The Playboy Murders Recap for Moth to a Flame

This week’s episode of The Playboy Murders is titled Moth to a Flame and features the murder of former Cybergirl Christina Kraft.

-On August 22nd, 2018, police got a call to do a wellness check on Playboy model Christina Kraft. At the time, she was living outside the Philly area. The call was made by her boyfriend Alex, who could not reach her or get into the apartment.

 

-When police arrived, her body was found. The scene was described as being one of the most gruesome scenes the authorities have ever seen. She was beaten and strangled to death.

 

-Christina grew up in New Jersey and had big dreams of becoming a model. She had been with Alex for fifteen years and was the apple of her father’s eye. Her friends remember her as being sweet, charismatic and fun.

 

-Her career began when she won a model search for Stuff and Maxim magazine. Her dream was to pose for Playboy, so she signed up to be a Cybergirl, which was part of the brand in 2009. This led to her doing a test shoot for the magazine and meeting Hugh Hefner. However, she didn’t become a Playmate and her career didn’t take off the way she hoped it would.

 

-After Christina’s body was found, Alex was told the news and questioning began. Her past was also looked into and it was discovered that she had a misdemeanor assault charge, which was later dropped.

 

-Before the murder, Christina and Alex lived in NYC, but ironically moved to the Ardmore area to be safer.

 

-Alex was questioned in the murder and revealed that he was out of town at the time of the murder, only returning when he noticed unusual activity on their security cameras and when he could not get in touch with Christina.

 

-Days before the murder, Christina reported a robbery in her apartment. She also revealed that she felt she had been drugged at the bar she had been at that night. Her statement and surveillance video connected her rideshare driver to the robbery. He had apparently helped her into her apartment after she had passed out and then robbed the place. The man was African-American and wearing non-descript clothing. Further investigation showed this person had used her credit cards in local convenience stores.

 

-The man was identified as Andre Melton and a warrant was put out for his arrest. Her things were found in his apartment, but he had gone on the run. He was then considered the main suspect in Christina’s murder.

 

-A mad search begins for Andre and it was believed that both cases were connected. However, more surveillance videos show Christina leaving and re-entering her condo. During her return, she entered with an unidentified man who was not seen leaving from the main entrance, but through her sliding door on the second floor. Further investigation showed a footprint and more footage was put together to try and figure out the identity of the man. A new suspect emerges since it was not Andre in the footage.

 

-The public was given the task of identifying the two men. Andre called the cops the next day and admitted to robbing Christina’s apartment, but refused to go down for murder.

 

-Authorities continued to gather tips and a rideshare driver admitted that he picked up Christina and the suspect the night of the murder. She had actually flagged the driver down, claiming she was being harassed. He also claimed that the two of them were affectionate and that the man offered him $100 cash if he waited for him to come back. However, the man never came back and he left.

 

-At 4am the night of the murder, Christina called her cousin, who said they could hear a man in the background saying not to call the police.

 

-A man claiming to be the roommate of the man in question called the police and said that he had bragged about strangling a woman to death. However, the man was a John Doe, so they had nothing to go on…..until the man’s family identified him as Jonathan Harris. He was just released from prison weeks before the murder.

 

-A warrant was put out for his arrest and a mad search began. He was on his way to Pittsburgh, so authorities began to tail him and caught him when he got off the bus. Jonathan gave a fake name, but he was still taken into custody and questioned about the murder. He mentioned he was high and drunk the night of the murder and that he and Christina fought over her refusing to pay for drugs. However, this proved to be false since no drugs were found in her system. He finally admitted to killing her, but thought she was alive when he left her apartment, despite covering her body and stealing her clothes and escaping undetected. He was charged with her murder.

 

-Andre was finally caught and put in jail for the robbery.

 

-Jonathan pled not guilty during the trial, but he was found guilty and sentenced to live in prison.