Former Beacon Husband, Wife Plotted And Killed Ex-Spouse: Feds

BEACON, NY — A former Beacon husband and wife were accused of the 2020 planning, carjacking and killing of the wife’s ex-spouse.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Thursday the arrest of Nicholas Orsini, 35, and Jamie Orsini, 36, both of Amsterdam, Montgomery County.

They were each charged with one count of carjacking resulting in death and one count of conspiracy related to the 2020 murder of Steven Kraft, who was Jamie Orsini’s ex-husband.

The Orsinis will be presented in federal court Thursday.

Williams said that, a little more than three years ago, the Orsinis plotted to kill — and did kill — Jamie Orsini’s ex-husband.

“Their alleged scheme was sophisticated — it involved burner phones, stealing and dumping Kraft’s car, and, ultimately, disposing of Kraft’s body,” he said. “In doing so, the Orsinis denied Kraft’s family — including Kraft’s children with Jamie — the dignity of having a proper burial.

“This complaint shows that no matter how well you cover up your heinous act, law enforcement will not relent until they have uncovered your crimes,” Williams said.

According to prosecutors, in 2020, Jamie Orsini and Nicholas Orsini planned to, and did, murder Kraft, who was Jamie Orsini’s ex-husband and father of two children with her.

The preparation for the April 28, 2020, murder began at the Orsinis’ home which was then in Beacon.

In the days leading up to April 28, 2020, among other things, they bought a 10-by-100-foot paint tarp, duct tape, a Tyvek suit and boots and a burner phone, all of which was paid for in cash.

They also drove from their home in Beacon to a location in the city of Newburgh, in what prosecutors said was a “dry run” for how they ultimately got rid of Kraft’s car.

On April 28, 2020, Jamie and Nicholas Orsini carjacked and murdered Kraft, according to police. That afternoon, Kraft picked up his children from the Orsinis’ home in Beacon.

The Orsinis followed him and activated their burner phone before returning home, according to law enforcement.

Kraft brought his children back to the Orsinis’ home around 7 p.m. and he was never seen again, authorities said.

After falsely telling a coworker that he was not coming to work because his wife’s car had broken down, Nicholas Orsini drove Kraft’s car along the same circuitous route the pair traveled in their dry run the day before from their home in Beacon to the same location in Newburgh in Orange County.

After he left Kraft’s car on the street, Nicholas Orsini walked more than a mile to a gas station. He used his burner phone to call a taxi to take him home, and then he threw the phone away.

Prosecutors said, in the days after the carjacking and murder, the Orsinis continued to cover up their crimes.

On April 29, 2020, Nicholas Orsini, who, like his wife, left his own phone at home in Beacon, bought a new burner phone and then drove about two-and-a-half hours to Amsterdam, where he had family. He stayed for less than three hours and then drove back to Beacon.

The next day, on April 30, 2020, he used his phone to search for “how to view your location history in google maps.”

On May 1, 2020, the couple drove to and from Amsterdam, again leaving their personal phones behind but using their burner phone. Later that day, they changed the number of their burner in an apparent attempt to hide their tracks.

Other phone searches were made by Nicholas Orsini. He searched for “Orange County News” and “Montgomery County News.” He also texted his mother, asking “Who did u tell I was coming up.”

Not long after Nicholas Orsini returned to the Home Dept and bought two 31-gallon galvanized steel round trash cans, a coarse stainless-steel rod, an angle grinder with grinding wheel, five metal disks, three 32-ounce bottles of odorless charcoal grates, an axe and a flame lighter.

The next morning, prosecutors said, he returned to the Home Depot to buy 16 bundles of firewood.

The carjacking charge carries a maximum potential sentence of life in prison or death. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential sentence of five years in prison, authorities said.