Fugitive Ryan Jenkins found dead

VANCOUVER – Fugitive Ryan Jenkins, wanted in the murder of his ex-wife in California, was found dead in an apparent suicide in Hope, B.C., on Sunday.

The accused killer was found hanging inside a room at the Thunderbird Motel, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. The district attorney’s office has no intention of charging anybody else with the murder of Jenkins’ ex-wife, Los Angeles swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore, said district attorney spokeswoman Farrah Emami.

RCMP Sgt. Duncan Pound, spokesman for the RCMP’s federal border integrity program, said hotel staff entered the room and found the body. Police confirmed the identification of the body just before 5 p.m. “At this present time the investigation into the circumstances of his death is continuing, but preliminary evidence suggests he took his own life,” Pound told a news conference in Surrey.

Pound would not say how long Jenkins stayed at the hotel or how he got to Hope, 135 kilometres east of Vancouver.

“Any further details will not be released at this time as this investigation remains in its infancy,” Pound said.

Reached shortly after the news broke Sunday night, Jenkins’ mother Nada said she still believes her son is innocent.

"I think he panicked, my little boy, and we had to protect him, even now that he’s dead," she told the Calgary Herald, sobbing.

The manager of the Thunderbird Motel said Sunday a woman checked in on Aug. 20, saying she needed a room for at least three days, maybe longer, and paid cash through Sunday. Outside, a man waited in a PT Cruiser with Alberta licence plates.

Kevin Walker couldn’t remember the woman’s name and said RCMP have seized the slip of information she filled out for the hotel room. He could see there was a man in the vehicle but thought nothing of the fact he didn’t come in, he said.

After entering the motel room, the mystery woman described as as being in her early to mid-20s stayed for about 20 minutes, then left.

On Sunday, when no one came to check out by the required time of 11 a.m., Walker went to the room and discovered the body.

Jenkins’ death ends a sensational story that made front-page headlines on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.

The former real estate developer and reality-TV contestant from Calgary, 32, was charged Aug. 20 in California with the murder of Fiore, 28, whose mutilated body was discovered in a trash receptacle on Aug. 15 in Buena Park, Calif., about 30 kilometres southeast of Los Angeles.

“The victim had been badly beaten, all of her fingers had been cut off, and all of her teeth had been forcibly removed,” the district attorney’s office said. It was later revealed that Fiore was identified when coroner’s officials traced the serial number on her breast implants.

Last Wednesday, authorities tracked Jenkins to a marina in Blaine, Wash., just south of the border with B.C., and found his car and empty boat trailer. The next day, a boat registered to Jenkins was found in Point Roberts, Wash., said Emami. Jenkins was believed to have crossed into Canada on foot.

Jenkins’ father is a prominent Calgary architect, and U.S. authorities said they believed the fugitive had the resources to hide anywhere in the world.

The U.S. Marshals Service had offered a $25,000 reward for information that led to Jenkins’ arrest. The reward was to be payable to both U.S. and Canadian citizens.

Jenkins was born in Victoria and moved with his parents to Calgary when he was a year old.

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. 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.

But another girlfriend, whom Jenkins dated from 2000 to 2003, told the same probation officer she never experienced any threatening, verbal or physical aggression from him. She described him as very trustworthy and easygoing, but admitted he could be “self-centred” and “spoiled” at times in his approach and expectations. Commenting on his strong sex drive, she added, “It was a big reason why we ended our relationship.”

Recently, Jenkins had been appearing on a reality-TV show called Megan Wants a Millionaire, in which he was competing against other men for the affections of the show’s female star. The VH1 channel stopped airing the program in the wake of the killing.

Vancouver Sun

With files from the Calgary Herald, Canwest News Service and the Los Angeles Times