WORLD: Millionaire reality star charged with model's murder

A millionaire contestant on a TV reality show has been charged with the murder of a former Playboy model whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase.

Ryan Alexander Jenkins, 32, was accused in his absence last night of the death of Jasmine Fiore. It is thought he has fled from California and returned to his native Canada.

A manhunt was launched after the model's body was found in the southern California town of Buena Park.

Jenkins, 32, apparently slipped across the border near Vancouver after driving and power-boating more than 1,000 miles.

The millionaire, from Calgary, is described as a "person of interest" in the death of Fiore, 28, whose naked body, minus fingers and teeth, was in a case found in a rubbish bin. His disappearance has sparked a media frenzy in the US.

Jenkins and Fiore had been briefly married and it is believed he reported her missing on Saturday night - after her body had been found. He then disappeared when detectives said they wanted to talk to him.

The businessman was a contestant on the US television show Megan Wants A Millionaire, where men with a net worth of at least $1million compete to "win" a woman seeking to become a "trophy wife".

Jenkins, described as an architect, property developer and investment banker, was said to be worth $2.5 million.

The cable network screening the show has suspended future airings. Jenkins had wed Fiore, - a model who worked for Playboy - in Las Vegas this year, but the marriage was reported to have been annulled.