Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that, on Friday, September 27, 2024, a jury found Jamie Orsini and Nicholas Orsini guilty of carjacking, resulting in death and conspiracy to commit carjacking.
The ORSINIs were found guilty following a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern.
According to the indictment, public court filings, and the evidence presented at trial, in 2020, Jamie and Nicholas Orsini plotted the murder of Jamie Orsini’s ex-husband, Steven Kraft. As part of that murder, they planned a sophisticated cover-up, involving the use of burner phones, the movement of Kraft’s car to a different city, and the destruction and disposal of all physical evidence.
Among other things, they purchased items—such as a 1,000-square-foot tarp and a full-body coverall—to allow them to commit the murder and dispose of evidence, they repeatedly practiced “dry runs” for how they would move Kraft’s car, and they purchased a “burner phone” to use without law enforcement being able to trace the phone to them.
On April 28, 2020, in Beacon, New York, after Kraft dropped his daughters off with the Orsinis, who had custody of their children, the Orsinis killed Kraft and took his car and cellphone. Nicholas Orsini then drove the car into Newburgh, New York, leaving it in a high-crime neighbourhood, got rid of Kraft’s cellphone, and used the burner phone to call a taxi to bring him back to Beacon, throwing the burner phone out before getting into the taxi.
After the murder, the Orsinis managed to destroy or dispose of evidence—including Kraft’s body—buying a new burner phone to use when they repeatedly drove to and from upstate New York, and creating large homemade incinerators. Jamie Orsini sent multiple text messages to make it look like she believed that Kraft was still alive, and, having dumped Kraft’s car in Newburgh, when speaking with the police, professed ignorance, but kept hinting that, maybe if Kraft went to Newburgh after leaving her home, something might have happened to him there.
Jamie Orsini, 38, and Nicholas Orsini, 36, both of Amsterdam, New York, were each convicted of: carjacking resulting in death; and participating in a conspiracy to commit carjacking. The carjacking count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and the conspiracy count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
