The Murder of Jasmine Fiore
For this case I watched the latest episode of See No Evil. It’s season 7 episode 8, titled ‘Back to Reality.’
A 28 year old model is killed after a night out.
Background
Jasmine was born Jasmine Lepore in February 1981. Jasmine started modeling, and also worked in commercials for various things.
Jasmine was described as being very bubbly, kind and fun. Her friends said that people often underestimated her because of her looks, but that she was a very smart person. They also said Jasmine turned heads, and she liked to be the center of attention.
Jasmine
A New Relationship
Jasmine had various relationships, and a lot of them had lasted for several years. She had also been engaged in 2006, but she broke it off.
In March 2009, Jasmine met a man named Ryan Jenkins. He was a real estate investor from Canada, and was in town for a reality TV show that was going to air on VH1. The show was titled ‘Megan Wants a Millionaire.’ The show was eventually cancelled.
Jasmine and Ryan had a shot gun wedding, just two days after they met. They had gotten married at the Little White Chapel on the Vegas strip.
There marriage was very rocky, and maybe that had a lot to do with Ryan’s jealousy or the fact that they didn’t know each other at all. Ryan also was abusive, and he was arrested for domestic violence after punching Jasmine, and making her fall into a pool.
Jasmine stayed with Ryan, and they were about to go on a trip, that would end up being Jasmine’s last few days alive.
Jasmine Fiore and Ryan Jenkins
The Murder
On August 15, 2009, a 911 call came into the Buena Park police department. The caller said he worked at a nearby apartment complex, and that the trash collector had discovered a body in a suitcase, in a dumpster. He said the man believed it was the body of a child.
The police arrived around 7:30am. They flipped the lid open to the suitcase, and discovered it was not a body of a child, but a young woman. She was naked, and in a fetal position.
The victim was described as being a white female, but maybe Hispanic, in her 20-30’s, with dark hair. The hair was very damp. She had been beaten, and her face was very swollen. Her fingertips and teeth had also been removed. The police believed that the killer did this, so that the police couldn’t identify her.
The police also believed that she hadn’t been dead that long, due to the body not being in a stage of decomposition.
The Investigation
The police knew they were going to have a harder time identifying this young woman. They started by putting the victim’s information in the system, to see if anyone had filed a missing persons report. There wasn’t anything filed.
The victim was taken in for an autopsy. The medical examiner said that her cause of death was manual strangulation. The victim’s fingertips had been removed after she died. The M.E. discovered that the victim had breast implants, which had a serial number. The police were able to look up the serial number, and it came back to a Jasmine Fiore.
As I said, Jasmine was a 28 year old model. When the police ran her name in the system again, a new missing persons report had been filed. Jasmine’s husband, Ryan Jenkins had filed a report with the Los Angeles PD, on August 15, around 9pm.
The Buena Park police contacted the Los Angeles police, and Ryan’s story was that Jasmine dropped him off after they returned home from a poker tournament in San Diego, and she went to get her nails done. Ryan said Jasmine never returned home.
The police contacted Ryan to come in and speak to them, but he said he had to go to Canada, to try to fix his Visa issue. He also told the police that Jasmine had run away in the past, and that he wasn’t that concerned.
The police knew that they had to travel to San Diego, where Jasmine and Ryan had been before she disappeared.
Jasmine’s Last Movements
On August 13, two days before Jasmine’s body was discovered, they arrived in San Diego. They had stayed at the L’Auberge Del Mar hotel. The police wanted to look at the surveillance cameras, which were all over the hotel.
L’Auberge Del Mar, in Del Mar, CA
At 3:28pm, Ryan and Jasmine arrived, in Jasmine’s white Mercedes. The hotel employees are seen helping them with their luggage, while Ryan and Jasmine look for the front desk.
After they checked in, they are seen walking to the elevators and eventually into their room.
Jasmine and Ryan don’t appear back on the surveillance cameras until two hours later. They are both dressed up, and look like they are going to spend the night out on the town.
They went to another hotel for the poker tournament, which was about 10 minutes from the hotel they were staying at. The police went to the other hotel to interview potential witnesses who saw them that night. Many employees said they remembered the couple, and that they left Jasmine’s car at the hotel while they went out. They returned around 2:30am, and left in Jasmine’s car to go back to their own hotel.
The police focused on the camera near their room, and waited until they saw Jasmine and Ryan returning. However, Ryan is the only one who is seen returning to the hotel.
Ryan’s Behavior
At 4:38am, Ryan is seen running in the hallway, and he disappears into his room. He’s seen again a few minutes later, dressed in sweatpants and a tank top. He is carrying an ice bucket, and another item that he placed on top of a wardrobe, which is what I would describe as a decoration in the hotel hallway.
The police wanted to search for that item, and they wanted to search Ryan and Jasmine’s hotel room. The police still didn’t know where Jasmine was killed. They processed the room for fingerprints and blood. However, the room had been cleaned and the housekeepers hadn’t found anything.
While the police were looking the in the room, they discovered that Ryan could have killed Jasmine, and taken the suitcase out the back door. The hotel room was on the first floor, and there was only a small wall that separated the patio from the hotel’s parking lot.
The investigators searched the outdoor patio more closely, and found a spot of blood and a long dark hair. The blood was tested and came back as belonging to Jasmine.
The police now knew that Ryan had done something to Jasmine, but they still didn’t have a lot of evidence to prove where she was killed. The police turned back to the surveillance footage. Ryan is seen again at 6:24am, he has his hands full of their clothes and toiletries.
Ryan isn’t seen again until 9:20am, and is never seen on the footage again. The police also discovered that Jasmine and Ryan had the same suitcase that Jasmine was found in, when they had arrived at the hotel. Ryan is never seen carrying the same suitcase, and this is why they believe Ryan took it out the back door.
An International Manhunt
The police really needed to find Ryan. At this point, he could have been anywhere. The police thought he was either in Canada, or at his apartment in Los Angeles.
The police went to Ryan’s apartment, and discovered it had been cleared out. The police went to search the underground parking area, and Jasmine’s white Mercedes and Ryan’s black SUV were both missing. An APB (all points bulletin) was released for both cars.
The police also received a call that Ryan had a storage unit in Las Vegas, and that he owned a boat. The police raced to Las Vegas, but they were too late, Ryan’s boat had been taken.
Ryan’s black SUV and boat ramp were eventually found in Blaine, Washington, which is on the edge of the Canadian border. It’s believed that Ryan had gone into Canada around August 19 or 20, and had spoken to his parents.
Tracking a Killer
Many witnesses called in tips to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and said they saw Ryan.
On August 23, the manager of the Thunder Bird motel, in Hope, British Columbia, called the RCMP. He said that Ryan Jenkins was dead. After Ryan didn’t check out, they went to his room and found his hanging in the closet by his belt.
Ryan had also written a suicide note, titled Last Will and Testament. In the note, Ryan said that he’s going to be portrayed as a monster, but that the real monster was Jasmine. He said he gave everything to her and loved her. He never confessed to killing Jasmine.
The police also discovered that when Ryan arrived at the motel, his half sister, Anna Jenkins, was with him. The witnesses said that Anna stayed with Ryan for about 20 minutes and left Ryan alone.
What Really Happened to Jasmine?
On August 26, the police received a tip about an abandoned car. The car was a white Mercedes, and it belonged to Jasmine.
When the police opened the car, to process it, they discovered this was the crime scene. There was blood everywhere, on the door panels, in the carpet and on the door seals. There was also blood in the backseat, and the police believed Ryan had placed the suitcase with Jasmine’s body in it, on that seat. The blood had soaked through it.
The police had obtained Jasmine’s phone records, and discovered she had been texting her ex-boyfriend on the night she died. Jasmine had told him she was over her relationship with Ryan, and wanted to be with him. Jasmine’s ex-boyfriend was a wealthy man, and had his private plane. Jasmine had asked if she could come pick her up.
The police believed that Ryan discovered the text messages when he and Jasmine had gotten into her car to drive home. He attacked her in the car, and maybe snuck her back into the hotel room through the back door. The police believed when Ryan left the room with the ice bucket and phone, that he took the phone so Jasmine couldn’t call anyone.
He strangled Jasmine, put her body in the suitcase and discarded her like she was trash.
Other
The reality show that Ryan was on was officially canceled due to Ryan’s involvement in the murder of Jasmine. The show was also deleted from the VH1 website.
I didn’t post a lot of sources, and a lot of the headlines are disgusting. Jasmine is called a playboy model and she’s called out because she had dated a man who went to prison. JASMINE IS A VICTIM, STOP VICTIM BLAMING!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ryan Jenkins was a piece of shit, and his family is shitty too. There is evidence that Ryan spoke to his dad and sister, and his mom lived near the area where the motel was. My question to them is why didn’t they turn him in? I understand that’s your son, your brother, but he brutally killed someone. He also blamed Jasmine for being the monster, when she was the innocent one, who wanted to get away from an abusive relationship.
I feel so sorry for Jasmine’s family and friends. My heart breaks for them, because she was so loved. It sucks that Jasmine’s killer took the easy way out, but at least they didn’t have to suffer through a trial.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jasmine_Fiore
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/jasmine-fiore-bikini-model-murder/
