A self-proclaimed reality TV “millionaire” is being sought by police after the dead body of Playboy model Jasmine Fiore - believed to be his wife - was found hacked to pieces, crammed into a suitcase and dumped in a rubbish bin on a suburban street in Los Angeles.

Ryan Alexander Jenkins, a 32-year-old businessman from Canada who recently achieved celebrity on a dating show for wealthy men seeking a trophy girlfriend, has not been seen since he reported Fiore missing on Saturday evening.

He was yesterday named a “person of interest” by police trying to establish what happened to Fiore, a swimsuit model, after she left her Hollywood flat on Thursday night bound for a poker tournament in San Diego, carrying a suitcase full of money.

The web of intrigue surrounding the case, which already boasts all the ingredients of an extravagant TV murder mystery, has been heightened by reports of the bizarre circumstances under which the couple first met, earlier this year.

Jenkins, an investment banker from Calgary, ran into Fiore, 28, at a strip club in Las Vegas, where he was drowning his sorrows after being voted off the VH1 programme Megan Wants a Millionaire. They were reportedly married 48 hours later.

The TV show, currently in the middle of its run, had seen him as one of 17 finalists hoping to woo Megan Hauserman, a pneumatic blonde from Florida. Each of the eligible males was required to possess a personal fortune in excess of one million dollars.

In a personal profile on the VH1 website, which was recently removed, Jenkins boasted of being worth $2.5 million and said, “He has left many amazing women in his life primarily because he wanted more women.” He claimed to enjoy “moulding girls into princesses.”

Since going on the run, Jenkins has used his publicist to communicate with the police through the tabloid website TMZ. “Ryan is currently speaking to his attorney and will fully cooperate with the police in this matter,” claimed the publicist yesterday. “He is planning on meeting them in the near future."

It emerged today that court records from Clark County, Nevada, showed that Jenkins was charged in June with battery constituting domestic violence for allegedly hitting Fiore in the arm.

Jenkins was facing a December non-jury trial in the matter. His lawyer, Neal Tomlinson, declined to comment.

Court records also show Jenkins was sentenced to 15 months' probation in January 2007 in Calgary for assault.