Ryan Jenkins, seen in photos provided by police and from a reality TV show website, is believed to be on the run in Canada. (Buena Park Police Department/VH1)

The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a $25,000 US reward for information leading to the capture of Ryan Jenkins, who is wanted in his ex-wife's slaying and believed to be on the run in Canada.

"This is a pretty significant case. It's a very violent crime. There's the fact that he may have fled the country, and sometimes we find that offering a reward will assist people in making that phone call or notification as to the fugitive's whereabouts," Chief Insp. Thomas Hession said Friday.

Jenkins, a former Calgary real estate developer and reality TV show contestant, was charged with murder Thursday in the death of his ex-wife, Jasmine Fiore, 28.

The former model's nude body was found last Saturday, stuffed in a suitcase that had been thrown into a metal trash bin in Buena Park, southeast of Los Angeles. Her teeth and fingers had been removed in an apparent attempt to prevent identification.

This photo provided by TMZ, shows Ryan Jenkins and Jasmine Fiore at their wedding in Las Vegas on March 18. (TMZ/Associated Press)

Without fingerprints or dental records, detectives tracked the serial number on Fiore's breast implants to get a positive ID, said Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office.

Fiore was badly beaten and preliminary reports indicate she was strangled.

"Mr. Jenkins is very dangerous. We know what he's capable of doing to the woman he supposedly loved the most," Susan Kang Schroeder, the office's public affairs counsel, said Friday. "We know the cruelty he's capable of."

She said her office would be requesting that Jenkins be extradited to California — where he would not face the death penalty if convicted — if he is arrested in Canada.

"This is not the type of case that we go for the death penalty," Kang Schroeder said.

Jenkins faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life if convicted. Prosecutors have already requested bail of $10 million US.

Accused may have been in boat chase

Jenkins is believed to be on the run in Canada after driving 1,600 kilometres from southern California to Washington state.

The U.S. Coast Guard chased a boat belonging to Jenkins off the coast of northwest Washington on Wednesday but could not determine who was in it and lost the trail, Kang Schroeder revealed Friday.

The U.S. Coast Guard tows a black Calabria Pro-V boat registered to Ryan Jenkins from Port Roberts, Wash., on Thursday. (Blaine Police Department)

A few hours later, the boat was found at the marina in Point Roberts, a small U.S. community near the border. Police believe Jenkins walked from there across the border to British Columbia.

Police warned that Jenkins could be armed with a handgun.

Law enforcement officials have repeatedly warned that anyone helping the suspect would be charged.

"If they have any morals, any sense of heart, to hide somebody who would kill his wife and dismember her and to pull every one of her teeth out — I don't know how that person could sleep at night," Kang Schroeder said.

She urged Jenkins to turn himself in and set the record straight if he has an alternative version of events to clear his name.

Couple last seen in San Diego-area hotel

Police believe Jenkins and Fiore checked into the posh L'Auberge Del Mar hotel near San Diego on Aug. 13, but Jenkins left the next morning, while Fiore was not seen again.

Jenkins had moved to L.A. from Calgary to be a contestant on the VH1 reality TV show Megan Wants a Millionaire, where a woman seeks to land a wealthy bachelor. He described himself as an investment banker with a net worth of several million dollars. The network has pulled all remaining shows from broadcast.

Fiore, a commercial and swimsuit model, had recently moved to L.A. from Las Vegas.

Fiore's mother said the two were married two days after meeting in Las Vegas in March, but the marriage was annulled two months later. They reconciled, but Jenkins was charged in April with domestic battery of Fiore in Nevada. That case had not gone to trial.

"At the end of the day when you peel away all the glamour — all the sensationalism — this is a case about domestic violence," Kang Schroeder said.

In 2005, Jenkins pleaded guilty in Calgary to common assault of a former girlfriend. He was given a conditional sentence.

With files from The Associated Press