A former U.S. Marine from Marlboro, New York was killed inside his ex-wife's Beacon home in April 2020 after dropping off his two teenage daughters for a routine custody exchange, and more than six years later, his body has still never been found. Jamie Orsini and her husband, Nicholas Orsini, were sentenced to life in prison this week for orchestrating the killing and a monthslong cover-up that included burner phones, staged text messages, and homemade incinerators.
Steven Kraft, 34, worked at a local deli and held court-authorized custody of his two daughters on Tuesday evenings and alternating weekends, according to WRRV. On April 28, 2020, he picked the girls up around 4 p.m. for dinner at a Sonic in Newburgh before driving them back to Jamie Orsini's home in Beacon at 7 p.m., a routine drop-off that gave the couple a scheduled window to carry out a plan prosecutors say they had spent weeks arranging, according to the Tampa Free Press.
Kraft was killed inside the Orsinis' home that night, per the Tampa Free Press. Nicholas and Jamie Orsini then took Kraft's vehicle and phone, and Nicholas Orsini drove the car to a neighborhood in Newburgh before abandoning it there. Investigators later found the 1999 Toyota Camry in a high-crime section of Newburgh on May 4, 2020, six days after Kraft disappeared — a placement that, per the U.S. Department of Justice, was a deliberate attempt to mislead police into suspecting a random crime across the Hudson River rather than a killing inside the family home.
A Plot Weeks in the Making
Prosecutors say the Orsinis began preparing before Kraft ever arrived. Two days before the killing, Jamie Orsini paid cash at a Home Depot in Fishkill for a 1,000-square-foot tarp, duct tape, and full-body coveralls, according to court filings from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Four days after the murder, Nicholas Orsini bought two 31-gallon galvanized steel trash cans, an angle grinder, an axe, charcoal lighter fluid, and stainless steel rods — a purchase made shortly after he searched Google for whether galvanized steel is fireproof, per the same filings.
The couple then built large homemade incinerators in an effort to destroy Kraft's body, the Tampa Free Press reports. His remains have never been recovered. Investigators also say the pair conducted practice runs for moving Kraft's vehicle and traveled back and forth to upstate New York in the days that followed the killing.
Burner Phones and a Manufactured Alibi
To cover their tracks, the Orsinis relied on untraceable burner phones and staged digital communications. Nicholas Orsini texted a coworker the night of the murder, falsely claiming he was stranded in Beacon waiting on AAA because his wife's car had broken down, according to the Department of Justice. Investigators later linked him to the vehicle's disposal in part through surveillance footage showing a suspect wearing a distinctive New York Jets hoodie while abandoning the car, as reported by Law & Crime.
After dropping the car, Nicholas Orsini used a burner phone to call a taxi back to Beacon, discarding the phone before he got in, per the Tampa Free Press. Jamie Orsini, meanwhile, sent staged text messages between her phone and her husband's device pretending she believed Kraft was still alive, and at one point suggested to police that something may have happened to him in Newburgh. Nicholas Orsini also disposed of Kraft's phone as part of the cover-up.
Three Years, Then an Arrest
The couple relocated more than 120 miles north from Beacon to Amsterdam, New York after the murder, where federal agents and New York State Police arrested them in June 2023, according to the Department of Justice. The case relied heavily on digital forensics, store receipts, cash purchases, and security camera footage gathered across Beacon, Fishkill, Newburgh, and Amsterdam, with the FBI's Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force working alongside state and local agencies.
A federal jury convicted the Orsinis in 2024 following a two-week trial on charges of carjacking resulting in death and conspiracy to commit carjacking. U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern sentenced Jamie Orsini on August 11 and Nicholas Orsini on August 13, handing each of them concurrent life terms plus five years of supervised release under federal carjacking and conspiracy statutes, 18 U.S.C. § 2119(3) and § 371, per the Department of Justice.
Officials React, Search for Remains Continues
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said the Orsinis “orchestrated a sophisticated scheme to kill Steven Kraft and cover up their crime,” adding that “justice has now been served in this tragic case.” New York State Police Superintendent Steven G. James said the sentencings “ensure long-term public safety,” stating that prison is the only future for people who take the lives of others.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. credited the FBI Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force along with local and state agencies for the investigation, and said the bureau will continue working closely with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Despite the convictions and life sentences, Kraft's body has still not been recovered, and the U.S. Attorney's Office renewed a public plea for tips regarding the location of his remains following the sentencings, leaving the case only partly resolved for his family.
