Ryan Jenkins, Accused Murderer of Jasmine Fiore, Apparently Found Dead by Own Hand

The body of Ryan Jenkins was found dead in Canada a week after the body of his wife, Jasmine Fiore, was found bloodied and naked and stuffed into a suitcase in a dumpster in Buena Park, California, just a few miles from Disneyland. Unlike Jasmine Fiore, identifying Ryan Jenkins had taken only minutes. And quickly, the story moves to that of one about hands -- the hands of a reality TV star, Ryan Jenkins, and a swimsuit model, Jasmine Fiore.

In what appears to have been an attempt to slow down or eliminate the identification of Jasmine Fiore's body, Ryan Jenkins, who was accused and wanted on first-degree murder charges in Orange County, California, allegedly removed Jasmine Fiore's fingers from her hands. Hampered also by the absence of the body's teeth, Jasmine Fiore's body would be a Jane Doe for two days before it could be identified. Jasmine Fiore had to be positively identified by the serial numbers stenciled into her breast implants. But Ryan Jenkins was identified by his fingerprints. Because the reality of it was -- Ryan Jenkins still had his fingers.

And it was those fingers that caused the strangulation death of his wife, Buena Park Police believe. Sometime in the morning of August 15, Ryan Jenkins is believed to have strangled the life out of Jasmine Fiore, and with his own hands removed her identity -- her teeth and her fingers.

Ryan Alexander Jenkins, the reality TV contestant turned fugitive after being accused of the murder of his swimsuit model wife, Jasmine Fiore, was found hanged in a motel room in Canada Sunday. Ryan Jenkins, who had recently been a finalist on VH1's "Megan Wants A Millionaire" and had just finished filming "I Love Money" (and reportedly winning some of that money), was found by a staff member of a motel in Hope, British Columbia. Ryan Jenkins, 32, had been the subject of a massive international manhunt following the identification of a naked and mutilated body in Buena Park as that of Jenkins' missing wife, Jasmine Fiore. Although Jenkins had had a couple days head start -- he disappeared on Saturday shortly after reporting his wife missing; she wasn't identified until late Monday (by her breast implants) -- police believed he crossed into Canada Wednesday or Thursday. Canadian authorities had obtained credible evidence that Ryan Jenkins was indeed in Canada and had called on him to turn himself in. But the would be reality TV star may have already been dead. Authorities are still uncertain how long the "Megan Wants A Millionaire" contestant may have been dead.

Kevin Walker, manager of the Thunderbird Motel, told CNN affiliate CTV: "It was a man hanging by a belt from a coat rack."

But that man, Ryan Jenkins, had a criminal record in Canada, which investigators could quickly access. Once his fingerprints were taken and put into the system, it didn't take long for them to come back as a match for Ryan Alexander Jenkins of Calgary, a man who had been convicted of unspecified assault charges against his then girlfriend in 2007 (the attack had occurred in 2005) and sentenced to 15 months probation.

And so, in the end, a tragic story that began with the hands of a killer ended with the hands of a man accused of that killing. Ryan Jenkins was 32, apparently dead by his own hand.

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Source:

CNN.com