International media swarms B.C. motel where Jenkins was found dead

HOPE, B.C. — American TV tabloid culture zoomed in on the sleepy town of Hope on Monday as reporters camped out in front of the somewhat decrepit motel off the Trans-Canada Highway where Ryan Jenkins spent his final days before he was found hanging from a belt.

Kevin Walker, manager of the Thunderbird Motel, was given money by American television networks to film inside Room 2, where he had discovered the former TV contestant’s body.

Walker was peppered with questions by the media about the possible identity of the mystery woman who accompanied Jenkins to the motel last Thursday and paid the $140 weekly rental fee for the former Calgary man, who was charged last week with the murder of his ex-wife, Los Angeles swimsuit model Jasmine Fiore.

Crews from ABC TV, Inside Edition, TMZ, the New York Post and most major Vancouver news outlets roamed through Hope, looking for more angles on the tawdry tragedy, which seems more bizarre than the improbable plot lines of most made-for-TV movies.

“It’s really tragic, at both ends,” said Alana Turner, a Vancouver-based researcher for TMZ, the celebrity and entertainment media outlet, sitting on the lawn outside the Thunderbird Motel.

“I know that we are interested in it just because of the circumstances. It’s almost like a movie of sorts when you look at the lifestyle they once had, and to have it go terribly wrong in the end.

“You see videos of them, hanging out in Vegas and partying and having the greatest time ever. But you never really know what is happening underneath.”

Turner said the story still has some legs because of the mystery surrounding the unidentified woman who initially came with Jenkins to the Thunderbird.

As the media milled around, residents of the Thunderbird, mostly unemployed men down on their luck or beset by alcohol and mental health issues, wondered when the motel would go back to being the quiet place it was before Jenkins’s apparent suicide. Locals and tourists drove up to the Thunderbird to snap photos of the now infamous motel — photos to show families and friends who know about the tale that has generated intense media interest throughout North America for more than a week.

Jerry Gaffar, a resident in one of the Thunderbird’s monthly rental suites, recalled seeing Jenkins wandering in front of the motel. Gaffar, an automotive technician on sick leave, had followed the stories about Jenkins and Fiore’s murder, but didn’t recognize Jenkins.

“He was really skinny and not what he looked like on TV. If I had recognized him, I would have done something before he did what he did.”

Gaffar said he was looking forward to the media trucks driving away from his current home. “We need to get some peace and quiet around here. That’s why I moved out here. Who would have thought that something like this would happen over here, right?”

Thunderbird manager Walker, meanwhile, was shown photos by reporters of Jenkins’s ex-girlfriend, Paulina Chmielecka, and asked whether she resembled the woman who arrived with Jenkins on Thursday at about 6 p.m. and paid his bill with cash while he waited in a car. Walker said the woman in some of the photos looked like the woman he met, while others didn’t.

“She came in to book the room,” recalled Walker. “She was sweet, calm and we made small talk.”

Walker said the woman stayed for about 20 minutes with Jenkins in Room 2, left the motel and never returned. He saw Jenkins walking outside the motel the next day. “I made eye contact with him, but in no way, shape or form did this man look like the man on television.”

Walker found Jenkins’s body at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, shortly after the man was supposed to have checked out.

“There he was right in front me, hanging from a coat rack, right on the wall.”

The manager, a Chilliwack man who took over the motel only three months ago, said the sight of Jenkins’ body was a shock. “I’d been looking forward to a nice Sunday.”

Walker said he couldn’t believe how an international police manhunt stemming from a brutal murder outside Los Angeles would end at his down-at-the-heels motel.

“It’s just stunning. Of all places to pick, man. It’s stunning. This little sleepy town of Hope and this hotel. Stunning.

“But, eh, it’s a big world out there.”

The sign outside his motel says No Vacancy although one room — the scene of the hanging — is clearly empty. “How am I going to bring anyone in with this?” he asked, pointing at all the TV trucks.

Walker said he received money from the New York Post newspaper and the TV program Inside Edition, for brief access to the room. He wouldn’t say how much money they paid.

Ernie Smith, a North Delta man who vacations regularly in Hope, drove up to the motel and took a photo.

“A lot of my friends who I camp with had gone home before the news broke, and I can send them a copy of the picture by e-mail,” he said.

“It’s rather a strange story but ... it’s certainly saved the taxpayers a lot of money, hasn’t it?” Smith added, referring to Jenkins’s apparent suicide.

Smith recalled that Hope has been in the news before. “[Murder victim] Melanie Carpenter was found out here after she had been abducted years ago and raped and murdered. And of course John Rambo [Sylvester Stallone] was here, shooting a movie, First Blood. Oh, you didn’t know that?”

RCMP Sgt. Duncan Pound of the Federal Border Integrity Program said the investigation will not be affected by the international media interest in the case. No new information was being released until “we have the answers we are looking for,” he said.

dward@vancouversun.com