Cassap that was operating the vehicle. After approach, officers observed in plain view a handgun on the passenger side floorboard. The driver was quickly identified to be Nikita and the juvenile was taken into custody at approximately 11:37pm all without incident. Thank God. Further inspection of the vehicle. The officers located Donald and Tatiana's driver's license, unused ammunition and spent shell casings. Also recovered was the little black dog.

[The Captain]

This is not looking good.

[Nick]

Not at all, my friend. Not at all. But we grab two more beers. From the fridge. And we venture on. So the. The gun that they took from the vehicle. Spoiler alert. It's later determined to be a Smith and Wesson.357 Magnum firearm.

[The Captain]

So, yeah, the one owned by his stepfather.

[Nick]

Correct. As said, the subject was identified as Nikita, a juvenile who by this time, just about 13 hours after the police had entered the home for the welfare check or first knocked on the door. I should say he's wanted by this point. He's wanted out of Wisconsin.

[The Captain]

Right?

[Nick]

As a person of interest in a double homicide that the Waukesha Sheriff's Office was still openly investigating. The vehicle was listed as stolen, and that information went out to the world only 90 minutes prior to him failing to stop at the stop sign. It's almost like destiny, right, that an officer happened to see him failing to stop at the stop sign. It's literally minutes after this thing was first reported stolen. Who's to say that that late at night in a small town that the officer approaches and doesn't see the gun and lets the guy off with a warning, doesn't run the plates? I mean, really, it's everybody doing their jobs, and it's multiple departments and multiple agencies across state lines in a very quick manner. So beyond the gun and the driver's licenses belonging to his parents, the first reports that were coming out were short, but did say that Nikita did have items in the vehicle with him that were consistent with. With the information received from the Wisconsin Sheriff's Office. These items with that short description. Here, Captain would later would get some details on it. And these items turn out to be boxes of.357 Magnum and.38 special ammunition. They also located Donald Mayer's and Tatiana's wallets and a large amount of US Currency and Euros. And two cell phones belonging to Donald Mayer and Tatiana were also found in the vehicle. I want to touch on the large amount of US Currency and Euros here for a moment. We know absolutely true, because these are legal documents that state that it was US Currency and Euros. I've seen the total sum reported differently in this case. I've. I've seen it, I believe as little as $14,000 and maybe as high as 18,000. I don't know why the discrepancy. The discrepancy may come from that they had two different kinds of currency that was found in this vehicle. But regardless, this is a considerable amount of money that's found in the vehicle with this kid who appears to have fled from the home of his murdered parents.

[The Captain]

You have the murdered Victims. These, these parents, two individuals. You're looking for the third, you're hopeful that they're alive. But then they're alive and then they become a suspect. And with all these items, I mean, you don't have to be the greatest detective. Jensen.

[Nick]

Yeah, we didn't need Jensen on this one.

[The Captain]

We could have. Yeah, you can kind of figure out that this kid is probably responsible for murdering his parents. Being killed by your own gun. I mean, it's a sad, sick world. And it just gets stranger every day. It seems like we're going through a strange dark period.

[Nick]

2025 is setting up. Real nice, Clark. Real nice.

[The Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Jensen, the. The thing here is to think about the. Even with the vague description provided to us, you can almost see this play out in your head, Right? Allegedly, he killed his parents. He's accused and will be eventually accused of such. Now, as you said, killed with your own gun. The Donald Mayer is found with a single shot to the back of the head.

[The Captain]

Yeah.

[Nick]

In the office. A room described as the office on the first floor. And then the wounds to Nikita's mother, Tatiana. There's multiple wounds and she is. It appears very different to me, Captain. Right. It almost looks like Nikita snuck up behind Donald Mayer and was able to get point blank and shoot him right in the back of the head. And he was not moved much further than where he fell. He may have been playing on the computer, working in his home office. I don't. I don't know if he had a home office, if he. We do know that he had to report to work on. On occasion. I don't know if it was every day. But regardless, that's what it looks like to me. Nikita sneaks up behind Donald and boom. Single shot. He's down. He's dead. Now, probably reactionary to that is Tatiana, in a very different manner, is gunned down in the hallway of that home. Now, this boy flees the scene, but.

[The Captain]

He doesn't flee right away. So we know it for at least a time period. If he's responsible for these murders, he is living, coexisting with these corpses.

[Nick]

Well, and you would have to believe that right out of the gate because of a couple of reasons. One, the decomp of the two bodies that were found inside of the home. And then you have data and information that's telling you that Nikita did not leave the Wakesha area until the 23rd, 24th. And so. But keep in mind, it's still. You're still looking for clues and searching for information and answers here. Some of it Being scientific and some of it being evidentiary because we've seen accelerated decomposition in some cases. And we're talking about a difference of four or five days between the time that he's located and. And the welfare check takes place to when the information says that he left the area. So still a lot left to. To sift through here. But the key here is, Captain, that night he is taken into custody. Nikita's brought into custody. But he's not charged with murder at this time. He was not been charged in connection with his parents death. And in fact, the law enforcement agency goes public stating look, here's, here's what's going on with this situation. We have located an individual that we think is responsible. We have located the vehicle. We've located the gun that we believe to be the murder weapon. However, this is an ongoing and active investigation. Until we have all the information and all of the evidence, we're not going to charge Nikita with the murder of his mother and stepfather. What we're going to charge him with is things that are obvious. Right. Driving without a license. We know he broke that law. He was pulled over operating a vehicle. He was also operating a vehicle that was reported stolen by the sheriff's office. So he's going to be charged with theft of that vehicle. And it's also based off of Donald Mayer being deceased that they have to believe. All signs point to Donald Mayer didn't allow him to use the vehicle or his handgun. Therefore, we can charge him with the theft of the handgun as well.

[The Captain]

So much more to get to in this bizarre case. Stick around for part two. Until then, be good, be kind, and don't litter.

[Nick]

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