May 10, 2019
Sources/Facebook and Montgomery County District Attorney's Office
Jonathan Wesley Harris, seen on the right in a surveillance photo, was found guilty of first degree murder for killing 36-year-old Christina Carlin-Kraft, left, at her Ardmore, Montgomery County apartment in 2018. Harris faces mandatory life in prison when he is formally sentenced.
The man accused of strangling a woman to death at her Ardmore apartment last summer was found guilty of first-degree murder on Thursday.
Jonathan Wesley Harris, 30, was arrested in August about a week after authorities found the body of 36-year-old Christina Carlin-Kraft at her condo in the the 100 block of Sibley Avenue.
Investigators said Harris had met Kraft in Center City on Aug. 22 and took a Lyft ride back to Ardmore with her during the early morning hours.
An autopsy revealed Kraft had suffered a fractured nose and died of ligature strangulation, suggesting somethings had been wrapped around her neck and deliberately used to kill her.
Harris was taken into custody after police received information from Kraft's then-boyfriend and another person. Surveillance footage showed Kraft had met with Harris around Broad and Locust streets and the two got into a Lyft together, which was confirmed by records from the ride-sharing service.
Harris had recently been released from prison at State Correctional Institution Greene about a month before the murder.
Kraft was a former model whose work had been featured in Playboy magazine.
The defense reportedly attempted to argue that Harris was not of sound mind at the time because he had been smoking cat tranquilizer and didn't know what he was doing.
The jury found Harris guilty of first-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime and strangulation in Kraft's death.
