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TV Contestant Wanted in Model's Murder

GILLIAN FLACCUS

posted: 1 HOUR 47 MINUTES AGO

comments: 145

filed under: Crime News, National News

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BUENA PARK, Calif. (Aug. 21) — U.S. and Canadian authorities pressed their manhunt Friday for a reality TV contestant charged with killing a former swimsuit model and removing her teeth and fingers. The woman's relatives pleaded with his friends and family not to help "an animal" evade capture.

Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a Calgary, Alberta, native, was a contestant on the VH1 series "Megan Wants a Millionaire," about a woman seeking to land a wealthy bachelor.

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Police said Thursday that Jenkins, 32, removed the teeth and fingers of 28-year-old Jasmine Fiore, presumably to impede authorities in their efforts to identify the naked body, which was found stuffed in a suitcase in a California trash bin over the weekend.

Fiore and Jenkins were briefly married in 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.

Friends and family members, including Fiore's mother, sobbed at a news conference Thursday as a former boyfriend begged for help in capturing Jenkins.

"This message goes out to the family, his mother and father and to the friends that are helping him try to leave this country. 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," said Robert Hasman, Fiore's former boyfriend.

Jenkins vanished after Fiore's body was found Saturday stuffed in a bloodstained suitcase and Buena Park police Lt. Steve Holliday said he's possibly armed with a handgun. A preliminary coroner's report indicated Fiore was strangled.

Prosecutors recommended a bail of $10 million for Jenkins upon arrest and said he had significant resources to finance his flight.

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 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.

"Anyone helping Mr. Jenkins hide from the police may go to prison themselves," said Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.

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 100 percent sure of that," U.S. Marshal Chief Inspector Thomas Hession said. "There will be no stone unturned and we'll look under every rock for him."

A car and empty boat trailer belonging to Jenkins were found at a marina in the 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.

After taping for "Megan Wants a Millionaire" finished in early March, Jenkins met Fiore in a Las Vegas casino and the two got married 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."

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."

The federal government was issuing a federal warrant, 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 extradited to the U.S., but only with reassurances from U.S. authorities that he would not face the death penalty.

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News That Stunned Us

A Preventable Crime? Prosecutors asked that a judge lock up Isaiah M.K. Kalebu, who was out on bail pending trial for charges he threatened to kill his mother, after a suspicious fire at his aunt's house killed two people. Six days later, on July 19, authorities say Kalebu stabbed a 39-year-old woman to death. For that alleged crime, a judge set the bail at $10 million on July 25.

Seattle Police Department / AP

Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman with the Orange County district attorney's office, said they are not pursuing the death penalty in the case.

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. 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, did not return an e-mail seeking comment sent after business hours Thursday. He declined to comment earlier in the week.

Jenkins reported Fiore missing Saturday night to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, police said.

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.

51 Minds said in a statement that Jenkins never would have been accepted for its show if the company had known of his past criminal history.

Associated Press writers Robert Gillies in Toronto, Jeremy Hainsworth in Vancouver, Robert Jablon and Raquel Maria Dillon in Los Angeles and Doug Esser in Seattle contributed to this report.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2009-08-21 07:17:35

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Kdwheeler101

03:20 PMAug 21 2009

They are calling him a monster because he took out her teeth and cut off her fingers. I think that monster is really the wrong word though, don't get me wrong, the guy is a total di--, but a monster would have kept the teeth, made them into a necklace and ate the fingers, monster is a word that gets tossed around to much in situations like this. Dahmer, bundy, they were monsters! He is just a guy who was doing what he thought would help him get away with murder.

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DnCarm6

03:20 PMAug 21 2009

I still think he is another selfish silverspoon jerk who wanted a trophy wife and her money. He treated her like a possession, not a person. He is a jealous man and when she dumped him it hurt his precious ego and there ya go, into the suitcase and out with the trash! And she didn't need his money, she had plenty of her own. He just wanted more for himself. Anyone who could do that to someone clearly only loves themself and no one else. He has been chasing money on those stupid shows and scamming for dollars all along. Spending like it will never end and scamming so that it won't.

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Brownshugg63

03:16 PMAug 21 2009

But seriously, I am so horrified that this man did such a disgusting, vile, and repulsive thing to that beautiful girl. No matter how much makeup she wore or how she made her living that was a terrible way to die! I pray for the strength of her family and I pray that their pain is made at least bearable, cause I know it can never completely go away.......heavenly father please give all her loved ones strength.

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Stopurwhining48

03:14 PMAug 21 2009

Yes but that scum also pulled all of her teeth out and cut off her fingers hoping they could not idenify her.. how horrible...she was someones family//

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WAGA2WAGA

03:13 PMAug 21 2009

Shoot Him On Sight....

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Airbornepiglets

03:13 PMAug 21 2009

tex? dncarm? I just invited you to my FB

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Beautysmom128

03:12 PMAug 21 2009

OMG - people some of your comments are horrible - who cares how much "war paint" she wears or how much money he has...STOP making jokes about her death - it is a terrible thing that has happened to this young lady. I doubt any of you would be making jokes about it if this was your sister, mother or daughter.

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Brownshugg63

03:10 PMAug 21 2009

OMG! See this is why they need to do something about this "reallity TV bulls---" That dude was one of the main contestants! i mean he was a shoe-in for winning Meagan wants to marry a millionaire! An I am shame to admit i did watch the first couple of episodes and felt that he was the one for her to pick. Dang...I even said he was to good for skanka-- Meagan...lol

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Laddyl07

03:09 PMAug 21 2009

May God bless her family through this difficult time, I know it makes a lot of you mad when someone mentions Him. I praise Jesus for all His many blessings.

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Airbornepiglets

03:04 PMAug 21 2009

LOL

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