About Jasmine Fiore
Fiore was born Jasmine Lepore in 1981. Her parents divorced when she was eight years old, and she was raised by her mother, Lisa Lepore, in Bonny Doon, California. In her youth, she enjoyed playing football, and worked for a local grocery store.
Fiore was a swimsuit model who frequently worked as a body-painted model at parties for entertainment. She appeared in shows at Las Vegas casinos. Fiore had acted in commercials for adult phone lines and bathing suits. Fiore had also obtained a real-estate license, and was planning to open a gym and personal training center.
Fiore met real estate investor Ryan Jenkins at a Las Vegas casino shortly after Jenkins was eliminated from Megan Wants a Millionaire. Two days later – March 18, 2009 – the pair married at A Little White Wedding Chapel on the Las Vegas Strip. According to court records, Jenkins was charged in June 2009 in Clark County, Nevada, with "battery constituting domestic violence" for hitting Fiore on the arm. Travis Heinrich, who was present, said Jenkins and Fiore were arguing over her kissing Heinrich, who was Fiore's former fiance, and Jenkins hit Fiore's arm, causing her to fall into a nearby swimming pool. Jenkins was to go on trial in December. The pair reconciled shortly before Fiore's death, and were reportedly traveling to San Diego for a poker game.
Lisa Lepore, Fiore's mother, claims that the two fought frequently, and that Jenkins was jealous of Fiore's friendships with her ex-boyfriends. Dan Jenkins, Ryan Jenkins' father, said that Fiore was his son's only friend in California, and that she would disappear for days at a time and lie about it to his son. In addition, Lepore told The Associated Press that her daughter had her marriage to Jenkins annulled in May 2009, but there are no court records of an annulment in either Nevada, where the couple had married, or Los Angeles County, where they last lived.
Investigators reported that Jenkins and Fiore checked into the L'Auberge hotel in Del Mar, San Diego, on the evening of August 13, 2009. They were to attend a poker tournament, a charity fundraiser for the Carma Foundation at the Del Mar Hilton. Surveillance video captured Fiore and Jenkins leaving the Hilton at about 2:30 a.m. on August 14. The couple were later seen at the Ivy Hotel, a nightclub in downtown San Diego. At around 4:30 a.m., Jenkins returned to the L'Auberge hotel alone. Fiore was not seen alive again. Jenkins left the L'Auberge hotel at around 9 a.m. that day.
Fiore's body was discovered, but not identified, on August 15 at about 7 a.m.,badly beaten and crushed inside a suitcase, in a dumpster in an alley in Buena Park, California. According to Buena Park police, Fiore's teeth and fingers had been removed, before her nude body was stuffed into the suitcase. She had also been strangled. Authorities believe the mutilation was an attempt to impede identification. On August 18, her remains were identified using the serial numbers of her breast implants. The Orange County coroner's office reported Fiore had died a couple of hours before her body was found. Fiore's white Mercedes was found abandoned in a parking lot in West Hollywood, about a mile from the penthouse Fiore shared with Jenkins in Fairfax District, Los Angeles. Police reported that there was a significant amount of blood, and some evidence of hair pulling.
Jenkins reported Fiore missing on August 15 at 8:55 p.m. He told police that he last saw Fiore about 8:30 p.m. August 14 at their home on Edinburgh Avenue, Los Angeles. Jenkins said they had gone to San Diego for a poker event and that after returning, she dropped him off that evening, left to do errands, and never returned.
Jenkins' movements after Fiore's death
At around 9 a.m. on August 16, 2009, the day after reporting Fiore missing and after spending some time packing, Jenkins was seen leaving their penthouse for the last time. Police said he then left Los Angeles, and went to Nevada to pick up his speedboat. On August 17, when contacted by police, Jenkins said he was in Utah, and was headed to Canada to resolve some immigration issues. On August 18, Fiore's body was identified, and the murder was first reported. On the afternoon of August 19, Jenkins called his father from Birch Bay, who informed him that Fiore had been found murdered.
The Whatcom County Sheriff's Department received witness reports of Jenkins' black BMW SUV towing a boat toward the Canada–US border. Police later found the BMW SUV and an empty boat trailer at a marina in Blaine, Washington; the engine was still warm. At the time Jenkins was only a person of interest in the investigation. He had not been charged, but Canadian authorities had been alerted to watch for him. U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed they had boats patrolling northwest Washington waters looking for Jenkins as early as August 19.Initial media reports were that the US Coast Guard and Canadian authorities chased Jenkins' speedboat as it crossed to Point Roberts, but officials later denied these reports.
On August 19, a man matching Jenkins' description was seen piloting his boat into a marina in Point Roberts, where Jenkins' stepmother lives. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced that they believed Jenkins crossed into Canada sometime between August 19 and August 20.
On August 20, Jenkins was charged with Fiore's murder, and an arrest warrant was issued. The same day, Jenkins called his detained father at the airport, but his father had to hang up the call.
At about 6 p.m. on August 20, Jenkins arrived in a silver PT Cruiser with a young blonde woman at the Thunderbird Motel in Hope, British Columbia, Canada. The car had Alberta license plates. They pulled up beside a dumpster, rather than beside the rooms, which the motel manager said was strange. Jenkins stayed in the car while a young woman paid cash for three nights' accommodation. The manager described the woman as attractive, about 25 to 30 years old, and very calm, making small talk while registering. The guest in the room next door said the woman stayed for about 20 minutes with Jenkins in Room 2, and then left the motel. The woman was Jenkins's half-sister, Alena Jenkins. The manager saw Jenkins walking outside the motel the next day, August 21. The manager said Jenkins looked "exhausted", and was not recognizable from his picture on television.
At 11:30 a.m. on August 23, the couple failed to check out. Having noticed very little activity over the weekend, the motel manager and his nephew decided to check on the room. Jenkins was found dead, apparently of suicide; his body was hanging from a clothes rack by a belt. No suicide note was found at the motel; however, police found a document saved on Jenkins' computer titled, "Last Will and Testament", which was dated August 20, 2009.
