Police: Slain model's fingers, teeth were
removed
BUENA PARK, Calif. - A reality TV contestant was
charged with murder Thursday in the death of his ex-wife as the
manhunt for the suspect spread to Canada and police provided
gruesome new details about the killing.
Police said Ryan Alexander Jenkins removed the teeth and fingers
of Jasmine Fiore, presumably to impede authorities in their efforts
to identify the naked body after it was found stuffed in a suitcase
in a California trash bin over the weekend.
The former swimsuit model and Jenkins were briefly married after
a quickie Las Vegas wedding this year, and had been fighting in
recent months. Prosecutors said the two checked into a San Diego
hotel last Thursday, and Jenkins checked out the next morning.
Fiore was not seen alive again.
He vanished after the body was found Saturday and Buena Park
police Lt. Steve Holliday said he's possibly armed with a
handgun.
Jenkins is believed to have driven 1,000 miles to Washington
state and then hopped in a boat to a peninsula on the border, where
he walked into Canadian territory. A Canadian police official said
ground, air and canine units are involved in the search for
Jenkins.
"At this time, although we believe he crossed the border, we're
not one hundred percent sure of that," U.S. Marshal Chief Inspector
Thomas Hession. "There will be no stone unturned and we'll look
under every rock for him."
A car and empty boat trailer belonging to the 32-year-old
Calgary, Alberta native were found at a marina in the remote
northwest Washington town of Blaine.
Whatcom County Sheriff's deputies received a report Wednesday
that a man matching Jenkins' description arrived by boat at Point
Roberts, Wash., about 10 miles from Blaine at the tip of a
peninsula. The point is reachable by land only from Canada, and
Jenkins is believed to have walked across the border from
there.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said police
agencies across Canada are on the lookout for Jenkins.
Constable Sharlene Brooks in the Canadian border city of Delta
said ground, air and canine units are involved in the search.
Fiore's ex-boyfriend, Robert Hasman, urged Jenkins' friends and
family to help police find him.
"Ryan Jenkins is an animal, what he has done to Jasmine is
unspeakable and it's just not right and I'd appreciate your help,"
Hasman said at a news conference.
Jenkins was a contestant on the VH1 reality TV show "Megan Wants
a Millionaire."
After taping for the VH1 series finished in early March, Jenkins
met 28-year-old Fiore in Las Vegas casino and the two got married
on March 18, said Fiore's mother, Lisa Lepore.
But in May, "they had a big blowout," and fought because he was
jealous of her ex-boyfriends, Lepore said. "She had the marriage
annulled."
The federal government was in the process of issuing a federal
warrant Thursday afternoon, which would allow Canadian authorities
to take Jenkins into custody there, Capt. Ken Coovert said.
If Jenkins is arrested in Canada, California can request that he
be extradicted to the U.S.
At least one actor who appeared on "Millionaire" with Jenkins at
a mansion in the Hollywood Hills was shocked by the latest
developments and remembered a suave bachelor who grew in confidence
as taping progressed.
Jenkins earned the nickname "Smooth Operator" because of "his
cheeky cockiness. And I mean that in a friendly way," said Rob
Locke, who played the host, a butler named Niles.
"We were all under the impression that he was single. Then I saw
on Facebook that he got married and there were photos of him and
his wife. My personal observation was, 'Wow, that was quick,'"
Locke said, adding that taping ended in March.
Court records show that Jenkins was charged in June in Clark
County, Nev., with a misdemeanor count of "battery constituting
domestic violence" for allegedly hitting Fiore in the arm and will
be tried in December.
Jenkins also has a criminal history in his hometown of Calgary,
Canada. He was sentenced to 15 months of probation in January 2007
on an unspecified assault charge, according to the Alberta, Canada
Ministry of Justice. No further details were available.
Neal Tomlinson, a partner at the law firm representing Jenkins
in the Nevada case, declined to comment and declined to say if his
firm was representing Jenkins in the current matter.
Fiore was last seen alive with Jenkins at a poker game in San
Diego. Jenkins reported her missing Saturday night to the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department, police said.
A preliminary coroner's report indicated Fiore was
strangled.
Jenkins, variously described as an architect, real estate
developer and investment banker from Calgary, appeared in at least
three episodes of the series "Megan Wants a Millionaire," about a
woman seeking to land a wealthy bachelor by putting suitors through
their paces, such as designing a marketing campaign for her pet
Chihuahua.
On the show, Jenkins was identified as an investment banker who
had a couple million dollars.
A resume posted on the professional networking site LinkedIn.com
says Jenkins graduated from Mount Royal College in Calgary in 1999,
has a license to fly commercial airplanes and worked in investment
sales and as president of a boutique development company focused on
cutting-edge green technologies.
By May, Fiore "didn't trust him because he was doing (things)
behind her back," Lepore said. She declined to say what the
incident involved.
Jenkins then went to Mexico to do another reality TV show, but
struggled to get Fiore back when he returned. It was not
immediately clear which show he appeared on.
"He convinced her during that month that he was really the guy
for her," Lepore said. "He wrote poems and stories, and prayed, and
(claimed he) had this huge spiritual awakening."
VH1 said it has postponed any future airings of the show. The
statement also said that the show was an outside production
licensed to VH1, but that it was produced and owned by 51 Minds
Entertainment.
--AP