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Ryan Jenkins

Jasmine Fiore

The death of Jasmine Fiore occurred on August 15, 2009. Fiore (born Jasmine Lepore) was a model from Santa Cruz, California, United States. Her body was discovered on August 15, 2009, strangled and stuffed into a suitcase. Her remains had been mutilated to prevent recognition; she was eventually identified by the serial numbers of her breast implants. Fiore was 28 years old at the time of her death.

Her husband, a former reality TV contestant, Ryan Alexander Jenkins, was the only suspect and was formally charged with the murder. On August 23, 2009, Jenkins was found dead in a hotel room in Hope, British Columbia, Canada. He was 32 years old.

Background

Fiore was a swimsuit model who frequently worked as a body-painted model at parties for entertainment. She appeared in shows at Las Vegas casinos. Fiore had acted in commercials, such as adult chat line commercials. Fiore had also obtained a real estate license and was about to open a gym and personal training center.

According to Fiore's friend of a year-and-a-half, Marta Montoya, Fiore had a longstanding but intermittently serious relationship with Robert Hasman, with whom Fiore wanted to settle down. According to People magazine, another suitor of Jasmine's was Travis Heinrich, whom she met around 2005. Heinrich and Fiore had become engaged and remained so for less than half a year in 2006 or 2007; although the couple broke off this engagement, they continued to date.

Marriage

Fiore had met Canadian-born Ryan Jenkins at a Las Vegas casino shortly after Jenkins had completed filming Megan Wants a Millionaire. Two days later – March 18, 2009 – the pair then married at The Little White Wedding Chapel on the Las Vegas Strip.

According to court records, Jenkins was charged in June 2009 in Clark County, Nevada, with "battery constituting domestic violence" for hitting Fiore in the arm. Travis Heinrich, who was present, said Jenkins and Fiore had been arguing over her friendship with Heinrich, which resulted in Jenkins hitting Fiore's arm and causing her to fall into a nearby swimming pool. Jenkins was to go on trial in December. The pair had reconciled shortly before Fiore's death and was reportedly traveling to San Diego for a poker game.

Lisa Lepore, Fiore's mother, claims that the two fought frequently and that Jenkins had been jealous of Fiore's friendships with her ex-boyfriends. Dan Jenkins, Ryan Jenkins' father, said that Fiore was his son's only friend in California and that she would disappear for days at a time and lie about it to his son.

In addition, Lepore told The Associated Press that her daughter had the marriage to Jenkins annulled in May 2009. However, there were no court records of an annulment in either Nevada, where the couple was married, or in Los Angeles County, where they most recently lived.

Death

Investigators reported that Jenkins and Fiore checked into the L'Auberge hotel in Del Mar, San Diego, on the evening of August 13, 2009. They were to attend a poker tournament, a charity fund-raiser for the Carma Foundation at the Del Mar Hilton. Surveillance video captured Fiore and Jenkins leaving the Hilton at about 2:30 a.m. on the morning of August 14, 2009. The couple were later seen at the Ivy Hotel, a nightclub in downtown San Diego. At around 4:30 a.m., Jenkins returned to the L'Auberge hotel in Del Mar alone. Fiore was not seen alive again. Jenkins left the L'Auberge hotel at around 9 a.m. the following morning (Friday, August 14).

Fiore's body was discovered, but not identified, on Saturday, August 15, 2009 at about 7 a.m. Her badly beaten and crushed body was discovered inside a suitcase inside a dumpster in an alley in Buena Park, California.

According to Buena Park police, Fiore's teeth and fingers had been removed before her nude body was stuffed into the suitcase. She had also been strangled. Authorities believe the mutilation was an attempt to impede identification. On August 18, her remains were identified using the serial numbers from her breast implants.

The Orange County coroner's office reported Fiore had died a couple of hours before her body was found. Fiore's white Mercedes was found abandoned in a parking lot in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, about a mile from the penthouse Fiore shared with Jenkins in Fairfax District, Los Angeles. Police reported that there was a significant amount of blood, and some evidence of hair pulling.

Jenkins reported Fiore missing in the evening of August 15 at 8:55 p.m. Jenkins told police that he last saw Fiore about 8:30 p.m. August 14 at their home in Edinburgh Avenue, Los Angeles. Jenkins said they had gone to San Diego for a poker event and that, after returning, she dropped him off that evening and went to do errands, but never returned.

Jenkins' movements after Fiore's death

At around 9 a.m. on August 16, 2009, the day after reporting Fiore missing and after spending some time packing, Jenkins was seen leaving their penthouse for the last time. Police said Jenkins then left Los Angeles and went to Nevada to pick up his speedboat.

On Monday, August 17, when contacted by police, Jenkins said he was in Utah, and was headed to Canada to resolve some immigration issues. On August 18, Fiore's body was identified and the murder was first reported in the media. In the afternoon of August 19, Jenkins called his father from Birch Bay, who informed him Fiore had been found murdered.

The Whatcom County Sheriff's Department received witness reports of Jenkins' black BMW SUV towing a boat towards the Canadian border. Police later found the BMW SUV and an empty boat trailer at a marina in Blaine, Washington; the engine was still warm.

At the time Jenkins was only a person of interest in the investigation and had not been charged, though Canadian authorities had been alerted to watch for him. U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did confirm they had boats patrolling northwest Washington waters looking for Jenkins as early as Wednesday, August 19. Initial media reports were that the US Coast Guard and Canadian authorities chased Jenkins' speedboat as it crossed to Point Roberts, but these reports were later denied by officials.

On August 19, a man matching Jenkins' description was seen piloting his boat into a marina in the border town of Point Roberts, where Jenkins' stepmother lives. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced that they believe Jenkins crossed into Canada sometime between August 19 and August 20, 2009.

On August 20, Jenkins was charged with Fiore's murder and an arrest warrant was issued. Also on the morning of August 20, 2009, Jenkins called his detained father at the airport but his father had to hang up the call.

Jenkins' Suicide

At about 6 p.m. on the evening of August 20, Jenkins arrived in a silver PT Cruiser with a young blonde woman at the Thunderbird Motel in Hope, British Columbia, Canada. The car had Alberta license plates. They pulled up beside a dumpster rather than pulling up beside the rooms, which the motel manager claimed to have found strange.

Jenkins stayed in the car while a young woman paid cash for three nights' accommodation. The manager described the woman as attractive, about 25 to 30 years old, and very calm, making some "small talk" when registering. The guest in the room next door said the woman stayed for about 20 minutes with Jenkins in Room 2 and then left the motel. The woman was never seen again. The manager saw Jenkins walking outside the motel the next day, August 21, 2009. The manager said Jenkins looked exhausted and he was not recognisable from his picture on television.

At 11:30 a.m. on August 23, the couple failed to check out. Having noticed very little further activity over the weekend, the motel manager and his nephew decided to check on the room. Jenkins was found dead, apparently of suicide; his body was found hanging from the wall's clothes rack by a belt. No suicide note was found in the motel. A one-page suicide note saved on Jenkins' computer titled "Last Will and Testament" and dated August 20, 2009 was found by police.

On August 27, 2009, investigators found a storage unit full of Jenkins' belongings, including a suitcase full of clothes, in Washington state.

VH1 Response

Following the announcement that Jenkins was connected with the murder of Fiore, VH1 put Megan Wants a Millionaire on hiatus. However, it also deleted the show's page from the official VH1 website, leading to speculation that the show would never air again.

It subsequently emerged that Jenkins had not only been charged with assaulting Fiore, but had been convicted two years earlier for assaulting a woman in Calgary. Neither of these incidents had been disclosed to either VH1, or to Megan Wants a Millionaire producer 51 Minds.

The day after Jenkins' death, VH1 officially announced the show was canceled, and also announced it would not run the third season of I Love Money, which was reportedly won by Jenkins. This cannot be determined, however, because a 51 Minds spokesman said Jenkins tried to pick up his honorarium check of $5,200 a few days before Jasmine's body was discovered.

Wikipedia.org

Note left by Jasmine Fiore's alleged killer mentions anger, jealousy

Police say a letter left on Ryan Jenkins' laptop did not take blame for her death. Fiore's body was found in a trash bin in Buena Park. Jenkins was found hanged in a motel room in Canada.

Richard Winton - Los Angeles Times

October 7, 2009

A man accused of killing his wife, model Jasmine Fiore, did not acknowledge the killing in a suicide note left on his laptop computer but expressed his love for her repeatedly and wrote that he was jealous and angry, police said.

Buena Park Police Sgt. Bill Kohanek on Tuesday said the 1 1/2 -page "suicide letter" was recovered by investigators from Ryan Jenkins' laptop after the former VH1 reality show contestant hanged himself in a Canadian motel room not far from the border after a pursuit by U.S. authorities.

"He did not acknowledge her death or homicide, and he did not take any blame," Kohanek said of the 32-year-old Jenkins.

Fiore's body was found Aug. 14 in a suitcase in a Buena Park trash container.

Her teeth had been pulled and her fingers cut off.

"He did countlessly recite the ways he profoundly loved Ms. Fiore, his wife, and many times how he disapproved of her," Kohanek said. There were "lots of comments of his jealousy of other relationships she was having and his frustration he had about those relationships."

Kohanek said that although the two, who married earlier this year, were separated, Jenkins repeatedly referred to Fiore as his wife.

Cautioning that the letter was Jenkins' view of the world, Kohanek added "he believed she was completely unfaithful and that upset him greatly, and he did not like the image of him portrayed in the media, and he seemed to place blame on her."

The department does not plan to release the letter, he said. In the letter Jenkins left his estate to a family member and "apologized to his family for what this incident was putting his family through," Kohanek said.

Jenkins was found hanged last month in a British Columbia motel room, eight days after he allegedly killed Fiore, placed her body in a suitcase and dumped it in a Buena Park trash bin.

Jenkins, a Calgary real estate executive, was a contestant on VHI's "Megan Wants a Millionaire" and the third season of "I Love Money."

Model fought with her killer in car, police say

By Denise Salazar - Orange County Register

August 28, 2009

BUENA PARK — Police said blood spatter and swirl marks found in the Mercedes-Benz belonging to slain swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore show she fought back during an attack fueled by her husband’s jealousy.

“We definitely know there was a struggle between two parties in that vehicle … because of the swipes and the motions from the blood evidence, the imprints of arms and hands,” which was found on the back windshield, the passenger seat and the back seat of her car, Sgt. Roger Powell said.

The Mercedes was found Wednesday in the parking lot of a bank next to a Trader Joe’s in West Hollywood – about a mile from where Fiore lived with her husband, Ryan Alexander Jenkins, who was later charged in her murder.

Fiore was last seen alive with Jenkins, who led authorities on an international manhunt that ended when he was found hanging from a coat rack by a belt Sunday inside a Canadian motel room.

Powell said blood evidence found in the car was consistent with her injuries, including a broken nose, which causes significant blood loss, but said there was no indication that any dismemberment or tooth removal occurred in the car.

Fiore’s dismembered body was discovered Aug. 15, in a suitcase left in a trash bin at a Buena Park apartment complex.

Fiore, 28, had apparently been strangled, police said, sometime after the morning of Aug. 14. Her teeth and finger tips had been removed in an apparent attempt by the killer to stymie authorities’ efforts to identify her body. Her body was identified by the serial numbers on her breast implants, prosecutors said.

Fiore’s teeth and fingers have not been found. Powell said teeth fragments were found in the suitcase, but not in the car.

During a news conference Thursday evening, authorities revealed details of Fiore’s violent death and the timeline of the days before and after she was killed. Detectives pieced together the sequence of events using surveillance video from two hotels in San Diego, witness accounts, interviews with friends and family, cell phone records and forensic evidence.

A letter written from Jenkins to Fiore was found in the car’s glove compartment, which was more evidence of their tremulous relationship.

“It had a lot of tension,” Powell said of their relationship. “There was a whole lot of jealousy on his part.”

Sgt. Frank Nunes, one of 23 detectives working on the homicide, said the domestic violence attack on Fiore was fueled by jealousy.

“He was jealous that there were other guys involved,” Nunes said. “Apparently they had a sordid past where both had cheated, but it’s not confirmed.”

Jenkins and Fiore checked into the L’Auberge Del Mar hotel in San Diego about 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 13 and left three hours later to attend a poker tournament at a nearby Hilton.

Surveillance video captured the couple leaving the Hilton at about 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 14. Two hours later, Jenkins returned to the L’Auberge hotel alone. Fiore wasn’t seen alive again.

Detectives believe Jenkins brought Fiore through the patio of their first-level hotel room. Fiore’s blood and hair were found on the patio of their room at L’Auberge Del Mar.

“Our theory is the body was placed in the suitcase in the hotel room,” Sgt. Frank Nunes said. “Whether he took her lifeless body into the hotel to put her in the suitcase or killed her in the room then put her there is what the question is,” he said.

Jenkins was then captured on surveillance video carrying clothing out of the hotel room before he left alone at 9 a.m.

Detectives then placed Jenkins in Corona – about 90 miles from San Diego – where they believe he went off-road. Large twigs and brush were found in the undercarriage of the Mercedes-Benz, as well as mud stains on the tires. Nunes said Jenkins might have dumped Fiore’s clothing and body parts in the area.

Detectives believe Jenkins abandoned the Mercedes before he returned to the penthouse he shared with Fiore in Los Angeles’ Fairfax district.

Fiore’s nude body was discovered around 7 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15, in a Buena Park dumpster.

Jenkins filed a missing-persons report on Fiore at 8:55 p.m. that day at the West Hollywood station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. In it, he said he had not heard from Fiore since Friday afternoon, when she dropped him off at their Los Angeles apartment. They had just returned from a trip to San Diego, he said, and she was going to run errands and get her nails done.

The next day, surveillance video captured Jenkins moving out of the penthouse apartment. He drove to Nevada in his black BMW SUV and picked up his speedboat.

On Aug. 17, an LAPD detective investigating the missing people report called Jenkins. He told her he was in Utah and was headed to Canada to resolve immigration issues.

Two days later, authorities found Jenkins’ car and an empty boat trailer in far northern Washington. Jenkins slipped across the border into Canada on foot.

His body was found six days later in a Canadian motel. An autopsy revealed it was a suicide. The Royal Canadian Police are investigating whether anyone helped Jenkins while he was on the run.

Nunes said there is no evidence that shows anyone in the United States helped Jenkins escape.

Jenkins was a contestant on VH1’s reality TV shows “Megan Wants a Millionaire” and the third season of “I Love Money.” Both reality TV shows have been canceled. Jenkins and Fiore were married in March in Las Vegas and had recently moved to Los Angeles. Fiore’s mother, Lisa Lepore, has said her daughter had the marriage annulled in May.

Fiore’s self-described best friend, David Tonapetyan, who runs an automotive shop in Las Vegas, said Fiore told him she was in love with the perfect man. But that sentiment quickly faded.

“He was controlling, jealous and crazy,” Tonapetyan said during a telephone interview Thursday.

In April, Jenkins was arrested and charged with “battery constituting domestic violence” after he allegedly hit Fiore in the arm with his fist, according to the criminal complaint.

Tonapetyan said Fiore told him about the fight and said Jenkins was violent and didn’t want to be with him anymore.

“He would say ‘I love Jasmine very much and she doesn’t want to be with me,'” Tonapetyan said. “He was the kind of guy that couldn’t handle rejection.”

Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Buena Park Police Department Detective Greg Pelton at 714-562-3992.

Police probe whether suspected killer had help

Authorities investigate whether Ryan Jenkins was aided in disposing of model Jasmine Fiore's body and fleeing to Canada.

Kim Murphy and Andrew Blankstein and Ari B. Bloomekatz - Los Angeles Times

August 25, 2009

HOPE, BRITISH COLUMBIA, AND LOS ANGELES — Detectives are investigating whether Ryan Jenkins got help disposing of model Jasmine Fiore's body after he allegedly killed her and whether others helped him flee and hide, police said.

Jenkins was found dead in a British Columbia motel room Sunday night. He apparently committed suicide and police are focusing on a woman who they said was with the former reality TV star when he checked in.

Canadian authorities on Monday refused to identify her and described her as a "person of interest" in the case who knew him previously.

"We're exploring those avenues and we're continuing to investigate," said Sgt. Duncan Pound, spokesman for the Federal Border Integrity Program of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "We kept our mind open to the fact that he had roots in Canada, friends and family members in Canada."

The manager of the Thunderbird Motel said Jenkins "bore no resemblance" to the photos distributed as part of the international search aimed at capturing him.

"He did not look like the same man. He did not look like the man they were showing on TV," said Kevin Walker, who was working when the unidentified woman checked Jenkins into the remote Thunderbird Motel on Thursday evening -- a little more than two days before he was found dead of an apparent suicide.

"He'd lost lots of weight. He wasn't a buff, healthy looking man. It was kind of freaky," Walker said.

He said the woman left about 20 minutes after Jenkins checked in.

Law enforcement sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing, said they believe Jenkins received some help but would not elaborate. The sources also said they are investigating whether Jenkins got help in disposing of Fiore's body.

Jenkins, a real estate executive in Calgary who was recently a contestant on the reality TV shows "Megan Wants a Millionaire" and the third season of "I Love Money," is suspected of killing Fiore, his former wife, stuffing her in a suitcase and dumping her mutilated body in a Buena Park trash bin.

Both reality TV shows, which were set to air on VH1, have been canceled.

Police found Fiore Aug. 15 and identified her by a serial number on a breast implant because her fingers had been cut off and teeth were pulled out.

Jenkins, 32, and Fiore had married in March, then had the marriage annulled but were apparently still dating.

Walker, the manager of the motel on a side road about two miles outside the former logging town of Hope, said the couple arrived about 5:30 or 6 p.m. Thursday and stopped their car near the Dumpster when they first pulled in.

He said he assumed that they were cleaning out the car.

The woman, whom he described as being in her mid-20s with dark blond hair, came in and said they had been "traveling around," signed for the room and said it would be needed for about three days.

He said he saw Jenkins only once after he checked in, on Friday afternoon.

"He walked out and was just standing there. We made eye contact, I realized he must be the one in Unit 2," Walker said. "I thought maybe his girlfriend dumped him and left him there."

At checkout time about 11 a.m. Sunday, Walker knocked on the door to ask if Jenkins was planning to leave.

When he didn't get an answer, he went back to the office and called him. When there was still no answer, Walker let himself into the room with his passkey.

"I swung the door open and there he was right in front of me, hanging," Walker said.

"The room when I walked in there, it smelled like death," he said. "And to tell you the truth, what I thought when I first saw him was, he looked demonic. That's the only way I can describe it. I don't think I'll ever forget it."

Walker said a laptop was on the bed, and several of Jenkins possessions were strewn around it.

By Monday, police had stripped the room and removed the yellow police tape.

Jenkins' father, Dan Jenkins, said he was struggling to come to terms with the accusations against his son and believes he was corrupted by the Hollywood lifestyle.

"If my son was guilty, he was crazy. He was not the boy we knew. The boy we knew was not capable of anything remotely close to this act," said Dan Jenkins, an architect in Calgary.

Jenkins said his son appears to have fallen in with the wrong crowd in Hollywood and that he was seemingly incapable of the violence he is accused of committing.

He "would faint at the sight of blood," Dan Jenkins said.

Man wanted in model's death is found hanged

Ryan Jenkins, a former reality TV contestant wanted in connection with the death of his ex-wife, model Jasmine Fiore, is found dead in a British Columbia motel room, authorities say.

Andrew Blankstein and Julie Cart - Los Angeles Times

August 24, 2009

The international manhunt for Ryan Jenkins, suspected of killing his former wife and dumping her mutilated body in a Buena Park trash bin, ended Sunday in the woodsy tourist town of Hope, British Columbia. Authorities said the former reality television contestant hanged himself in a motel room.

At a Sunday night news conference, Buena Park police said they were disappointed that Jenkins would not face the first-degree murder charge they had sought.

"The sadness of this all is that Mr. Jenkins will not stand before an Orange County jury for his crimes," said Buena Park Police Lt. Steve Holliday.

Holliday refused to answer questions about whether the fugitive had been aided while on the run, citing the ongoing investigation.

He did appear to have some help, the Associated Press reported. A young woman apparently checked Jenkins into the Thunderbird Motel and paid cash for three nights. According to the motel manager, when the couple failed to check out, an employee entered the room and discovered Jenkins hanging from the bar of a clothing rack.

Jenkins had led authorities on a sprawling chase last week, first driving north in a black BMW SUV, surfacing in Washington state. Jenkins then eluded U.S. and Canadian law enforcement authorities Wednesday night as he raced toward the international border in a speedboat. That boat, called the Night Ride Her, was discovered in a marina across the border from Vancouver, where Jenkins, a Canadian national, was believed to have family.

Jenkins was a real estate executive in Calgary.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police were combing British Columbia for Jenkins, whose notoriety was fanned by the viciousness of the well-publicized crime. Authorities say Jenkins killed 28-year-old Jasmine Fiore and removed her fingers and teeth, evidently to conceal her identity. Police allege that he then stuffed the swimsuit model's body in a suitcase and dumped it in a Buena Park trash bin. It was found by a man combing the trash for recyclables.

Authorities were able to identify Fiore based only on a serial number found on a breast implant, according to the Orange County district attorney's office.

The 32-year-old Jenkins appeared to be leading a glittering life, calling himself an investment banker when he was a contestant on the VH1 reality television show "Megan Wants a Millionaire." But he ended his life in a decidedly less than glamorous setting, in a drab motel that rented rooms by the month.

The case has raised questions about the vetting process of reality show contestants. According to Canadian authorities, Jenkins had a previous conviction for assault on an unidentified woman.

In April, Jenkins allegedly struck Fiore, who sometimes used the last name Kinkade, on the arm at a hotel in Las Vegas. In June, he was charged with "battery constituting domestic violence" in connection with the incident, according to court documents.

According to a statement released by a spokesman for Los Angeles-based 51 Minds Entertainment, which produced the show, executives were unaware of Jenkins' record when they cast him on "Megan Wants A Millionaire."

Jenkins was scheduled to appear in another VH1 show, "I Love Money," set to air in January.

The manhunt was picked up by Canadian authorities last week. They circulated a photograph of Jenkins, saying he was dangerous and warning people to be on the lookout for him.

"The ring was tightening on him," Tom Hession, chief inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service's regional fugitive task force, said Sunday night. "He obviously was desperate."

The Thunderbird Motel is about an hour's drive from the U.S. border. Three major Canadian highways intersect in Hope, making its two-dozen hotels a likely stopover for travelers through the province.

The low-slung, brown and white building is a "dive," according to Sam Rychter, whose parents own the Quality Inn, in the newer part of town.

On Sunday evening the Thunderbird's parking lot was teeming with local authorities, and yellow crime scene tape was draped across the west portion of the building. A telephone listing for the motel was no longer in service.

The idea that a suspected killer might be at large in Hope, a town bulging with families and tourists on a summer day, was chilling to some residents.

"It shocks me that he's here," said Mike Adams. "But a lot of things about society give me the creeps. It's something you think about and shake your head."

Adams described the town of 8,000 nestled in the foothills of the Coastal Range on the banks of the Fraser River as "pretty quiet," although summers are crowded with boaters, river rafters, fishermen and people passing through the former logging town. "We don't get the town back until after Labor Day," he said.

Barbara Rychter was on duty at her hotel when she heard sirens shrieking about 2 p.m. Sunday. "I thought it was another accident on the road," she said. The gruesome details of the Jenkins murder case were familiar to most people in town, and Jenkins' photograph had been widely distributed.

"It has been on the news," she said. "They said they expected that he might go through this area."

Rychter added that while the manhunt had received saturation coverage in local media, many of the hotels in town are owned by Korean-speaking residents who may not have heard about Jenkins or recognized his face.

Fiore had recently moved to L.A. from Las Vegas, where she had worked as a commercial and swimsuit model. Her mother said Fiore had recently obtained a real estate license and established a personal training business with a friend. She was last seen Aug. 13, when she and Jenkins went to an upscale Del Mar hotel together.

Fiore and Jenkins had married in March, then had the marriage annulled. They were apparently still dating.

Jenkins checked out of the hotel alone the next morning, according to prosecutors.

At some point, authorities allege, Jenkins killed Fiore, placed her in the suitcase and left it in the Buena Park trash bin. "The victim had been badly beaten, all of her fingers had been cut off, and all of her teeth had been forcibly removed," prosecutors said in a statement last week.

Jenkins reported Fiore missing to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on Aug. 15 and then fled, prosecutors said.

Slain model’s body identified by breast implants

By Denisse Salazar, Larry Welborn and Michael Mello - Orange County Register

August 21, 2009

BUENA PARK – The mutilated body of a swimsuit model that was found in a trash bin was identified through the serial numbers on her breast implants, a prosecutor said today.

Also today, the U.S. Marshals Service announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a Canadian citizen who is accused of killing the model, Jasmine Fiore.

Authorities believe Ryan Alexander Jenkins, 32, may have slipped across the border into Canada. Police have been searching for him since the naked body of Fiore, his wife, was found stuffed in a suitcase in Buena Park on Saturday.

Fiore, 28, had apparently been strangled, police said. Her teeth and fingers had been removed when she was found, in an apparent attempt by the killer to delay authorities in their efforts to identify her body.

But Fiore was identified through the serial number of her breast implants, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve McGreevy.

Meanwhile, those who knew Ryan Jenkins in his hometown of Calgary, Alberta, have described him as a “mover and shaker” who made millions from high-end real estate deals and developments before he moved to the United States earlier this year, the Calgary Herald reported.

On a brief return visit to Calgary, a friend said Jenkins told him, “ ‘I met the most amazing girl, I love her, we have a lot in common,’ ” according to the Calgary Herald story. That woman, the friend said, turned out to be Fiore.

Those who knew him back home say they can’t believe he’s now the subject of an international manhunt. Read the Herald’s full story here.

Prosecutors alleged in a criminal complaint filed Thursday that Jenkins killed Fiore sometime around Friday, “with malice aforethought.” An arrest warrant says he should be held in lieu of $10 million bail, prosecutors said.

A federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution was issued late Thursday – another process to help apprehend Jenkins internationally.

Jenkins is believed to be armed and dangerous and is believed to have a license to fly commercial airplanes.

Jenkins and Fiore checked into the L’Auberge Del Mar hotel in San Diego on Aug. 13, prosecutors said. Jenkins checked out the next morning, but Fiore wasn’t seen alive again, prosecutors said. Another guest checked in on Aug. 14.

Crime scene investigators have searched the hotel room where Jenkins and Fiore stayed Aug. 13 as well as their penthouse apartment in Los Angeles’ Fairfax district. They are in the process of doing DNA analysis and other tests.

An executive of the hotel where the couple stayed said he didn’t believe Fiore was killed there.

“We did not have reports of any disturbances at any time,” said Michael Slosser, vice president and managing director at L’Auberge.

At 7:10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, Buena Park police responded to a call of a body in a trash bin at an apartment complex. They found a large blood-stained gray suitcase containing the body of a woman. The victim had been badly beaten, all of her fingers had been cut off, and all of her teeth had been forcibly removed, prosecutors said.

Jenkins filed a missing-persons report on Fiore at 8:55 p.m. Saturday at the West Hollywood station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. In it, he said he had not heard from Fiore since Friday afternoon, when she dropped him off at their Los Angeles apartment. They had just returned from a trip to San Diego, he wrote, and she was going to run errands and get her nails done.

Jenkins, nicknamed “Smooth Operator” for his confident turn on the VH1 reality show “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” apparently met and married Fiore in Las Vegas earlier this year. He was arrested in late April and charged with “battery constituting domestic violence” after he allegedly hit her in the arm with his fist, according to the criminal complaint.

Jenkins has a criminal record in his hometown of Calgary, Canada. He was sentenced to 15 months of probation in January 2007 for assaulting an ex-girlfriend in July 2005, according to the Alberta, Canada, Ministry of Justice.

The Calgary Herald reported Jenkins admitted that he punched the woman in the head and knocked her to her knees when she attempted to leave his residence. The conditions of his probation included that he take counseling or treatment for domestic violence and sex addiction.

But the assault was not the first domestic altercation for Jenkins, according to court records.

In 1999, he went to a previous girlfriend’s residence and broke a picture on the wall when he saw another man with her in the home, the Calgary Herald reported.

He was charged with break and enter, but pleaded out to mischief causing property damage and was also given a conditional discharge with 25 hours of community service, which he completed successfully, the Herald reported.

Anyone with information was asked to call the Buena Park Police Department’s tip line at 714-562-3847 or the U.S. Marshal’s Office at 1-800-336-0102 or www.usmarshals.gov.

Slain swimsuit model was missing fingers and teeth, authorities say

Police believe that Ryan Alexander Jenkins killed Jasmine Fiore and fled to Canada, where a manhunt is underway. Her body was found Aug. 15 in a suitcase in a trash bin in Buena Park.

Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton - Los Angeles Times

August 21, 2009

A reality TV show contestant allegedly removed the fingers and teeth of the swimsuit model he killed before putting her in a suitcase and dumping her in a Buena Park trash bin, authorities said Thursday as they issued an arrest warrant for the suspect.

Police believe that Ryan Alexander Jenkins, who was a contestant on two VH1 reality shows, fled to Washington state and crossed the border into Canada on Wednesday or early Thursday. An international manhunt is underway for him.

Relationship

The Orange County district attorney's office said 28-year-old Jasmine Fiore was last seen alive Aug. 13, when she and Jenkins went to an upscale Del Mar hotel together. Fiore and Jenkins had married earlier, then had the marriage annulled but were still dating.

Jenkins checked out of the hotel the next morning, apparently alone, according to prosecutors.

At some point, authorities say, Jenkins allegedly killed Fiore, placed her in the suitcase and left her in a trash bin off the 5 Freeway in Buena Park. On Saturday morning, a man looking for recyclables found the suitcase and called police.

"The officers found a large bloodstained gray suitcase containing the body of a Caucasian female. The victim had been badly beaten, all of her fingers had been cut off, and all of her teeth had been forcibly removed," prosecutors said in a statement released Thursday.

On Saturday night, Jenkins reported Fiore missing to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, prosecutors said, adding that he then fled Southern California. His whereabouts over the last few days were unknown, but on Wednesday he apparently surfaced in Washington state.

"The defendant's black BMW X5 was found with a boat trailer attached in a marina in Blaine, Wash.," the Orange County district attorney's office said. "The defendant is accused of using a speedboat to flee from the U.S. to Canada."

Duncan Pound, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said his agency has not yet confirmed that Jenkins was in Canada and that law enforcement agencies in British Columbia and elsewhere have been put on alert.

Jenkins was a contestant on the VH1 reality show "Megan Wants a Millionaire," in which wealthy men compete for the love of a young woman. He was billed on the show as an investment banker. He was also scheduled to appear on a second VH1 show, the third season of "I Love Money," according to a source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Jenkins was cast on both shows even though he pleaded guilty in 2006 to assaulting his then-girlfriend. A Canadian judge ordered him to complete "domestic violence" and "sex addiction" counseling, and he was also sentenced to 15 months' probation and 80 hours of community service, according to court documents.

A spokesman for VH1 said the network did not know about "any issues regarding any of the contestants on this show" and that it was standard practice in the industry for the outside company that produced the show to be "responsible for the screening/vetting process of contestants." VH1 licensed the show, which completed production in March, from the Los Angeles-based 51 Minds Entertainment.

According to a statement released by a spokesman for 51 Minds, the company was not aware of Jenkins' record when they cast him on "Megan Wants A Millionaire".

"Obviously, if the company had been given a full picture of his background, he would never have been allowed on the show," according to a statement provided by Allan Mayer of the public relations firm 42West.

Jenkins and Fiore married in March, soon after he completed "Megan Wants a Millionaire."

Allegations

In April, Jenkins allegedly struck Fiore on the arm at a hotel in Las Vegas. In June, he was charged in connection with the incident with "battery constituting domestic violence."

At a news conference at Buena Park City Hall, a Fiore family spokesman urged people not to help Jenkins.

Jenkins "is an animal. What he has done to Jasmine is unspeakable," said Robert Hasman, who identified himself as her former boyfriend. "It's just not right."

Husband of dead model reportedly fled into Canada

By Denisse Salazar and Michael Mello - Orange County Register

August 19, 2009

A former reality television contestant wanted for questioning in the death of his ex-wife has apparently fled to British Columbia, according to Washington State law enforcement officials.

The sheriff’s office in Bellingham, Wash., said deputies received word Wednesday that Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a former Calgary real estate investor, could be in the county after they found his car and an empty boat trailer at a local marina.

They also had a report that a man matching Jenkins’ description arrived by boat at Point Roberts, a rural community near the Canadian border, and they believe he may have walked from there across the border to British Columbia.

*****

BUENA PARK – A man sought by police in connection with the death of a swimsuit model was accused earlier this year of hitting her.

Police are continuing to search for reality show contestant Ryan Alexander Jenkins, who is a “person of interest” in the death of model Jasmine Fiore.

Fiore, 28, of Los Angeles, was found strangled, stuffed in a suitcase and tossed into a trash bin in Buena Park on Saturday. She was last seen alive Friday night with Jenkins at a poker game in San Diego, Buena Park police Lt. Gary Worrall said.

According to Clark County, Nev., records, Jenkins was arrested in late April and charged with committing “battery constituting domestic violence” against Fiore. The complaint states Jenkins struck Fiore “in the arm with his fist.” He is due to return to court Dec. 18 for a non-jury trial.

Police have confirmed Jenkins, 32, of Canada, was Fiore’s husband. Fiore is from the Las Vegas area and recently moved to Los Angeles.

In addition, Jenkins had a criminal history in his hometown of Calgary, Canada. Jenkins was sentenced to 15 months of probation in January 2007 on an unspecified assault charge, according to the Alberta, Canada Ministry of Justice, The Associated Press reported. No further details were available.

Celebrity Web site TMZ.com is reporting Fiore’s close friend said the couple’s marriage was on the rocks and that Fiore was planning to go to Vegas to “reunite” with an ex-boyfriend.

Jenkins recently appeared on the VH1 reality series, “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” where 18 men compete for the affection of a woman. He describes himself on the VH1 Web site as an investment banker from Calgary.

The show’s star, Megan Hauserman, told TMZ that the pair met in a Las Vegas strip club where Fiore was a dancer, and that they were married two days later.

Investigators believe Jenkins may be headed back to his native Canada.

“We would desperately like to speak to him to find out what his involvement in this thing is,” Worrall said. “We’ve attempted to contact him, but he has not responded to us.”

The body was found just after 7 a.m. Saturday in a trash bin at a Buena Park apartment complex on the 7400 block of Franklin Street. Jenkins filed a missing persons report Saturday night at the West Hollywood station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Jenkins said in the missing persons report that he and Fiore returned from San Diego on Friday afternoon, when she dropped him off at their apartment and she went to run errands and get her nails done, said Det. Kristin Merrill of the Los Angeles police. Jenkins reported he had not heard from her since, Merrill said.

That contradicts what Buena Park police said their investigation showed, which was that Jenkins and Fiore were seen together in San Diego Friday night.

“We’re not certain of his involvement,” Worrall said of Jenkins, “but he went missing after he made the report.”

Buena Park police announced Tuesday that the body found in the suitcase had been identified as Fiore.

Merrill said Jenkins spoke to Los Angeles police by phone on Monday. “At that point we were a little bit suspicious, and then later we were able to put one and two together with Buena Park police,” Merrill said.

Worrall described Jenkins as 6 feet, 1 inch tall, weighing 195 lbs., with brown eyes and brown hair.

Investigators believe Jenkins might be in Fiore’s car, a white 2007 Mercedes CL S550, or a black BMW X5. The BMW had Canadian license plates – possibly from the province of Alberta. Detectives said the license number was HLY275 but that Jenkins might have removed those plates and installed them on the Mercedes.

The missing Mercedes is white with a black top, and has black wheel rims, police said, adding Jenkins could be driving either vehicle.

Fiore lived at 833 North Edinburgh Ave. in Los Angeles’s Fairfax district. A forensic team searched her penthouse apartment for clues.

The woman in the suitcase had been described as being in her 20s, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, and 120 pounds with dark hair. The body was discovered by a Buena Park resident looking for recyclables. Police described the suitcase as being two feet wide by three feet long and two feet tall. The suitcase was unzipped.

The Orange County coroner’s office told detectives Fiore died a couple of hours before her body was found, police said. It hasn’t been determined where she was killed, Worrall said.

A preliminary coroner’s report indicates she died from strangulation, Worrall said.

Police declined to say how the body was identified, saying that could jeopardize their investigation.

Her mother, Lisa Lepore, told The Associated Press that Fiore gave up modeling about two years ago. She moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, obtained a real estate license and planned to become a broker, Lepore said. She was also about to open a gym and personal training business with a friend, her mother said.

Fiore shut down her modeling Web site and legally changed her last name to Kinkade to separate herself from the past, Lepore told The Associated Press.

Buena Park police ask any anyone with information to call the department’s tip line at 714-562-3847.