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Nancy Grace

Reality Star Charged in Swimsuit Model`s Murder

Aired August 20, 2009 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I can now announce that as of this afternoon, we now have a warrant for the arrest of Ryan Alexander Jenkins for the murder of Jasmine. Last night, officers from the Blaine Police Department in the state of Washington recovered one of the vehicles that we had previously announced. That vehicle is the black 2003 BMW X-5. The white 2007 Mercedes-Benz, CLS 550 with paper plates, is still outstanding, and we continue to ask the public`s support in the assistance in locating that vehicle.

At this time, it is our belief that the suspect has crossed the border into Canada, and we are currently working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in our attempts to locate him. Last night, the black BMW was located in the city of Blaine, Washington, with a boat trailer attached. Later, a boat which is owned by Ryan Jenkins, was located in Point Roberts in the state of Washington, which is located just south of the Canadian border. It is now our belief that he has now crossed the border on foot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fingers and teeth were in it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAT LALAMA, GUEST HOST: Breaking news tonight. As you just heard from California investigators, murder charges have been filed in the brutal death of 28-year-old swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore. Shocking details emerge, the suspect removing Fiore`s teeth and fingers and stuffing her inside a suitcase found thrown away like trash. And tonight, police are hot on the trail of suspect reality TV star Ryan Jenkins, Jenkins`s car and empty boat trailer found abandoned at a marina on the border of the U.S. and Canada.

Good evening. I`m Pat Lalama, in for Nancy Grace. Let`s go straight out to Jon Baird, reporter with KNX 1070. Jon, a stunning revelation!

JON BAIRD, KNX 1070: A stunning revelation about the teeth and the fingers being removed from the body. Obviously, that`s an attempt by Ryan Jenkins to get himself more time, slowing down the identification of the body. And here he is now in Canada. At least, the authorities think there`s a very good chance that he`s already escaped across the border into Canada.

LALAMA: Kelli Zink, CelebTV, how do we know -- what proof -- is there evidence that he has crossed the border? Is there any?

KELLI ZINK, CELEBTV.COM: Well, the -- a suspect -- or somebody said that they saw the BMW that he owns. They saw someone driving it that looked like him, and then they saw someone suspiciously driving a boat to Point Roberts. So all signs point to this guy being gone and it`s him. And now he`s on foot into Canada.

LALAMA: We`re privileged to have Corporal Norm Masse of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, I believe the border integrity program. This is a case, sir, where time is of the essence. What are your people doing to try to effect an arrest?

CPL. NORM MASSE, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE (via telephone): Well, if the person has crossed into Canada, he either has to come through a designated port of entry, or if he goes around a port of entry and enters unannounced, then he has violated a Customs Act offense where he has failed to report to Canada Border Services Agency. And therefore, that would be the offense in Canada. But we haven`t confirmed if he is, in fact, in Canada or his whereabouts.

LALAMA: Give us the protocol when it is a murder suspect, an American -- or I should say from the United States, a murder suspect. What is your protocol as Canadian authorities?

MASSE: Well, our protocol is -- of course, we have an extradition treaty with the United States, and there would have to be a provisional warrant issued for that person`s arrest. And that would go -- then go from the Department of Justice in Washington to our Public Prosecution Service of Canada in order to effect that -- that warrant. So there is a procedure that is in place to eventually arrest the person and extradite.

LALAMA: Are you getting cooperation from the public? Are you getting calls from people?

MASSE: I would have to check. I don`t know what level of calls we are receiving on this right now. We have issued a public announcement on this, so I would have to speak with the investigators to know what kind of response we`re getting from the public. But certainly, people are aware that that person may be in Canada. But again, I -- we can`t confirm that yet.

LALAMA: Ellie Jostad, NANCY GRACE producer, you know this story as well as anyone. Is it true he may be armed?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: That`s right. At this press conference that just ended, they said that they believed that he could possibly have a gun. They said everyone should assume he is armed and dangerous.

LALAMA: And what about a -- is there a fairly large bail in case he does get arrested?

JOSTAD: That`s right. They announced that if and when he`s apprehended, there is a $10 million bail on him.

LALAMA: Pat Brown, one of our favorite criminal profilers, this is a real juicy one. What does it say to you that this person allegedly removed teeth and fingers?

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER: Well, Pat, like the fact that she was found in a piece of luggage, that indicated to me right away that this was somebody who knew her because if you`re just a serial killer who grabbed her off the street, you`re not all that concerned how quickly she`s ID`d or that she`s found. You think they`re never going to even look at you because they don`t know who you are anyway.

But when you kill somebody, especially in your apartment, you have to get them out. You want to take off their clothes so that can`t be identified, and in this case, take off her fingers so she has no fingerprints, take off her teeth, so you can`t get the dental records, put the body in the suitcase. One way to get out of the apartment is why you put them in a suitcase, so you can get them out of the place and then throw them away. You hope that a little of time goes by before they`re found, and then they just have no idea who it is and they can`t get any evidence to link it to you.

LALAMA: Bethany Marshall, you and I were talking earlier about some of the psychological aspects of this. What does it say to you, to do this kind of a thing to a body?

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Well, obviously, he did not want to be ID`d. Could you imagine smashing a person`s teeth out and cutting off their fingers? This guy had no feelings for her other than rage.

But it suggests to me that this was part of a crime of passion, that he was relating to her on the basis of power, rather than affection. Remember, they were at a poker tournament. They were on their way back. Something probably happened. He has a -- a history of domestic charges filed against him. He punched her, hit her in April. So probably something happened that destabilized him -- another man looked at her, he thought she was flirting, they got in a domestic dispute. It went way too far. It was a crime of passion. And when he realized he`d gone way too far, he had to find a way for the body not to be ID`d so that he could get across the border.

This is very different from premeditated homicide, where the murderer actually prepares a dump site for the body where the body won`t be found for hours or days. This is pretty stupid. He put her in a suitcase in trash outside of apartments where he wouldn`t be found -- where she would be found.

LALAMA: Dr. Joshua Perper, chief medical examiner, Broward County, what does it say to you, and what does that do to investigators` case in an event like that?

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA, CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER: Well, what does it say to me is that, probably, the culprit cut the fingers and took out the teeth in order to conceal the identification. And he hoped that the body would be decomposed. If the body would be decomposed, then by then, the lack of fingers and dental records, dental presence of teeth, would have created serious problem for identification.

But let me tell you that in my fairly long career, I saw many ways of trying to conceal the identity of someone by cutting fingers or hands, by decapitating or mutilating the face, but I never saw somebody who actually extracted or broke teeth in order to avert identification. But you know, sometimes, evil (ph) intention (ph) not worth it.

LALAMA: Jon Baird, you know, for people who may not know a lot of the details of this very interesting relationship, can you summarize for us as briefly as you can, to give people a perspective of who these two were?

BAIRD: Well, they met -- our understanding was that they met at a strip club, although the mother has said other things about that. But we understand they met at a strip club a few months ago, six months ago, and then got married a couple of days later. And then her mother said that her daughter had the marriage annulled, and then he talked her into going back into the relationship.

Also, the police tell us that there was a charge filed against him in Las Vegas for hitting her in the arm a couple of months ago. And of course, you know, in the past, he also had another case against another ex- girlfriend in which he was charged with assault. So basically, they -- they`ve been having problems, and they`ve only known each other something like six months.

LALAMA: Unbelievable. And Kelli Zink, there is talk of evidence of text messaging that could point to potential jealousy issues or real, in fact, jealousy issues. Can you talk a little bit about that?

ZINK: Yes. Jasmine`s ex-boyfriend spoke today and said that -- and we`ve heard reports that maybe at the poker tournament, she had texted the ex-boyfriend, and then Ryan grabbed the phone and wrote something back that wasn`t very nice. And that text message that she sent may have sent him into such a jealous rage that he went completely loony toons and killed her in a completely disgusting way.

LALAMA: Alain Hepner, Jenkins`s Canadian attorney in the 2005 assault case, what do you know about this guy? You represented him. How did he appear to you?

ALAIN HEPNER, JENKINS`S CANADIAN ATTORNEY FOR 2005 ASSAULT CASE (via telephone): He appeared like all my other clients that I deal with. I -- I`m very clinical about it. I don`t get emotionally involved. I run the file. He followed my advice. The family followed my advice. They did what I said. They followed my recommendations, and I was on to the next file after it finished. But -- so I dealt with him like so many other unfortunate domestic violence cases we have in Canada and the U.S.

LALAMA: I know it`s hard to...

HEPNER: So there`s nothing...

LALAMA: Go ahead.

HEPNER: Go ahead.

LALAMA: Well, I was just going to ask you -- I know you probably really can`t speak too much about your clients, but did he seem like a normal person? Were there any personality -- interesting personality traits? I mean, describe him for us.

HEPNER: He was an ordinary guy. He was a designer. He built -- he was a designer in terms of building condos. He was a real estate developer in Canada. There was nothing that I could see that would suggest what the rest of your panel, that seems to have him convicted already, say about him.

But you know, this was an assault on a girlfriend. He got 15 months probation with what we call in Canada conditional discharge, which means that if he completes the terms of the probation issued by the judge, then while technically, he was convicted of a low-level assault, then he would really have no criminal record. That`s what, really, the essence of the charge was.

So it was -- it was an assault. It was a domestic-related matter. But it was resolved. The reports were good. The letters of reference were good. The support was good. And that was then -- in that sense, it was levied (ph) in January of 2007, so he was on probation 15 months thereafter. But I suspect that he completed the entire term satisfactorily, or else I would know that there`d been a breach. And then we have a penal statute that would allow the authorities to charge him with breach of probation, which did not happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This message goes out to the family, his mother and father, and to the friends that are helping him try to leave this country. Ryan Jenkins is an animal. What he has done to Jasmine is unspeakable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: U.S. authorities have seized this boat abandoned off Point Roberts, Washington, a small border town south of Vancouver, where police received a report the man wanted for questioning in the murder of swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore may have illegally crossed into Canada.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s, you know, some speculation he may have gained entry on foot at any one point along that bordering area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police have been searching for Ryan Jenkins after the body of his wife was found stuffed in a suitcase in this trash bin in Buena Park, California, earlier this week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The zipper was partially open or it had burst open. And I lifted up on it and saw that it was a -- a body of an extremely small person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jasmine Fiore married Jenkins after meeting the former Calgary realtor-turned-reality TV star in March. The marriage, though, hit a nasty bump a month later when Jenkins was accused of hitting Fiore. It wasn`t his first run-in with the law. In 2005, he was charged with similar domestic assault offenses in Calgary, another city police are watching closely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We now have an arrest warrant for Ryan Alexander Jenkins. Last night, officers from the Blaine Police Department in the state of Washington recovered one of the vehicles that we had previously announced. That vehicle is the black 2003 BMW X-5. The white 2007 Mercedes-Benz, CLS 550 with paper plates, is still outstanding, and we continue to ask the public`s support in the assistance in locating that vehicle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LALAMA: Ellie Jostad, NANCY GRACE producer, I keep hearing that he is a man of means, that he`s got money. Is that true?

JOSTAD: That`s right. On the show he was on, "Megan Wants a Millionaire," it was reported that he had at least $2 million in the bank. He was a real estate developer, alternately described as an investment banker. But he was someone who was involved in building these condominiums in Canada.

LALAMA: And you mentioned the show "Megan Wants a Millionaire," of which he was a contestant. Let`s actually -- we`d like to try to help find the guy, if possible. So if you`re watching, take a look at this clip, and see if it`s someone in your area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN JENKINS, "MEGAN WANTS A MILLIONAIRE": I`m with Megan alone. It was enough to let her get in touch with my deeper side and redeem myself for, you know, some of the silly things I said at dinner.

(INAUDIBLE) waiting on my card.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh. I hope it`s not declined!

JENKINS: That would suck.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For you!

(LAUGHTER)

JENKINS: We might have to do some dishes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ll meet you at home. Just joking.

JENKINS: Don`t do that to me. You`re cute.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re cute.

JENKINS: So is this the best date ever?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe.

JENKINS: Maybe?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`ll tell you at the end.

JENKINS: I don`t know if Megan and I have had enough time together for her to actually loosen up and really get to know me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel like you`re manipulating me.

(LAUGHTER)

JENKINS: I wanted to show her a little bit of vulnerability to, you know, maybe make her a little more comfortable with me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LALAMA: That charming, debonair man is now a murder suspect. And that, of course, from VH1`s "Megan Wants a Millionaire" from 51 Minds Entertainment. By the way, 51 Minds Entertainment says when they brought him on board for the show, they had no idea of any criminal past.

I want to go back to Corporal Norm Masse. The public`s help will be important to you. Hopefully, people will recognize something. And I`m just curious about -- because time is of the essence. What kind of geography are we talking about? Is it difficult terrain? Is it residential? Where are you looking and how?

MASSE: Well, along the U.S./British Columbia border, there`s well over 2,000 kilometers, a lot of which is not -- is very rugged terrain. However, the portion of that that is crossable, shall we say, is heavily monitored by cameras and motion detectors of all sorts. So there`ll be -- any detection, any crossing that -- will be responded to by the United States Customs and Border Patrol.

LALAMA: I want to go to Ken Henderson, CEO of Bestagency. You worked closely with Jasmine. We, the public, don`t know her. We see the pictures. We see a young woman who clearly wanted her chance at a good life, fame, fortune, whatever. Tell us a little bit about her.

KEN HENDERSON, CEO, BESTAGENCY: Well, this news is just -- it`s getting worse and worse. Jasmine -- she was -- she just was great. She was exciting to work with. She was -- her energy -- the smile that you see in her pictures is what you saw always live with her. She was as beautiful inside as she is outside, and it was just a pleasure for our agency to work with her.

And also, to dispel the rumor -- and I think we would have known about it -- Jasmine was not a stripper. And it just -- we know about those things. Vegas is not that big of a place. And if they`re working for us as an agency, that isn`t something that would work for us. So I know that isn`t true. And from what I know of her and my conversations with her, it`s not something that she would ever consider.

LALAMA: Ken, was she vulnerable? Was she easy to buy into a story of love and fairy tale existence?

HENDERSON: I don`t think so. You know, my take on Jasmine was she really had her head on straight. So it isn`t something that I think somebody could talk her into. She was a tough girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be no stone unturned, and we will look under every rock for him. He needs to understand that he`s now officially wanted, that we don`t stop looking for him. The men and women of the task force and the various agencies involved will continue to look for him until we have him apprehended and in custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jasmine was a -- was a beautiful person. She was a very caring individual. She loved her family and friends. And a lot of the information that you`re seeing in the news is not true. We had a very close relationship for a long time, and she is just a beautiful person. She had a lot going for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LALAMA: That, of course, the ex-boyfriend of Jasmine Fiore. Her most previous relationship, Ryan Jenkins, now officially a murder suspect in this horrific case that involves an astounding revelation that her fingers and teeth were removed.

I want to go to the attorneys, Susan Moss, family law attorney, Peter Odom, defense attorney, Randy Kessler, defense attorney. Susan, you first. Mr. Jenkins`s previous attorney said that -- well, implied we`re jumping the gun here. Go for it, Susan.

SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, first of all, he allegedly put this woman in a suitcase. That`s a pretty awful way of packing up your troubles. But I really got to disagree with that Canadian attorney. He said this is just a sad domestic violence case. Well, let me tell you something. It wasn`t. It was an assault, just like when he was charged with assault of Jasmine before this unfortunate event. Maybe if we take domestic violence a little more seriously both in this country and in our neighbors to the north, maybe something like this could have been avoided!

LALAMA: Peter and Randy, are we jumping the gun on this guy? Peter first.

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, let me tell you something. Right now, they`re building a circumstantial case. Things are starting to look pretty bad for -- for Ryan Alexander Jenkins. But you know what? Now`s the time to slow it up. It`s a circumstantial case. There might be physical evidence. Certainly, with this kind of a crime, cutting off the fingers, taking out the teeth, there`s going to be physical evidence. Let`s see what it shows. Let`s not jump the gun. Remember that under our Constitution, he`s presumed innocent right now. And whatever happens to him is going to have to happen in a courtroom and not the court of public opinion.

RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, right. And running away -- running away doesn`t mean you`re guilty, but running away certainly sticks in your mind. We all remember O.J.`s white van, where he drove for hours and hours and hours. Why do you run if you`re not guilty? At least in the minds of the consumers and the people out there that are watching and the viewers, he`s making a -- he`s digging a very deep hole for himself.

LALAMA: Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, what does this say to you about this guy, on the run, got lots of money, allegedly cut off fingers and teeth? What are we talking about here?

MARSHALL: Well, I think -- you know, he has the prior domestic. Then he goes on "Megan Wants a Millionaire." And if he`s narcissistic, he has this grandiose substructure, and she rejects him as a millionaire. He has to compete with other guys and it may have destabilized him. He went off the show sort of with a narcissistic injury. And then he finds this model, trying to kind of recoup his self-esteem. It doesn`t recoup his self- esteem because she has many friends. Other men admire her. And that narcissistically reinjures him, and then he strikes out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can now announce that as of this afternoon, we now have a warrant for the arrest of Ryan Alexander Jenkins for the murder of Jasmine.

Last night, officers from the Blaine Police Department in the state of Washington recovered one of the vehicles that we had previously announced. That vehicle is the black 2003 BMW X-5. The white 2007 Mercedes-Benz CLS- 550 with paper plates is still outstanding, and we continue to ask the public`s support in the assistance in locating that vehicle.

At this time, it is our belief that the suspect has crossed the border into Canada, and we are currently working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in our attempts to locate him.

Last night, the black BMW was located in the city of Blaine, Washington, with a boat trailer attached. Later, a boat which is owned by Ryan Jenkins was located in Port Robert in the state of Washington, which is located just south of the Canadian border. It is now our belief that he has now crossed the border on foot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAT LALAMA, GUEST HOST: An absolutely some stunning revelation about the condition her body was in. I mean, you think you hear it all until you hear this, Jon Baird. Bring us up to date.

JON BAIRD, REPORTER, KNX 1070, COVERING STORY: Well, the fingers and the teeth were removed from the body. That was shocking. When they announced that at the press conference, I don`t think anybody was prepared to hear that. I certainly hadn`t even heard a hint of that.

But you could hear the gasping in the background, the family members crying. It was awful. But basically, again, they`re saying that somebody removed the fingers and teeth from Jasmine`s body. And my first thought was this person obviously didn`t want her to be identified or identified quickly. So it`s a horrible thing.

LALAMA: But, you know what, Jon, it doesn`t seem like a very smart move. Not that anyone who commits crimes is generally smart people. But, you know, he puts the body, the person, whoever did it, puts the body in a dumpster in public, what, hoping it`s going to decompose?

Clearly someone is going to find the body soon enough, and did, without fingers and without teeth. I mean, it`s even really hard to say.

Now, as we know, Canadian police, United States authorities are working in unison to try to find this guy, Ryan Jenkins. We want the public to get involved. Of course, do it judiciously and responsibly.

But let`s go back to that clip we showed you earlier just so you can get a really good look at this guy on "Megan Wants a Millionaire."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN ALEXANDER JENKINS, REALITY TV STAR: I`m with Megan alone. It was enough to let her get in touch with my deeper side and redeem myself for, you know, some of the silly things I said at dinner.

I guess we`re waiting on my card.

MEGAN HAUSERMAN, REALITY TV STAR: Oh! I hope it`s not declined.

JENKINS: That would suck.

HAUSERMAN: For you.

(LAUGHTER)

JENKINS: We may have to do some dishes.

HAUSERMAN: We?!

JENKINS: Just kidding.

(LAUGHTER)

HAUSERMAN: I`ll meet you at home.

(LAUGHTER)

I`m just joking.

JENKINS: You`re cute.

HAUSERMAN: You`re cute.

JENKINS: So is this the best date ever?

HAUSERMAN: Maybe.

JENKINS: Maybe?

HAUSERMAN: I`ll tell you at the end.

JENKINS: I don`t know if Megan and I have had enough time together for her to actually loosen up and really get to know me.

HAUSERMAN: I feel like you`re manipulating me.

(LAUGHTER)

JENKINS: I wanted to show her a little bit of vulnerability to, you know, maybe make her a little more comfortable with me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LALAMA: Well, that`s the man, Ryan Jenkins. Looks very nicely dressed, charming, debonair. But now he is a wanted man and a man wanted for murder. That`s from VH1`s "Megan Wants a Millionaire" from 51 Minds Entertainment, which we reiterate, I will reiterate, says they had no idea about his criminal past.

And speaking of that, Alan Hepner, I know you think people are piling on with your guy, but, you know, looks can be deceiving.

ALAN HEPNER, RYAN JENKINS` CANADIAN ATTORNEY, REPRESENTED JENKINS IN 2006 ASSAULT CASE: The optics are very bad. I can see that. The optics are bad. He`s not around, he`s left, there`s the speculation that he`s back in Canada, somewhere in B.C., maybe making his way to Alberta. I understand all that.

But the way it`s all being said, you know, I mean, those two lawyers you had before agree. I mean, there`s due process and there`s, you know, flight or the -- the flight from a scene does not necessarily mean you`re guilty.

I don`t know anything about this. I haven`t spoken to him, and I won`t comment on the case other than what I`m hearing in the media from your show as well as the -- the paper and the TV media in Canada. I`m just saying let`s just not drop the gun.

LALAMA: Do you feel -- do you feel comfortable telling me whether he admitted to the crime for which you represented him? Was it a plea bargain? What was his demeanor and how did he accept the charges?

HEPNER: Well, I can`t tell you what him and I talked about. You know that.

LALAMA: Right.

HEPNER: But I can tell you that he pleaded guilty. He was initially charged with -- in the Canadian Penal Code, assault causing bodily harm, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of common assault. And then we argued about the disposition or the sentence by the judge.

And we obtained reports and letters of reference and some support for him. Everything was aired out. And the judge put him on 15 months` probation, it`s what we call a conditional discharge, which is what I talked about earlier.

LALAMA: Right, right. OK. I want to get to some of our callers.

HEPNER: So he pleaded to a lesser charge. He pleaded to a lesser charge.

LALAMA: : Right. Got it. Let`s get to some of our callers who have been waiting patiently. The first being Rhonda in Tennessee. Good evening, Rhonda.

RHONDA, CALLER FROM TENNESSEE: Good evening.

LALAMA: What is your question?

RHONDA: My question is, OK, he was -- he was a known abuser, right?

LALAMA: Mm-hmm, yes.

RHONDA: OK. Then did they not do a background check on him before he went on that "Megan" show? And, you know, I mean, if they had, maybe this could have been stopped.

LALAMA: That`s a very, very good question. Let`s go to Ellie Jostad.

Ellie, when these contestants try to get on these shows, what`s the protocol? Don`t they check and see if there`s a criminal past?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Well, as you mentioned before, Pat, this is a production company, 51 Minds, that did -- that produced the show. And they say they weren`t aware of his criminal record. Now I don`t know exactly what kind of background check was done. But they apparently weren`t aware of it.

LALAMA: And apparently he fell through the cracks, Bethany Marshall. We talked about that earlier, right?

BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR OF "DEALBREAKERS": Well.

LALAMA: Or maybe he fooled them. Or maybe he`s so charming that he was able to fool them.

MARSHALL: They could have pulled -- done a background check and they could have found out about his prior domestic. They probably did psych testing and he probably came up with some kind of a personality disorder. And instead of then going on and then evaluating his propensity towards violence against women, they may have thought, oh, great, this guy has a personality disorder and the camera loves crazy.

Because that`s what a lot of these reality shows are built upon. It is a trainwreck. So if you get the people in the best mental health on these shows, it`s not so entertaining. But I think that they had an obligation to do a screening and that obviously was not done. He got destabilized.

LALAMA: Right.

MARSHALL: And he left the show, even readier to offend than he had in the past.

LALAMA: All right. And just for the record, we don`t officially know what his mental state is. So I just want to make that clear. But I want to go to Dr. Joshua Perper. What`s important for authorities now in the investigation relative to her body? Give us a little bit of a science lesson here.

DR. JOSHUA PERPER, MEDICAL EXAMINER, AUTHOR OF "WHEN TO CALL THE DOCTOR": Well, they`re going to do a very extensive investigation. They`re also going to investigate if there`s no evidence of rape. Obviously, if his semen is in her vagina, that`s to be expected. But if this is semen of a stranger, this might raise some kind of questions.

Then they have to also to look at the body and find out where the -- besides strangling marks, if there are any kind of bruises or cuts or any kind of other injuries. And in some cases, they have succeeded by preparing the neck to lift fingerprints of the -- of the strangler. This is rather -- not commonly achieved, but it should be tried.

LALAMA: I want to go back to the lawyers, Susan Moss, Peter Odom and Randy Kessler.

Susan, you know, what do they need? What do authorities need to tie him to this body aside from the circumstantial? Did they get into a fight, the marriage was annulled, he was jealous allegedly? What do they need?

SUSAN MOSS, CHILD ADVOCATE, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, the best would possibly be DNA evidence at the crime site, if that, in fact, did happen at his apartment or somewhere else where he had access to. If we can see her blood and his blood somewhere in close vicinity, I mean, there must have been a lot of blood when the fingers were cut off and when the teeth were broken. If his blood is mixed with that blood, then you`re pretty much home free.

LALAMA: Peter, if this were your client, would you be on the phone with him saying, get your you-know-what back here?

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know, I`d want to talk to him. I`d certainly want to find out what he has to say. But I`m probably not going to be advising to turn himself into the police. I mean, you know, also the -- it`s up to the Canadian authorities to either expel him or up to the U.S. authorities to extradite him at this point. The burden is not on Ryan Jenkins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can now announce that as of this afternoon, we now have a warrant for the arrest of Ryan Alexander Jenkins for the murder of Jasmine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have reason to believe that he is armed with a handgun. Please use caution. We want our brothers and sisters, citizens and law enforcement professionals, to be safe when they take him into custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time, it is our belief that the suspect has crossed the border into Canada. And we are currently working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in our attempts to locate him.

Last night, the black BMW was located in the city of Blaine, Washington, with a boat trailer attached. Later, a boat which is owned by Ryan Jenkins was located in Port Robert in the state of Washington, which is located just south of the Canadian border. It is now our belief that he has now crossed the border on foot.

On behalf of those represented here today, and from all of the men and women of the Buena Park Police Department, I would like to extend our sincere and heart-felt condolences to the family and friends. And I can also promise the vigorous and judicious pursuit of justice in this case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LALAMA: I`m Pat Lalama in for Nancy Grace.

Well, there it is, Mr. Ryan Jenkins, now officially charged with murder and the details are getting a little bit sick as each moment goes by. Allegedly -- not allegedly, for certain, her body was found without fingers and without teeth. Absolutely horrendous.

Kelli Zink, host of CelebTV.com. Kelli, maybe I`ve missed it in all the confusion here, but I haven`t noticed many family members of Ryan, friends, people coming forward saying, hey, he`d never do it. Have you seen anything like that? Am I just missing it?

KELLI ZINK, HOST, CELEBTV.COM: No, that is interesting. We haven`t heard a thing from anyone that knows this guy. And by the way, we were talking about the reality show earlier. These reality shows do such extensive background checks. They do personality checks. And if this slipped cracks, I really find that kind of impossible that the record didn`t come up.

This guy, obviously, being on a reality show, people know who he is. They`re going to find him. He`s not going to be able to run for long.

LALAMA: Hey, Susan Moss, do you think that maybe they accidentally on purpose overlooked it? I`m not saying it`s for sure, but I imagine some producer out there would think it`d make for better TV. I don`t know. I`m probably a cynic.

MOSS: Absolutely. And maybe the fact that it happened in Canada and not in America. But I think a clue is in that reality TV show clip, when Megan says, I think you`re trying to manipulate me. That is a key sign for abusers. Domestic violence abusers, that is. And the fact that she was able to pick it up and the producers weren`t, well, that`s -- that`s leading for a lawsuit for them.

LALAMA: Peter, you got any comment on that?

ODOM: Yes. Well, you know, there`s things people can point to and say that`s circumstantial evidence. But you know what, let`s see some hard evidence. Maybe it`s there. Maybe it`s not. But let`s have the government put its money where its mouth is before we start convicting this person of murder.

MOSS: Randy?

RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, first thing we`ve got to do is catch him. And I don`t know why everyone is getting upset with the TV show. The TV show might be the best way we`re going to catch him. He`s now well-known. People know what he looks like. You know, you can hide for a while, but even Eric Rudolph who hid in the mountains for years was caught.

He`s going to be caught, he`s going to be found especially in this day and age with cameras every where, cell phone cameras. He will be caught. The question is how does he turn himself in or how does he make his first appearance? And that`s what it comes down to, in my opinion.

LALAMA: All right. Well, we do have a statement because it is important to note that, you know, we can`t accuse any television production entity of, you know, allowing this to happen and knowing that he had a history.

Here`s their statement. "51 Minds was not aware of Ryan Jenkins` record when it cast him on `Megan Wants a Millionaire.` Obviously, if the company had been given," let`s go to the next screen, "a full picture of his background, he would never been allowed on the show. 51 Minds is investigating what went wrong and taking steps to ensure that this sort of lapse never occurs again," and most likely that`s the case.

We have to take them at face value. You know, chances are -- I mean, it`s obvious that if they allow something like that to happen, they can get in a whole lot of trouble. And you know, they`re not in the business of getting themselves sued.

I want to go to some of our callers who have been waiting so patiently. We have Sherry. Are you still with us, Sherry in Illinois?

SHERRY, CALLER FROM ILLINOIS: Yes, I am. Thank you for taking my call.

LALAMA: No problem.

SHERRY: My question is, if Jenkins is in Canada and when they do catch him, do they -- how does that work? Do they bring him back to the U.S. or, you know, how does that play out?

LALAMA: Pat Brown, criminal profiler, what is the procedure?

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "KILLING FOR SPORT": Well, I`m not exactly sure what the procedure is between Canada and the U.S., but I do think people are worried about will they -- will they be able to extradite him because of the death penalty issue? That Canada doesn`t like to send people back here who are going to get the death penalty.

And I really don`t think he`s going to get that. It`s not in the charge. It`s going to be murder two because he is going to claim that, you know, it wasn`t premeditated, that he went crazy.

But I want to point something out. There is no such thing as a crime of passion. There is only a crime of what you`re willing to do should the opportunity arise. This guy was a psychopath. And when his little possession got away from him, he wanted to do what he wanted to do to her. That`s not a crime of passion, although people try to claim it is.

I see this guy as Joran Van Der Sloot number two. And I think he`s going to hope his dad can get behind him and get him out of this -- out of even Canada so that nobody can ever tough him.

LALAMA: Jon Baird, have we heard anything from family, from his father, who presumably is a very wealthy man? I know we were just talking about that with Kelli. What have you heard?

BAIRD: We haven`t heard anything from his family. One thing I should note, not only did they find -- we`re talking about circumstantial evidence. But we`re talking also about the fact that he files a missing persons report and then he drives 1,000 miles to Canada?

They say they found his vehicle. Then they say they found his boat. It was registered to him. But one other piece of information there, there was a report this morning that one of his relatives was seen dropping off that boat in the area.

Now I don`t know if police have confirmed that yet, but I know that during that news conference today, they were emphatic about warning people, and I thought it was directed toward the family, do not help him. You will be charged with a crime as well.

LALAMA: Ellie Jostad, have you heard anything about someone cooperating with him, helping him?

JOSTAD: We haven`t heard anything about that at this point. But not only did the law enforcement officials warn anybody who`s aiding or abetting this guy, but we saw a family friend of Jasmine Fiore who specifically addressed anybody out there who might be helping him and said, you need to know who you`re helping. And you need to support us in bringing this guy in.

LALAMA: Ken Henderson, who worked with Jasmine, and I know you speak very highly of her. Did you know Ryan?

KEN HENDERSON, CEO, BEST AGENCY WORKED CLOSELY WITH MURDERED MODEL JASMINE FIORE: I did not. In fact, no one in the agency even knew that she was married. So I think it was kept very quiet or it was very short.

LALAMA: But what about the fact that she did get married in such a whirlwind situation? I`m not making a judgment. We`ve all made mistakes in our relationships. But did that surprise you when you heard that?

HENDERSON: No. I mean, you know, I didn`t know the circumstances. I didn`t know how long she knew him or what so after the fact, I guess, maybe it was a little -- seemed a little off of what she would have done but, I mean, you know, obviously, I mean the guy doesn`t impress me at all. But apparently I heard you guys say he`s charming. So maybe he just -- maybe he just made her feel a little special.

LALAMA: That may have been -- that maybe even suspicious.

(LAUGHTER)

HENDERSON: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody that assists him, helps him in any way is also subject to being charged as aiding and abetting and harboring a fugitive. So I would suggest to anybody out there that is looking to assist this individual that they don`t.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can now announce that as of this afternoon, we now have a warrant for the arrest of Ryan Alexander Jenkins for the murder of Jasmine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be no stone unturned and we`ll look under every rock for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LALAMA: Well, there you have it. Ryan Jenkins now officially an alleged murderer and an alleged brutal murder at that because authorities are saying this poor young girl was without her fingers and teeth when her body was discovered.

Absolutely shocking.

The callers have been incredibly patient. I want to take one more if I can get it in. Nicki from Washington state. Hello, Nicki.

NICKI, CALLER FROM WASHINGTON STATE: Hi. Now I have so many questions since my last question. Thank you for taking my call. I just want to know, like, when did he find out that he was a person of interest now? Because, now I`m just, like -- I mean, and the mayhem that goes behind with the fingers and the teeth, can`t he get a greater charge than voluntary manslaughter or second-degree murder? I think the mayhem behind it is, you know, disturbing, you know?

LALAMA: Very good question. Susan, very quickly, different places have different rules about how they charge. Can you answer that question for the lady?

MOSS: Absolutely. There are absolutely going to be different charges because those are different crimes and apparently reality bites.

LALAMA: Peter, what do you think? How is it going to play out?

ODOM: Well, first they`ve got to get him back into this country. There are two ways that that can be done. First of all, the United States can extradite him as long as the United States will guarantee that it won`t seek the death penalty or he could be expelled from Canada.

LALAMA: And Randy, I`m going to give you a few more seconds to throw something in there.

KESSLER: All right. Well, I think what we`re doing is we`re focusing on the escape. And the escape is not what he gets punished for. He gets punished for the murder if he did it. That`s what we have to find out.

LALAMA: Thank you, guys.

Tonight, let`s stop to remember Army First Sgt. John Blair, 38 years old from Calvin, Georgia. Highly decorated. He was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and three National Defense Service medal. A former deputy sheriff, he worked with the drug task force and SWAT.

Dreamed of digging a lake in his backyard to go cat-fishing with his grandson. Favorite song was "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Leaves behind grieving widow Donna, two children and 4-year-old grandson Nolan.

John Blair, an American hero.

Thank you to all our guest and to you at home for being with us. See you tomorrow night 8:00 sharp Eastern. Until then, have a very good night.

Nancy, congratulations on your fabulous book. Good night, everyone.

END