Judge: Plum woman not competent to stand trial in father's stabbing death

PLUM BOROUGH, Pa. — A judge ruled Monday that a woman accused of stabbing her father to death in Plum Borough is mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Christina Nicassio, 27, was arrested May 6 for the death of her father, 69-year-old Anthony Nicassio, a UPMC doctor. Police said she stabbed her father twice in the chest.

Channel 11's Courtney Brennan spoke with Pat Thomassey, the defense attorney, about Nicassio's mental state.

Thomassey said she had been dealing with mental illness for some time.

Nicassio is on suicide watch, Thomassey said, so she is wearing a protective vest to avoid hurting herself.

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Thomassey said Nicassio banged her head against the cell wall ten times when guards first brought her in, which gave her a cut on her forehead.

The doctor who evaluated Nicassio at the jail said she suffers from "psychotic depressive disorder" and "hallucinations."

The judge ordered Nicassio to spend 90 days at Torrance State Hospital.

Nicassio told police that she had suffered a bad breakup about a week earlier. Her parents attempted to take her to Forbes Hospital to “get her help,” a criminal complaint said.

“They were trying to take me to the hospital to find out what is wrong with me. I didn't want to go,” she told police.

Nicassio grabbed a knife, which prompted her mother to call 911, according to the complaint. During an interview with investigators, Nicassio said she “felt the world was ending.”

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According to the complaint, Nicassio's father attempted to take the knife from her, and she stabbed him twice in the chest.

Nicassio told police that she "got played by Hollywood," referring to a movie scenario in which someone stabs their father because they were unable to "love someone else," the complaint said.

She told police that the movie to which she was referring was "The Mummy Returns."

Cox Media Group