from www.abcnews.go.com – The search for a reality-show contestant suspected in his former-swimsuit-model wife’s murder became an international manhunt Thursday as investigators looked for him in the United States and Canada.
Investigators believe Ryan Alexander Jenkins, 32, drove more than 1,000 miles from Southern California, quietly slipping into Canada just days after he was named a person of interest in the death of his wife, Jasmine Fiore, 28, a shapely blonde model who was found strangled and crushed into a suitcase Saturday.
Authorities Thursday formally named Jenkins a suspect in Fiore’s death and issued a warrant for his arrest.
Sheriffs officers in Whatcom County, Wash., found Jenkins’ car with an empty boat trailer attached. A man matching Jenkins’ description was spotted at the tip of Point Roberts a peninsula in Washington state accessible from the U.S. by boat and overland from Canada, according to ABC News affiliate KOMO in Seattle.
Authorities believe Jenkins then walked across the border to the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Canadian Constable Sharlene Brooks told The Associated Press that ground, air and canine units were involved in the search for Jenkins.
Police said Fiore was strangled and placed in a suitcase that was found Saturday morning in Buena Park, Calif.
Jenkins, a finalist on the pre-taped VH1 reality competition “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” has not been seen by authorities since.
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 a trail was set for December, according to KOMO.
In 2007, Jenkins was sentenced to 15 months of probation on an unspecified assault charge, according to the Alberta, Canada, Ministry of Justice. No further details were available.
Buena Park, Calif., local Frank DiStefano told affiliate KABC in Los Angeles that he found Fiore’s body when he was digging through the trash looking for recyclables.
“It was partially opened, I lifted it up one time and saw skin, but I wasn’t sure, so I lifted it up again,” he said. “Then, when I saw the marks on the body and everything, I verified that it was a body. I immediately called 911.”
Fiore had worked as a Las Vegas bikini model and had appeared in advertisements for radio personality Howard Stern. KABC reported that Fiore was working as a representative for Playboy’s “Girls of Golf” when she disappeared.
Fiore had recently moved to Los Angeles and was last seen at a poker game in San Diego with Jenkins. He called police to report her missing the day the suitcase was found.
TMZ reported Tuesday night that Jenkins’ publicist said his client planned to speak with authorities.
“Ryan is currently speaking to his attorney and will fully cooperate with the police in this matter,” he said, according to TMZ. “He is planning on meeting with them in the near future.”
On “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” in which Megan Hauserman narrows a field of men down to one who can win her heart — and plump up her bank account — Jenkins had said, “I’ve never really rolled with any girls that can keep up with me.”
On the show, he was said to have had a net worth of $2.5 million and said things like, “I’m so James Bond. I’m going to rock it.”
According to KABC, Jenkins identified himself on the show’s profile as being an investment banker who turns “player girls into princesses.”
Hauserman told TMZ that Jenkins seemed like a nice guy — “very charming, very educated and mature.”
Yet, after the show had taped, Jenkins married Fiore, in March. Fiore was wed under the name Jasmine Kinkade.
Hauserman told TMZ that the two were married two days after they had met in Las Vegas.