Slain California model met with ex-husband days before death

Days before she was murdered, Jasmine Fiore picked up her ex-husband — a convicted drug dealer — from a San Diego-area jail to celebrate his release from prison with a day at the beach.

Police in Buena Park, Calif., said Michael Cardosi came forward to police with relevant information in Fiore's murder. The couple were married in 2004, according to a friend of Fiore's.

It's just the latest twist in the cross-border police probe of Fiore's death, which continues even after the only known suspect in the 28-year-old swimsuit model's murder — her husband, Ryan Jenkins — was found hanged in a motel room in Hope, B.C., on Sunday, an apparent suicide.

Reports have suggested Jenkins was consumed with jealousy over Fiore's ties to former lovers.

Fiore's mutilated body was found on Aug. 15, stuffed inside a suitcase placed in a garbage bin in Buena Park, Calif., near Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Buena Park police found Fiore's white Mercedes Benz.

Sgt. Bill Kohanek of Buena Park police said investigators believe Fiore was dismembered in the vehicle. He said they hoped an examination will show whether the killer had an accomplice to aid in disposing evidence.

"This is huge," Kohanek said. "This car was the known missing link."

Kohanek would not say if Fiore's missing teeth and fingers were found in the Mercedes.

But he said Fiore and Jenkins had lived together just before the time of Fiore's murder, and Jenkins was in their shared residence afterward.

The Buena Park Police Department has said Jenkins was the last person seen with Fiore in the San Diego area.

Jenkins, a former Calgary real estate developer and reality-TV contestant, was charged last Thursday in California with Fiore's murder. That same day — and after days of being on the run in Canada — Jenkins and an unidentified woman were seen driving up to the B.C. motel in a silver PT Cruiser with Alberta licence plates.

A PT Cruiser with Alberta plates matching the description of that vehicle belongs to Jenkins' father, prominent Calgary architect Dan Jenkins. On Tuesday, Canwest News Service found a vehicle matching that description in the parkade of a Vancouver condominium building which is home to Ryan Jenkins' half-sister, Alena Jenkins.

RCMP continue to say they know who checked Jenkins into the motel in Hope, B.C., but won't reveal her identity.

"We've identified everybody we need to be talking to. They're co-operating," said Cpl. Norm Massie of the RCMP's federal border integrity program on Wednesday.

Massie wouldn't confirm if investigators had spoken with Alena Jenkins, but sources said she has been interviewed by police.

Despite investigators' official reluctance to disclose any more details, a law enforcement source confirmed they are examining whether Dan Jenkins' PT Cruiser was indeed the vehicle seen outside the Thunderbird Motel.

"My understanding is, yes, he (Dan Jenkins) does own one. Whether it's the same one or not, I don't have that information."

It's believed Jenkins drove his boat from Blaine, Wash., to Point Roberts, Wash., a small peninsula community whose only land access is through Canada.

Point Roberts would have been familiar ground to Jenkins: his father and stepmother, Karen Stanwood, co-owned a home there.

While Stanwood has not commented publicly about the murder or Jenkins' involvement, his mother spoke to Global News on Tuesday.

Nada Antic told Global of the sorrow she feels for the Fiore family.

"My condolences to Jasmine's family," Nada Antic, who lives in Vancouver, said in the telephone interview.

"I'm sure they're going through the same thing we're going through. It's heartbreaking," she said.

"It's a nightmare. He's innocent as far as I'm concerned," Antic said.

With files from the Vancouver Province