By Samrat Banerjee

Aug 25 (IBNS) The body of Ryan Jenkins, a reality TV contestant accused by police in California of killing his swimsuit-model ex-wife in the United States, was recovered. The death is apparently suspected to be a suicide.

Jenkins, a 31-year-old native of Canada, was marked last week as the primary suspect in the murder of Jasmine Fiore, whose body was found in Orange County, California, on August 15.

The model’s mutilated body was recovered inside a suitcase in a dumpster more than a week ago. Her fingers and teeth had been removed, and authorities had to identify her with the serial number on her breast implants.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Federal Border Integrity Program said on Sunday in a statement it “is now able to confirm that a deceased person that was found in a motel in Hope, British Columbia is, in fact, Ryan Jenkins.”

An employee at a hotel in British Columbia found Jenkins’s body on Sunday. “Preliminary evidence suggests that he took his own life,” said Sgt. Duncan Pound of the Mounted Police.

The case received widespread publicity, due in part to Jenkins’s role as a contestant on two VH1 competition shows. He had picked up a check from 51 Minds Entertainment, the production company responsible for both shows, days before Fiore was found dead.