01x03 - Moth to a Flame

[bunniefuu]

[Eva Walz] Modelling
was definitely a career

that Christina was
really passionate about.

For her to be in Playboy,
I mean, that's something
she'd always wanted to do.

Thousands of women would
submit photos every month
to be a Cybergirl.

You have to be gorgeous,

and Hef could have
seen something
really special in Christina.

ButPlayboy models
get a lot of unwanted
attention from men.

It can be a real problem,

especially if you find
yourself around
the wrong person.

There had been prior
activity related to Christina.

And she did allude to the fact
that she thought she may
have been drugged.

She heard a man somewhat
forcefully telling Christina
don't call the police.

This person had told him,
perhaps, the most chilling
detail in this whole case.

I was in complete shock.

Who becomes a victim like
this twice in a couple days?

[Gavin Goschinski]
On August 22nd,
I was in the Detective Unit

of Lower Merion Township
Police Station
talking to detectives,

when a call came in
about a "check the well-being"
At Christina Kraft's residence

at a high-end condo
complex in Ardmore.

[Vinny Vella]
Ardmore is right
outside Philadelphia.

It's in a part of the suburbs
generally known to be
a very wealthy, affluent area.

It's a close-knit community.

A lot of people
walk to places,

a lot of stores, restaurants,
bars, things like that.

I wouldn't say it's
a high crime area.

[Goschinski] Very wealthy
and affluent people who
call 911, and call the police

for every... Every matter
of issue in their life.

Normally, I wouldn't go
on a "check the well-being,"

but I decided to go
on this call right away

because I was
advised by detectives

that there had been
prior activity related
to Christina.

A man, named Alex,
made the call.

He was worried
about his girlfriend,
Christina,

because she wasn't
answerin' her cell phone,

and he couldn't get
into the apartment

because the interior door
was locked.

So, they had to force entry
into the apartment.

When we got into her room...

We saw blood splatter.

And we saw what clearly
was a body on a bed,

with a comforter
perfectly placed over top.

We pulled
the comforter back...

And it's a badly beaten girl.

There's no question
that it was a homicide.

I vividly remember
walking in thinking

that it was probably one
of the most gruesome
scenes that I had seen.

She had a broken nose,
there were fractures
of both eyes.

She was strangled to death.

The victim
of this brutal homicide
was Christina Carlin-Kraft.

She was in her mid-30s,
she was aPlayboy model.

The victim was found
strangled in her condo.

Police made
that disturbing discovery
on Sibley Avenue in Ardmore.

They were called there
to make a welfare check.

You don't hear things
like this happening here.

Never really heard of anything
more than parking tickets,
and jaywalkin', you know?

Hearin' a m*rder
or a strangling like that
is just traumatizing.

Christina Carlin-Kraft
was the PlayboyCybergirl
of the Week on May 4th, 2009.

[Vella] Christina grew up
in South Jersey,
along the shore.

From an early age,
she was very interested
in modelling,

and the entertainment
industry.

In 2000, Christina graduated
from high school
in Linwood, New Jersey.

And for a couple
years after that,

she worked as a waitress
in the South Jersey area,

and in the Borgata
in Atlantic City.

In 2003, Christina met Alex,
her longtime boyfriend,
and future fiance

at the Jersey Shore
on Labor Day weekend,

and the two
were incredibly close.

He was very supportive
of her modelling career.

The two were a couple
for 15 years,
until the time of her death.

Christina's father had
said that she was
the light in his life.

That, as his oldest,
uh, child, uh, they had
a very close relationship.

He valued the time
that they spent together.

This is the photo sh**t that
I actually met Christina at,
that we did together.

It was thisMaxim
andStuff Magazine
three day event.

This event was a model search.

There were girls flown in
from around the country,
and her and I were chosen

as the Maxim
and Stuff Magazine
Model Search winners.

We got along great.

She's so sweet,
very charismatic,
she was a lot of fun,

obviously, very
stunningly beautiful.

I remember looking
at her, and just thinking,

with her dark hair,
and her light blue eyes,

like, she was just the epitome
of a... Of a model.

They put her photos
in several of the Maxim
and Stuffmagazines,

and having that exposure

really helped both
of our modelling
careers take off.

Modelling was definitely
a career that she was
really passionate about.

For her to be in Playboy,
I mean, that's something
she'd always wanted to do.

[Holly Madison] Christina
had done some modelling

for Maximand some of those
other men's magazines.

And even though those were
great, there was something
about the Playboybrand

that had a little bit more
of a mystique to it,

and seemed
a little more special.

It was a subscription
membership, and each week
they would showcase

a nude photoshoot
of a different woman,

and she would be
the Cybergirl of the Week.

APlayboy Cybergirl
had an online pictorial.

It was very similar
to the Playmate pictorial.

It was a very glamorous,
softly lit, nude pictorial,

and there would be
a little blurb about the girl.

You have to be gorgeous,
but you also have to have

that really, like,
fresh-faced, kind of innocent,
but kind of sexy look.

It was a big deal
to be a Cybergirl,

and it could definitely
be a stepping stone
to even bigger things.

When the Cybergirl sh**t
went live in 2009,

I think for Christina,
that was probably
really exhilarating.

Christina would have been
invited out to stay
at the mansion,

and do a Playmate test
for the magazine.

And after she
was selected as Cybergirl,

she would have been invited
to all the parties, and would
have had access to that world.

To meet Hef personally,
that's kind of an extra step,

kind of have
to catch his attention.

Hef could have seen something
really special in Christina.

Christina didn't become
a Playmate, and that
was her ultimate goal.

The Playmate selection process
is incredibly competitive.

Thousands of women would send
in their photos every month

to be considered to be
a PlayboyPlaymate,

and from that, only one woman
would be chosen each month.

Ultimately, the final decision
would be Hef's.

And there's so many reasons
that Christina may not
have been chosen.

Maybe they already had
too many brunettes
scheduled that year,

or maybe they were
just looking for somebody

with a little bit more
of a different story.

She was 26, and unfortunately,
in the Playboyworld, that
was considered a little old.

If you don't make it
to that next step
of being a Playmate,

that could be
a huge disappointment.

It could have
a big effect on your life,

because it's not just
a goal you didn't reach,

but it's something
that reflects back
on your self-image,

and how supposedly attractive
you are perceived to be.

And it can really be
a hit on your self-esteem.

Christina took modelling jobs
here and there when she could,

and, as part of that,
she moved to New York City
to further her career.

Modelling can be difficult
once you've posed for Playboy.

From the outside, it looks
like it might be a stepping
stone, but once you're there,

you realize a lot of brands
don't wanna work with somebody
who's posed nude before.

So, I imagine
she probably encountered
a lot of difficulties

that she maybe
wasn't prepared for.

[Walz] When you put
yourself out there like that,

those pictures
are out there forever.

You have to think long term
about your future,

and, you know,
your career down the road.

And not that it's
negative at all,
for some people,

but in some light,
it can look negative.

Christina's modelling career
didn't take off
after her Playboyappearance,

and she was kinda left adrift.

Playboy,as a brand,
really has no, you know,

support for women
once they're not working
for them anymore.

I think they just
look at it as,

well, you know, we can't
babysit all these women
for the rest a their lives.

[Goschinski] Upon realizing
that Ms. Kraft had
been m*rder*d,

we met with Alex,
her fiance, in the hallway.

I told him, "I'm very sorry,
but Christina's dead."

He was clearly
stricken with grief.

[Michael Vice] When
something like this happens,

it's sort of, like,
what we say
is an "All hands on deck."

I need everybody
and anybody that can come in.

Once we were finished
with the scene,
which took hours,

the next step is we need
to talk to anybody.

I had my investigators
knocking on every
resident's door.

Did they hear anything?
Did they see anything?

[Jim Melwert] m*rder
definitely stands out
when it happens in Ardmore,

because, uh, they just
don't happen that often,
and it's unexpected.

[Vella] I think folks
who lived near Christina
were worried

that, you know, maybe
a k*ller was going around
in the community.

When something
like this happens,

I think a lot of people
automatically assume
the worst and panic.

After we received information
that Christina was the victim
of this m*rder,

we tried to find out
as much as we could
about her and her past.

Uh, just... Just given
the... The shocking nature
of the crime,

Christina had
a very clear online footprint.

And front and center
in a lot of the web traffic
about Christina

was an article
from the New York Post

about an incident that she had
had in 2016, in Manhattan.

There was
some sort of dispute
over paying her tab,

and she got into a physical
fight with a bar manager.

She was charged
with misdemeanor as*ault,
but ultimately,

the prosecutors
in New York dropped
the charges against her.

In 2017, she had moved
to Ardmore at the suggestion
of Alex, her fiance.

He felt it would be
a safer environment
for her in Ardmore,

not to mention,
closer to his parents.

He said he wanted to protect
her, and he just felt like she
was more safe there,

which is kind of ironic.

He traveled back and forth
for work from Ardmore
to New York City.

[Vice] It seemed
like Alex lived
in New York for his job.

He worked during the week,
and spent weekends here.

I believe he had a really
good job, and it kept
him away a good bit.

I think life was a little bit
difficult for Christina,
though she recently moved.

She came from New York City,
and I think she missed Alex,

and her friends,
and the excitement
of New York City.

So, it was quite a change
to move to a sleepy,
Philadelphia suburb.

When I first heard
about Christina's m*rder,
it was just an absolute shock,

and I just immediately,
like, burst out...
Bursted into tears.

How did this happen?

You know, she was someone
that I wouldn't expect to be
in this type of situation.

[Holly Madison] Playboy models
get a lot of unwanted
attention from men.

It can be a real problem,
especially if you find
yourself around

the wrong person who just
has all the wrong ideas.

Police in the Main Line
are searching for a k*ller

after a model
is found dead in her condo.

[Vella] Christina's death
drew a lotta media attention,

both from local news outlets
in the Philadelphia region,
and beyond.

There were tabloid reporters
from Europe who wrote
about this.

There were tabloid reporters
from New York City who came
down to write about it.

[Goschinski] I think
Christina Kraft's status
as aPlayboy model,

the fact that you've got
a beautiful woman,

certainly drove press
interest in the story.

[reporter] A model
was found strangled.

When the victim has been
a part of Playboyin any way,

that's the one thing that gets
pulled into the headlines.

It automatically draws eyes.

I think the Playboybrand,

when you hear the name
you think sex,
you think beautiful women.

It's a mainstream brand,
but it's also on the fringes,
it's a little salacious.

Christina was a whole person,
she wasn't just Playboymodel,
that was one job she did.

She was more than that.

[Goschinski] Based
on my experience,

I knew that I had
to treat Alex as a person
of interest in the matter.

He called us to the place,
he has a long term
relationship with her,

he's very concerned about her,
and now I've found her beaten
in the apartment.

So, I asked him, I said,

"Would you be willing
to go back to the police
station with our detectives?"

"It's really important
you cooperate,

and help our detectives
in every way with this."

And he was completely
forthcoming, and, uh,
agreed to that immediately.

[Vice] We get a statement
from Alex, now we have
to start getting his story.

Any and all information
that we can gather, 'cause
you can't rule anything out.

You have to go down
every road you possibly can.

Alex says on August 21st,
he had to return
to New York City for his job.

He stayed there,
and he called Christina

early morning on the 22nd,
around 2:30 A.M.
to say goodnight.

Christina didn't
answer though, and Alex
called several more times,

but there was
no answer from Christina.

Just after 5 A.M.
Alex was growing concerned.

And so, he checked
the security camera they had
at the Philadelphia residence,

and he noticed
some unusual activity.

And this is when Alex
decided that he should
return to Philadelphia.

Alibis would be
checked very quickly,

but I think the level
of cooperation,

and the sincerity
of cooperation,
goes a long way.

Detectives are very good
at signs of deception,

and people that
are playin' a game.

He was very cooperative.

[Vice] The distance,
where his location was,

that could he have physically
been responsible for this?

I don't think
we ever really got there.

Alex was never really
thought to be a suspect.

As investigators try
to find out more
about Christina,

and tracked her movements
in the time before her death.

They pretty early on,
discovered that she had
filed a police report

just a few days earlier,
complaining that she had
been robbed in her apartment.

The m*rder happens
on August 22nd of 2018,

and on August 18th of 2018,

she woke up
and reported a burglary
to our police department.

[Vella] She had called
Lower Merion Police,
and told them

that she had been robbed
of some personal items
that were pretty valuable,

some designer handbags,
and some jewelry, I believe
her credit card, as well.

She told the police
that she remembered going

to the Center City
Philadelphia, and drinking
at a hotel in Center City.

When we got there
and spoke to Christina
about the burglary,

she said that
she woke up in a daze,

that she doesn't remember
anything, that she just
wasn't feeling right,

and she did allude to the fact
that she thought she may
have been drugged.

[Madison] There's a lot
of people who want
to take advantage.

I've heard a lotta stories
about people, you know,
having their drinks drugged,

and not being able
to remember, you know,

what happened
after a night out.

And it's terrifying,
and it can happen to anyone.

[Walz] Christina
had just moved
to this new city,

she had previously lived
in New York City, where
all of her friends were.

So, here she is
in this new city probably
not knowing very many people.

You know, someone took
advantage of her vulnerability
at that moment.

We got a statement from her,
and I remember that she was
very, very upset.

This seemed
to really impact her.

She felt violated,
she, like, made references
of not feeling safe.

We told her we were gonna
do everything we can.

And my detectives
were able to get ahold

of the surveillance video
from the condo complex.

Between Christina's statement
to them, and the surveillance
footage from the building,

investigators were able
to deduce that, at some point,

a gentlemen gave Christina
a ride back to her building
from Philadelphia.

[Melwert] And he ends up
fitting her description

of the rideshare driver
that she had used that night.

I think it was
three something
in the morning,

when Christina and the driver
arrived back at her apartment,

and she was passed out
in the back seat of the car.

So, he took the liberty
to take her keys,
go into her condo.

It was just before four
in the morning...

and he spent over an hour
and a half inside,

presumably, burglarizing
Christina Kraft's condo.

He came down holding
a box full of Christina's
personal belongings

that she had
later reported stolen.

[Melwert] And then he's seen
in the video coming back
in with Christina Kraft.

Helping her into the lobby,
and he kind of puts
her down on the ground,

he steps out again,
but then he comes back in,
helps her into the elevator.

[Vice] We ended up
putting out some pictures,

because there were video,
and pictures of the suspect
in the lobby.

The man in the video
seen going
into Christina's apartment

was an African American,
um, just wearing, sort of,
non-descript clothing.

Police are looking for a man
accused of stealing items

from the victim's apartment,
just days before her death.

[Vice] Christina did come over
to the police station
to try to talk to us again.

So, clearly, she was
just still really
upset, worried.

Kinda lookin' for guidance,
"What's gonna happen?

Will I ever get my stuff?
Am I safe?"

[Melwert] Investigators look
into her credit cards,

and they find that some
of her credit cards were used
at a nearby convenience store.

They get images,
and... And videos
from those convenience stores,

and they're able
to match them up

with the surveillance video
from the apartment.

The investigators
were able to recognize
the person who used it

as Andre Melton
from prior arrests of his.

Andre Melton was considered
dangerous by detectives.

Uh, they were concerned
about him returnin'
to the apartment.

[Goschinski] And they were,
uh, there were some urgency
to apprehending him.

[Vice] There was a decision

that we were gonna attempt
to get a search warrant signed

for who we believed to be

the suspect's residence
in Philadelphia.

On the morning of August 22nd,

the day that
Christina's body is found,

they get a warrant
for Andre Melton's arrest.

They go to his
last known address,

and they find the things that
were missing from her home,

again, expensive stuff,

you know, jewelry,
bags, things like that,

but they can't find him.

He's on the run.

[Goschinski] The detectives
are alarmed about

what they've discovered

'cause he had
a violent history.

[Vice] We knew he knew

the layout
of Christina's apartment,

so it was logical

to think that Andre Melton
could be the k*ller.

He was looked at
as a m*rder suspect

'cause what are the chances.

Who becomes a victim like this
twice in, in a couple of days?

Police had no clue
where Andre Melton

who was wanted for robbery is.

[Goschinski] There was
a community concern

in general about.
"Are we still in danger?"

[Vella] Andre Melton
lead police

on a little bit
of a cat and mouse

as they tried to find him.

[female reporter]
Police are dealing with
two investigations here.

One, the burglary
involving the model,
the second, her death.

[Vice] There was
so much going on.

We were looking at
who committed the homicide,

where are we gonna
find Andre Melton.

The two seemed like
they may have been connected.

They started thinking,
"Well, okay, they came back

or, or something happened."

[Vice] I remember
being up for days.

The detectives,
none of us had slept.

We had been up because we knew
that we had to resolve this,

and then things
started to develop.

We started to be
able to get some
video surveillance

from the condo
building itself.

On the night
of Christina's m*rder,

there's clear footage
of her exiting her building

and heading towards
to Philadelphia.

Hours later,

there is additional footage

of her returning
to her building

being escorted by
an unidentified man.

The come in,
it's shortly after
three in the morning,

and they walk in together,

and they get in the elevator,
and they go up.

Any time her door opens

the security system alerts

and records the time.

- [device chimes]
- [Vice] So at, like,
3.08, door opens,

so they both go inside,

and then there is no other
door movements

until almost 10 minutes
after five in the morning.

There's about
a two hour window.

[Vella] That man
who entered the building

is not seen leaving
the building,

which lead investigators
to believe

that he somehow
exited another way.

[Melwert]
She's on the second floor,

she has a balcony,
she has a slider
to the balcony,

and around 5.00 a.m.
the, this slider opens.

[device chimes]

[Melwert] The rear balcony
isn't that high of the ground,

you could easily,
you know, go out and,

and jump off and, you know,
get away that way.

[Vice] We know they didn't
leave the front door

because we never got a chime,
we never got a time stamp.

The balcony door chimed once,

then presumably
someone went out.

We had detective
on the ground searching,
looking for evidence.

And then, some of our
detectives found

what looked like it might be
a foot stomp in the ground,

which would be easily
explain that

somebody jumping off
of the balcony.

We knew that
Andre Melton

knew the intricacies
of her condo.

He had a criminal history,

but I wouldn't say
there was anything that
would lead us to say,

"It looks like this guy
would be a prime candidate
to commit a m*rder"

So from August 22nd
through the 25th,

all of our detectives
were retracing

every step of Christina's
that we could.

They went to Center City

and pulled surveillance
camera images

to see if they could
figure out where she was.

And from those images

they were able
to chart her movements

from her destination
when she first came
to Philadelphia

all throughout Center City

as she walked down
different streets

and around different
bars and nightclubs.

At this point, it was a matter
of gaining all this footage

and then putting it together
to come up with a timeline.

It was very tedious.

When we looked at the video,

I could see Christina
with the m*rder suspect

walking with their arms
around one another,

I remember at Broad and 13th

was where they got
into ride share,

and that's when the car
took them back

to Christina's, to her condo.

[Vella] That unidentified man
was not Andre Melton.

So police now had
another suspect that
they had to locate.

Police will put out
a, an alert

basically saying that
they were looking

for information
about this m*rder,

and they were asking press
to distribute that information

and, and try to drum up
tips for them.

If anyone has any information,
please contact police.

They'll put out two sets
of surveillance image,

one from the night that
Andre Melton came back
to her apartment,

and the other depicting

the man she was seen
entering her apartment with
on the night she died.

Investigators didn't know

whether they were related
at the time,

so they put both out
to the public and said,

"We're looking for information
on both of these men,

please contact us."

[Vice] On August 23rd,
I get a phone call.

This person identifies himself
as Andre Melton.

I was a little surprised that
I'm talking to the guy that
we were looking for.

And he wanted
to make it clear,

he said, "I stole her stuff,

but I'm not going
down for m*rder."

[reporter 1] Hey, Mr. Hef,
right here, please.

[reporter 2] Hold that
right there, right there.

When Playboy
was training Playmates

on how to handle the media,

that was great,
but I think there
could've also been

some additional training
in how to keep yourself safe,

how to handle, maybe,
judgement you might face,

you know, going forward
in life.

There should've been a seminar
for Playboymodels

on how to handle
this kinda thing.

Detective Vice
was not convinced at all

by his conversation
with Melton.

He thought, "Okay, even if

he is not the person
who committed the m*rder,

he was likely involved
in some ways."

So this interview
did very little

to convince him
of Melton's innocence.

[Vella] Early on,
there was speculation

that these two gentlemen
were connected in some way,

but ultimately,

as investigators learned
more about each individual,

they found that
that was not the case.

Investigators continued
to solicit tips,

one of which came
from a gentleman

who was a driver.

Who said that he recognized

the man and the woman
in the photo

as somebody that he had
actually given a ride to

from Philadelphia to Ardmore
on the night of the m*rder.

[Vice] My detectives
interviewed the driver

that had picked up Christina
and the suspect that night.

There was nothing
that seemed like

anything was forced.

He said that Christina
had approached him,

actually flagged him down
instead of using the app.

And said that
she needed a ride

because there were some people
on the street harassing her.

So after some convincing,
The driver agreed.

Took Christina
and this other man

to their destination
in Ardmore.

He said during the ride

they appeared
to be very friendly,

very affectionate
with each other.

When they arrived in Ardmore

it became apparent that

Christina did not have
any money

to give him despite
promising him earlier,

"I will pay you in cash
for the ride."

She offered him
an American Express
credit card,

which he had no way of taking.

The man that
Christina was with

offer him a $100 cash
if you he were to stay

parked outside his building
for 10 to 15 minutes

while they went inside.

He exchanged phone numbers
with this person,

and the person promised
to call him when he was ready.

Twenty minutes went by,

he didn't hear anything
from the passenger,

so he simply decided
to leave and return
toward Philadelphia.

[Sacks] Around 4.00 a.m.,

Christina somehow,
in a very charged situation,

was able to contact
her cousin.

And although Christina didn't
leave a message or speak,

her cousin could hear
the background,

and what she heard was a man

forcefully telling Christina,
"Don't call the police."

On August 26th,

police got a call from a man

who said that
he knew the identity

of the person
seen with Christina

in the surveillance footage

that was released
in the media.

This was somebody he had been

roommates with
in a psychiatric facility
in Philadelphia.

[Melwert] So they check out
that tip,

and they were able
to trace him back

to an incident in Love Park
in Center City, Philadelphia.

At one point
he followed a woman

into the family court
building...

...and started harassing her.

He began causing
a scene in the building,

kicking windows,
screaming, and yelling.

[Melwert] So he was taken
into custody,

and he was put
on a 72-hour hold,
a psychiatric hold.

[Vella] This person
had told him

perhaps the most chilling
detail in this whole case.

He said that he had recently
strangled a woman

and had bragged
about the event

and said that there's no other
feeling quite like

feeling somebody's
life escape them
as you choke them.

[Sacks] Unfortunately,
he was admitted as a John Doe,

and so the police weren't able
to learn much at all

because he was able
to check out

before they were ever able
to interview him.

As all this was playing out,

they get a call
from a family member

who lives in Philadelphia

and saw the video
that police released,

they identified that suspect
was Jonathan Harris.

He'd recently been
released from prison.

Jonathan Harris

had served a sentence
for robbery.

He had just been
released on July 15th,

five weeks before
Christina's m*rder.

[Melwert] By the time
they identified him
as a suspect,

he was already in the wind.

[Vice] On August 28th,

we issued an arrest warrant
for Jonathan Harris

or homicide related charges

in the death
of Christina Kraft.

[Sacks] The police
were concerned,

Harris was considered to be

dangerous and unpredictable.

They were worried that
it was only a matter of time
before he hurt someone else.

They needed to apprehend him
right away.

[Vice] Once we positively
identified

Jonathan Harris
as the subject,

we had to find him,

so we started doing
some searching,

find family members,
find friends,

find anybody that we can
that can talk to us about

where he may or may not be.

Then at one point detectives
spoke to his sister,

and we ultimately learned

that there was a bus ticket
that was purchased,

and that Jonathan
was on that bus...

...and that he was headed
to Pittsburgh.

[Matthew Roth]
The Philadelphia investigators

contacted the Pittsburgh
Fugitive Task Force,

to let us know that
their suspect Jonathan Harris

was on his way to Pittsburgh.

We did all our backgrounds

as far as his
criminal history,

as far as photographs,
so everyone would know
what he looked like.

[female reporter]
Police say that
30-year-old Jonathan Harris

had just been released
from prison in July.

Harris definitely had
significant criminal history,

nothing like homicide
in his past,

but forcible felonies
as far as robbery,

drug dealing, burglary.

We printed out pictures,
made copies,

so everyone was actually
carrying a photograph

of the last arrest photo.

Philadelphia told us exactly
when the bus would be arriving

from Philadelphia
to Pittsburgh,

so we had the team in place,

so that we cut of his avenues
of escape.

And we were lying
in wait in a trap

for Jonathan Harris
to arrive in Pittsburgh.

We had a car out that
saw the bus coming
into the area,

so we knew the bus
was going to arrive,

we were all on communication
on radio.

We were ready and waiting

as the bus started
to offload passengers.

I was very close
to the doors that

the people disembarked
the bus from.

He was probably
30 feet away from me
when the bus pulled up

and about the third person
off the bus.

We let him walk off the bus,

and I'm looking at height
and weight and build,

and I'm very certain
that this is our guy

as I approached him.

I cornered the suspect
Jonathan Harris
against the wall,

at the time he realized that
I was probably a cop.

I could see his eyes
dart left and right,

looking at, possibly trying
to get away,

and it was too late
at that point.

When I confronted him,

he did give me a fake name,

trying to say that
he wasn't Jonathan Harris.

We were pretty sure
that he was,

and we did take him
into physical custody there.

We contacted Philadelphia's
task force

and let them know that
we had him in custody.

They immediately
sent detectives out

from Philadelphia
to Pittsburgh.

[Vella] The detectives
from Montgomery County
sat in a room with him

and tried to get
a statement from him about

what had happened on the night
of Christina's m*rder.

Initially, he told them that
he had seen Christina around,

that he recognized her
from being in Philadelphia.

Christina was by herself

in Philadelphia
in the suburbs.

She missed her friends
and the exciting lifestyle
of New York City,

so I think she was going out
to recapture some of that.

[Walz] I think the reason
why she was going out

and grabbing
a drink by herself

was she was probably lonely.

She was by herself,
when you're by yourself

you're going
to get approached.

[Sacks] It started out
very friendly by all accounts,

but just hours later,

the evening took
a terrible turn.

[Vella] He mentioned that
he was pretty high

on the day of the m*rder.

He had smoked some marijuana,

he had used cocaine,

he had been drinking,

and he also mentioned
to using K2,

which is a street name
for what is essentially
synthetic marijuana.

He says that they met
in Center City,

uh, that they were going back
to her apartment,

and he had an ounce of cocaine
that he was gonna sell her.

She says that she's not gonna
pay him for the cocaine,

and he gets angry,

he's scared because
he needs this money,

and so he says there
was a physical altercation,

at one point she hit him
with a wine bottle,

and things got out of hand.

Harris is adamant that
he had nothing to do
with Christina's death,

that when he left
Christina's apartment
she was perfectly fine.

But the detectives could see

that there were some
inconsistencies with,
uh, Harris's story.

They knew that a coroner's
examination found that

Christina had no cocaine
in her system whatsoever.

They took a little bit
of a break,

they gave him
some time to think,

and they came back and said,

"Did you tell us
the whole truth?"

Police are able
to kinda pull some
strings on his story,

and it starts to fall apart,

and it doesn't take
very long for him
to just spill his guts.

He admitted that he'd lied.

He lied about the two
of them doing cocaine,

and crucially, he lied
when he'd said that

he had nothing to do
with her death.

He admitted
on the second statement

that he did indeed
k*ll Christina.

Her last breath was,
was at his hands.

He even made a comment
after he was in custody that,

"Well, she was still breathing
when I left."

I don't believe that.

I don't think there's
any possibility

that Christina Kraft
was breathing when he left.

[Vella] He admitted that
after he k*lled her,

he covered her body with

clothing, with a, an area rug
that was in her apartment.

Uh, he admitted to changing
into her clothing

because his was covered
in blood.

And he admitted to jumping

from her balcony
to ground level

to hide himself
from the cameras
out front of her building.

Harris was charged with
first and third degree m*rder.

[Vella] Andre Melton
was arrested
in December 2018,

which was several months after

Harris had been
taken into custody.

Police had been looking
for him for quite some time

and ultimately
caught up with him

when he was arrested
in Philadelphia

on a minor drug possession.

And they noticed that
he had this open warrant

for a robbery
in Montgomery County.

Melton was later found guilty

for robbing Christina
and was sentenced
to state prison.

[Melwert] The m*rder case
went to trial,

and Jonathan Harris
pleaded not guilty.

[Vella] There was a lot
of evidence in this case.

This was a really air tight
investigation by detectives.

It would've been
extremely difficult
for Harris and his attorney

to insert any doubt
into the minds of jurors about

who had k*lled Christina,
how she had been k*lled.

[Melwert] What Harris
was trying to avoid
was first degree m*rder,

which in Pennsylvania carries
a mandatory life sentence,

and was trying to argue that
this was third degree m*rder,

which is 20 to 40 years
in prison.

[Vella] But the jury
found Harris guilty
of first degree m*rder,

and he was sentenced
to life in prison.

A Philadelphia man
accused of murdering
a one-time Playboymodel

has been found guilt
on all charges.

[Melwert] At sentencing,

Alexander Ciccotelli,
her fiance,

got to address
Jonathan Harris,

and, you know,
he called him a coward,

that, that he, you know,
strangled and choked

a, a, you know, a woman
much smaller than him,

and he also said
how hurtful and painful
this had been for the family.

Alex said,
"It wasn't bad enough
that you k*lled my fiancee,

but then you also had
to come out with this lie and,

and just slander her,

and, and drag her
through the mud

with this line
about the cocaine."

She didn't have any cocaine
in her system,

they never found any cocaine

or traces of cocaine
in her apartment,

and her fiance says
as long as he has known her,

she has never used cocaine.

[Vice] She loved modeling,

I think she liked
being in front of the,
you know, the camera.

Her aunt had mentioned to me

that one of Christina's
best moments

was how she was able
to work with Playboy.

[Walz] I think Christina had
modeled for so many years,

and modeling
is a career that

isn't always going
to be lifelong,

you have to have

other careers kind of in place

to kind of take over that
fulfillment in your life.

I hope moving forward that

Christina is remembered

for the amazing,
beautiful girl that she was.

[Madison] She might have
thought she was prepared

to handle any situations
she was in,

and unfortunately,
that went horribly wrong.

I think about Christina a lot.

Her and I were the same age,

had same careers,

and now she's gone.

It's absolutely
heart breaking.