The body of Ryan Jenkins was found by staff of the Thunderbird Motel in Hope, B.C. on Sunday. (CBC)

Ryan Jenkins, a reality-TV contestant who was wanted on murder charges in the United States, apparently hanged himself in a motel room in Hope, B.C.

The Calgary native was accused in the brutal killing of his ex-wife, swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore, whose mutilated body was found in a Los Angeles dumpster on Aug. 15.

RCMP responded to a motel staffer's call Sunday afternoon about a dead person in Hope, 150 kilometres east of Vancouver, and then called investigators who were part of the massive manhunt for Jenkins, said Sgt. Duncan Pound of the RCMP's border integrity unit.

Crime scene investigators identified Jenkins through fingerprints.

"At this present time the investigation into the circumstances of his death is continuing, but preliminary evidence suggests that he took his own life," Pound said. "Any further details will not be released at this time as this investigation remains in its infancy."

Ryan Jenkins, seen in photos provided by police and from a reality-TV show website, was the subject of an international manhunt before his body was found Sunday. (Buena Park Police Department/VH1)While the RCMP wouldn't disclose a cause of death, Farrah Emami of the Orange County District Attorney's Office in California, which is in contact with Canadian police, said Jenkins had apparently hanged himself in a room at the Thunderbird Motel on the outskirts of Hope.

Police don't yet know how long the 32-year-old real estate developer was at the motel before his body was discovered, Pound said. The Coroners Service of B.C. is investigating.

Jenkins, who was a contestant on the VH1 reality show Megan Wants a Millionaire, disappeared last week and his boat was found Wednesday at a marina not far from the U.S.-Canada border south of Vancouver.

Ryan Jenkins and Jasmine Fiore are seen at their wedding in Las Vegas on March 18. (TMZ/Associated Press)

Police received a number of reported sightings of Jenkins that proved false. One man was taken off an Air Canada flight to Toronto from Vancouver on Friday night and another was questioned aboard a Vancouver transit bus on the weekend.

Fiore's body was found stuffed in a trash bin in a park southeast of Los Angeles. Her teeth and fingers had been removed, making identification difficult.

The former bikini model was identified through serial numbers on her breast implants. She was badly beaten and preliminary reports indicate she had been strangled.

The U.S. Marshals Service was offering a $25,000 US reward for information leading to Jenkins's capture.

With files from The Canadian Press