Police scour Canada for millionaire murder suspect

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-24 09:15

Model Jasmine Fiore (L) is shown with reality TV star Ryan Alexander Jenkins in the pool at a hotel in Las Vegas in this image taken August 3, 2009 and released by celebrity website TMZ.com. California authorities on August 20, 2009 charged Jenkins with murder in the death of pin-up model Fiore, as they continued a manhunt for him begun soon after the Fiore's body was found stuffed in a suitcase. [Agencies]

The Playboy model whose death has sparked a hunt for Ryan Alexander Jenkins, the US reality TV contestant, had her fingers and teeth "forcibly removed", prosecutors said.

Mr Jenkins, 32, apparently slipped into Canada after driving and power-boating more than 1,000 miles from southern California after the corpse of his 28-year-old girlfriend, Jasmine Fiore, was discovered.

Her naked body was found in a rubbish bin in Los Angeles on Saturday. "The victim had been badly beaten, all of her fingers had been cut off, and all of her teeth had been forcibly removed," said a statement from the California prosecutors.

The search for Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a 32-year-old real estate developer and investor from Calgary, is centered around Vancouver and British Columbia, said Peter Van Loan, Canada's public safety minister.

The Mounted Police are leading the manhunt for Jenkins, who is suspected of strangling Jasmine Fiore and then reporting her missing the evening of Aug. 15 before fleeing.

Jenkins and Fiore met in Las Vegas in March and they married a few weeks later. The couple separated shortly afterward, but had reportedly recently reconciled.

Fiore's body was found in a trash bin in Buena Park, an Orange County city about 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Her teeth had been pulled out and her fingers cut off, apparently to impede her identification. Investigators used the serial numbers on her breast implants to identify her, said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office.

Authorities believe Jenkins fled via car, boat and on foot to enter his native Canada.

Both Jenkins and Fiore were involved in the outer circles of the entertainment business.

Fiore was a model who worked mainly in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, doing gigs such as being bodypainted at parties, said Andrea Guevara, a friend who worked with her about five years ago coaching "margarita wrestling" teams — young women tussling each other in swimming pools of green-colored water.

Fiore's looks meant she was often invited to parties, some hosted by celebrities, but she had more than a pretty face and alluring figure, Guevara told The Associated Press in an interview.

"She was very intelligent and well spoken," Guevara said. "She had a positive energy and was always working. She didn't need to have a boyfriend. She was very happy being herself."

Fiore was also an aspiring actress. She had a bit part in a small 2008 horror science-fiction movie, "The Abandoned," according to the Internet Movie Database.

Jenkins was recently a contestant on VH1 reality show "Megan Wants a Millionaire," in which wealthy young men tried to win over a materialistic blonde. The network canceled the show Friday.

Jenkins said on the show that he possessed assets of $1 million to $2.5 million, said Tom Hession, chief inspector for the U.S. Marshals Service's regional fugitive task force.

Jenkins also was a participant in an as-yet-unaired competitive reality series, "I Love Money 3." A VH1 spokesman said no decision has been made on whether or not to run the show.

Before launching his TV career, Jenkins' resume posted on the professional networking site LinkedIn.com showed he earned a license to fly commercial airplanes and dabbled in several development enterprises and investments since graduating from college in 1999.

Those include Townscape Development Inc., a condo project in Calgary with his father, prominent architect Daniel Jenkins.

Jenkins' mother Nada Jenkins lives in a tony Vancouver condo. A neighbor, Bob Snowdon, said he had not seen her in several days. She did not answer her phone on Saturday.

Jenkins and Fiore's relationship reportedly turned violent in June.

Court records show Jenkins was charged in Clark County, Nev., with a misdemeanor count of "battery constituting domestic violence" for allegedly hitting Fiore.

It was not the first time he had been charged with assault. In Calgary, Jenkins was sentenced to 15 months probation in January 2007 on an assault charge.

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