He killed his wife, she killed her father. Now they want to live together.

On Feb. 15, Christina Nicassio met with her attorney, a prosecutor and a judge for a status conference like they had dozens of times before to discuss her ongoing case in the killing of her father seven years ago while in the grips of mental illness.

The plan was for Nicassio, who has been in a long-term, secure residential treatment facility, to be released to her own apartment in Dormont, where she would live within walking distance of her godmother’s house to ensure she had continued support.

What Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos didn’t know then was that, three days earlier, Nicassio had signed a contract to buy a house in Monroeville, nowhere near Dormont, and that she was planning to live with a man convicted of killing his wife in Penn Hills.

“So, Ms. Nicassio intentionally withheld that information from us,” Rangos said Friday during a hearing on the matter. “You, at a minimum, misled all of us when we were fighting vigorously for your best interest in allowing you to step down.”

Expressing frustration and disappointment, the judge ordered Nicassio to remain in the secure facility in Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood where she has been — now with an electronic ankle monitor — for at least the next 30 days.

In the meantime, the judge ordered that the woman meet with her therapist twice a week to explain in detail the relationship she has with Antonio Vecchiola and the circumstances of his crime.

Nicassio, 34, was charged with homicide in the killing of her father, Dr. Anthony Nicassio, 69, a UPMC internist and primary care physician, on May 6, 2017.

That charge remains pending.

Police said Nicassio stabbed her father in the chest after her parents tried to get her into a vehicle to take her to Forbes Regional Hospital for mental health treatment. Nicassio had recently broken up with her fiance and was speaking irrationally and nonsensically, police said in a criminal complaint.

The incident shocked the area soccer community, which had known Nicassio as a player for Plum High School and the University of Pittsburgh, and as a coach for Plum youth teams.

After Nicassio’s arrest, Allegheny County Jail psychiatrists found she was experiencing a psychotic episode and had long-term mental health issues.

She was found not to be competent for trial and was transferred to Torrance State Hospital in Westmoreland County for treatment.

“At the time of this act, she was insane under the law,” Patrick Thomassey, her attorney, said Thursday.

Nicassio remained at Torrance for several years before being moved to the long-term, secure facility to continue treatment. She has remained there for two years, Thomassey said.

Under the circumstances, he continued, it is likely his client never will go to trial.

Instead, the district attorney’s office eventually will withdraw the charges against Nicassio, although Thomassey said that would not likely happen for a least a few more years.

The DA’s office said late Friday the case is still pending, and they can’t comment on the ultimate resolution.

“Eventually, the goal is the person would work herself back into society without being controlled by the court,” Thomassey said. “There’s a death involved here. Everybody is cognizant of that.”

Nicassio has been doing well in her treatment, he said, and had reached the maximum benefit of the secure facility she had been in.

“This was a misstep,” Thomassey said.

He didn’t learn Nicassio was dating Vecchiola, who Thomassey also represented, until Wednesday when the judge told him.

Nicassio and Vecchiola had known each other in high school, Thomassey said. It was unclear how the two got back in touch.

In October 2021, Vecchiola, now 38, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the death four years earlier of his estranged wife. He was ordered to serve five years probation.

Jessica Vecchiola, 29, was found dead on the bedroom floor in her Penn Hills home by her mother Feb. 6, 2017, exactly three months before Nicassio’s death.

The cause of death was internal decapitation, when the skull is disconnected from the spinal column.

Neither the criminal complaint nor the prosecution in Vecchiola’s case have explained how the injury occurred.

Prosecutors at the time said there were evidentiary issues in the case, which Thomassey repeated Friday during the hearing.

Rangos repeatedly questioned Nicassio about what she knew regarding Vecchiola’s charges.

During a hearing on the same matter Thursday, Nicassio’s care providers said that, given that the break-up with her fiance triggered her to kill her father, they were concerned about the relationship with Vecchiola.

They referenced “a lack of insight and poor decision-making.”

Rangos suggested the same given that Nicassio has only been able to see Vecchiola in limited, one-hour visits in a locked-down facility every other weekend.

“I understand how bad it looks, I do,” Nicassio responded.

“But you still disagree with all of the people who have advocated on your behalf,” Rangos responded. “The whole room of people here have worked to get you there. What you have done is deceive us.”

She told Nicassio she has lost her trust.

“I tried so hard to do right this whole time,” Nicassio said. “I didn’t know I was doing wrong. I thought I was free to go on with my life. It’s been seven years.”

Vecchiola is involved in an ongoing child custody case, Rangos noted. In that case, another judge issued an order in April noting that his children were not to be in Nicassio’s presence for any reason, and that there is to be no communication with her.

Nicassio said on Friday she was not aware of that order.

“I am gravely concerned that Mr. Vecchiola has not been candid with her,” Rangos said. “You continue to be unwilling to consider anything other than what you’ve been told by Mr. Vecchiola.”

Nicassio told the staff at her treatment facility that Vecchiola’s wife died from a drug overdose, Rangos said. She asked Nicassio if she knew what internal decapitation was.

“That doesn’t happen without a substantial amount of force,” the judge said. “I am concerned you have heard one side of the story. Holding this out as a death by overdose is not only misleading the people at (the facility) but misleading yourself.”

Rangos said she is also worried that, if Nicassio moves to Monroeville, she will have to obtain a new treatment provider.

Assistant District Attorney Diana Page questioned how the transition of services would occur.

“This is just so vague and broad. I have concerns,” she said.

Rangos told Nicassio she could move forward with buying the house with Vecchiola — the closing was scheduled for late Friday — but Nicassio is not permitted to move there.

“The only thing I can think of to ensure the safety of the community is to put you on an ankle bracelet as a requirement of your bond,” the judge said.

Nicassio must talk to her treatment team, Rangos said, while the judge on Vecchiola’s family court case also reviews the situation.

Transcripts of the proceedings, she said, will be given to the therapist and the judge in the custody case.

“I’m not going to waste time trying to convince you (that) you need to take a step back and look at the situation you’re putting yourself in.”