Vancouver, British Columbia ? A reality show contestant wanted for murder in the gruesome death and mutilation of his ex-wife was found dead Sunday of an apparent suicide after hanging himself in a secluded motel, authorities said.

Sgt. Duncan Pound of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police border integrity unit said police responded to a call from motel staff about a dead person in Hope, east of Vancouver, and then called investigators who were part of the massive manhunt for Ryan Jenkins.

“He was found by a hotel employee hanging in his hotel room,” said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in California, which was contact with Canadian police.

The 32-year-old real estate developer and investor was wanted in California on first-degree murder charges after the dismembered body of Jasmine Fiore was found in a trash bin in Buena Park, about 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Fiore’s teeth had been pulled out and her fingers cut off, apparently to impede her identification. Investigators used the serial numbers on her breast implants to identify her, prosecutors said.

Jenkins’ body was found Sunday afternoon in The Thunderbird Motel on an isolated road on the outskirts of Hope, B.C., at the entrance to the western province’s mountainous interior. Pound said police don’t yet know how long Jenkins was at the motel before his body was discovered. Jenkins was identified through fingerprints and his family was notified before police went public with news.

The motel manager said a young woman checked Jenkins in on Thursday.

Jenkins arrived late Sunday in a Chrysler PT Cruiser with Alberta license plates, and stayed in the car while the woman checked them in, said Kevin Walker, who manages the motel.

Walker says the woman paid cash for three days, and when the couple didn’t check out, he unlocked the room and found Jenkins hanging from the bar of a clothing rack.

Hope is about 100 miles, or a two-hour drive, from Point Roberts, Wash., the last place Jenkins was reported to have been seen before he crossed into Canada.

Jenkins disappeared last week and his boat was found Wednesday at a marina not far from the U.S.-Canada border south of Vancouver.

After the U.S. Justice Department issued an extradition request, Canada issued a nationwide warrant for Jenkins’ arrest. Canadian authorities initially launched a massive border search using helicopters, ground police and dogs.

Jenkins and Fiore met in Las Vegas in March and they married a few weeks later. The couple separated shortly afterward, but had reportedly recently reconciled.

California authorities said police in Buena Park where Fiore was found would continue their investigation to make sure no one else was involved in the killing, but did not expect to find anything.