VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a VH1 reality show contestant wanted for murder in the gruesome death of his ex-wife, was found dead of an apparent suicide Sunday at a secluded motel in Canada, the Associated Press reports.
Authorities found Jenkins hanging from a clothing rack bar in his room at the Thunderbird Hotel in Hope, a small town located east of Vancouver.
Jenkins had been the target of an international manhunt in the death of Jasmine Fiore, a former swimsuit model whose nude mutilated body was discovered in a trash bin on Aug. 15 in Buena Park, Calif. Fiore’s fingers had been cut off and all of her teeth had been pulled out in an apparent attempt to impede identification of her body. She was later identified by the serial numbers on her breast implants.
On Thursday, one count of murder was filed against Jenkins, a businessman and former contestant on the VH1 reality program “Megan Wants a Millionaire.”
“The sadness of this all is that Mr. Jenkins will not stand before an Orange County jury for his crime,” Buena Park Police Lt. Steve Holiday said at a press conference.
Authorities had suspected that Jenkins had fled to his native Canada. On Wednesday, they found a boat belonging to him docked close to the U.S.-Canada border.
“The ring was tightening on him,” said Tom Hession, chief inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service’s regional fugitive task force. “He obviously was desperate.”
A young woman checked Jenkins into the Thunderbird Hotel on Thursday. He remained in the car as she paid cash for a three-day stay. When the couple didn’t check out, the hotel manager went to inspect the room and discovered the suspect’s body.
Fiore, 28, and Jenkins, 32, were last seen together on Aug. 13 in San Diego, where they checked into the L’Auberge Del Mar Hotel, officials said. Later that evening, the couple ventured south to San Diego’s Gaslamp District, spending time at a nightclub inside the Ivy Hotel.
A spokeswoman for the Ivy told the San Diego Union-Tribune that there weren’t any signs of trouble with the couple, but there is speculation that the pair’s rocky relationship may have spiraled downward when they returned back to their hotel that night.
The following morning, Jenkins was seen checking out of the L’Auberge alone, but a hotel official told the paper that he doesn’t believe Fiore was murdered at the property.
“Based on what I know, it’s very unlikely that it occurred here,” said Mike Slosser, L’Auberge’s vice president and managing director.
Slosser said that Buena Park detectives have inspected the couple’s room at the hotel on two separate occasions, but did not provide any details about what evidence, if any, may have been found.
The day after Jenkins left the hotel, he contacted authorities to report Fiore as missing. The call came hours after officials found Fiore’s body.
