MAY 20, 2021
Family hopes for return of missing Marlboro man Steven Dean Kraft (recordonline.com)
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Since then, no trace of the former Marine has been found — not even a hint of what might have happened to him.
For his father, DK of Swansea, Illinois, those 12 months have been agony.
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Steven Dean Kraft, 34 at the time, was
last seen around 7 p.m on April 28, 2020, dropping off his two older daughters,
[name redacted], 13, and
[name redacted], 11, with their mother on West Church Street in Beacon.
The next day, he failed to show up for work at Frank's Market in Marlboro.
His employers knew something was wrong because Steven would never fail to show up for work without calling to give a reason. They called the police immediately.
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But he has gleaned some information about the investigation from his periodic contact with police since then. For one thing, he learned that Steven's car, a 1999 Toyota Camry, was seen on traffic camera footage going west on the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge around 10 p.m. April 28 — about three hours after he dropped off his daughters.
There were two people in the car, a driver and a passenger, but the footage was not clear enough to tell if Steven was one of them. That car was found three days later, on Friday, May 1, parked at Third Street and Carpenter Avenue in the city of Newburgh, with several parking tickets tucked under a windshield wiper.
"There was no blood, or any sign of a struggle," Dean Kraft said.
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DK said kidnapping was ruled out long ago. There was never a communication from anyone, neither he nor his son were anywhere close to what would be considered wealthy, and not a penny of the money Steven had in the bank has been withdrawn. It's all still there.
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Anyone who knows anything can contact Investigator Joseph Merla at the state police barracks in Highland, 845-691-2922.
With Steven missing, DK said he also has lost contact with his granddaughters, including a third one,
[name redacted] 9, whom Steven had with a second ex-wife. DK has tried unsuccessfully to contact them.
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