‘More Than a Playboy Model': Family Desperate for Answers After Woman Found Strangled in Bedroom of Her Main Line Condo

Family members of Christina Carlin-Kraft say they want the world to know she was "more than just a Playboy model" -- as police begin to piece together clues in the mystery of her murder.

"She was the sweetest girl, loving and kind and generous and thoughtful," Carlin-Kraft's aunt, Angelique Carlin, said. "Those are the things I will miss about my niece."

Carlin-Kraft was found strangled Thursday night inside her condominium near the popular Suburban Square shopping center in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, police said. Police performing a welfare check found the woman's body.

On Friday, detectives fanned out across the area collecting evidence from locations in at least three counties in hopes of finding the person who strangled Carlin-Kraft.

The woman's credit cards were used at Wawa and Royal Farms convenience stores in Delaware County on Sunday, sources told NBC10.

NBC10 has also learned that Carlin-Kraft took a Lyft to a hotel in Philadelphia last Friday. Hours later, around 6:30 a.m. Saturday, she was seen in the lobby of her condo building unable to walk on her own. A man was seen holding her purse; he then lifted her into the elevator.

The Montgomery County coroner ruled the death a homicide Thursday. She may have been killed as early as Tuesday, sources told NBC10.

Carlin-Kraft's modeling credits include Playboy, Maxim, David Yurman and MAC Cosmetics, according to a profile on a modeling website. She grew up at the Jersey Shore, graduated from Mainland Regional High School in Linwood, Atlantic County and worked as a 'Borgata babe' for a stint, her family said. 

In 2016, she was charged with assault in New York City for striking a restaurant staffer. The charges were later dropped.

"How this happened and why is something our family wants to know," Christina's aunt said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Lower Merion police at 610-649-1000.