Jamie Orsini charged with husband in ex’s disappearance
A woman charged in the alleged carjacking and killing of her ex-husband in 2020 after he dropped off their children at her home in Beacon may not face the death penalty.
Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a letter to the court that his office had been authorized by the Department of Justice “not to seek the death penalty” in its case against Jamie Orsini, who is charged with conspiring with her husband, Nicholas Orsini, to kill Steven Kraft.
One of the two charges filed against the couple, who are being prosecuted separately, is carjacking resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or death. Prosecutors said in July they were discussing with the Orsinis, who are also charged with conspiracy, “possible disposition of this case without trial,” and “whether the government will seek the death penalty.”
Police arrested the Orsinis on June 15, charging them in Kraft’s disappearance. The Marlboro resident has not been seen since April 28, 2020, after he returned the two daughters he shared with Jamie Orsini to her home on West Church Street following a custody visit.
Prosecutors allege the couple began plotting Kraft’s murder at least two days before he disappeared. Security footage and a receipt from the Home Depot on Route 9 in Fishkill showed Jamie Orsini buying, with cash, items that included a 10-foot-by-100-foot tarp, duct tape and a Tyvek suit and boots, according to the complaint.
Following Kraft’s disappearance, the Orsinis traveled “extensively” between Beacon and Amsterdam, where Nicholas Orsini’s family owns farmland, prosecutors said. Nicholas Orsini drove to Amsterdam the day after Kraft disappeared, according to court documents.
Nicholas Orsini also bought from the Home Depot in Fishkill two 31-gallon galvanized steel trash cans, an angle grinder and ax, three bottles of charcoal lighter fluid, a flame lighter and 16 bundles of firewood, prosecutors said.
