The manhunt for murder suspect Ryan Jenkins is officially over. Canadian police found the former reality star dead in a hotel room this afternoon, E! News has confirmed.
Authorities have not yet released an official cause of death, but police say the 32-year-old died of an apparent suicide. He reportedly hanged himself.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police found his body in a motel room in Hope, British Columbia, a town 84 miles east of Vancouver.
The death ends an international manhunt for the Megan Wants a Millionaire finalist, who fled to his native Canada on foot last week.
"The sadness of all this is that Mr. Jenkins will not be standing before an Orange County jury for his crime," Buena Park Police Lt. Steve Holliday said in a press conference last night.
Jenkins was charged in the gruesome murder of his ex-wife, former swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore, after her body was found stuffed in a suitcase inside of a trash bin on Aug. 15. Fiore, 28, was missing her teeth and fingers.
Jenkins, who met and married Fiore within the span of just a few weeks this spring, quickly moved from "person of interest" to person charged with murder.
It's a tag his death may not relieve.
"I do believe he participated in the murder," Holliday said. "Because there's additional information we're following up on, I can't expand any further than that."
Holliday added that Jenkins' vehicle is a "key piece of evidence in this investigation," but declined to confirm reports that Fiore was killed in the car.
"We're lucky to have that car. And we would love to have seen Ryan Jenkins stand before an Orange County jury."
(Originally published on Aug. 23, 2009, at 7:00 p.m. PT)
—Additional reporting by Aly Weisman
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