FATALLY YOURS
Whirlwind romance ended in grisly slay for Playboy hostess
In July 2022, when Holly Madison, a onetime Playboy bunny and girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, began probing into the 2009 murder of 28-year-old Playboy party hostess Jasmine Fiore, the ex-pinup was startled by an ugly similarity.
Both were bosomy blonds with beaming smiles and a history of being abused.
“Jasmine’s was such a horrific story. She was a victim of a horrific crime and involved in an abusive relationship,” Madison, 43, told The Post.
History of abuse
“I’ve also been in relationships that were abusive,” she said, noting that Hefner was “emotionally” and “mentally” controlling — dictating everything from the length of her hair to the shade of her lipstick.
As the host and executive producer of Investigation Discovery channel’s new six-part docuseries “The Playboy Murders,” out today, Madison is shedding light on the tragic deaths of women who once bore the iconic bunny ears, including Fiore’s brutal killing at the hands of her husband.
“Men talk about [dating] Playmates
. . . some want that trophy on their arm,” said Madison. “But then they become so jealous.”
In 2000, an 18-year-old Fiore auditioned to be a Playboy centerfold, but ultimately landed a gig hosting branded parties in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
It was in Sin City that she met Ryan Jenkins, a Canadian real estate entrepreneur in his 20s, in March 2009. At the time, he’d just been booted off the VH1 reality competition series “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” starring former Playboy “Cybergirl of the Week” Megan Hauserman.
In “The Playboy Murders,” Hauserman claims producers forced her to dump him and select another suitor. She received a call from him two days later.
“And before I got to explain to him what happened, he said, ‘I have met the love of my life and I’m married,’ ” she says.
Jenkins and Fiore had tied the knot at Vegas’ Little White Chapel less than 48 hours after meeting.
“Ryan thought that if he couldn’t be married to me, he’d find another Playboy model to get married to,” says Hauserman.
But his adoration of Fiore had a dark side.
“About a month after they got married, he saw her talking to somebody, got jealous and pushed her into the pool,” Buena Park, Calif., Detective Greg Pelton says in the doc.
Jenkins spent the night in jail after being arrested on a domestic violence charge.
By June, the newlyweds were on the verge of divorce and largely living apart. Jenkins then signed on for Season 3 of VH1’s “I Love Money” in Mexico. While shooting, Jenkins’ sole focus was winning the $250,000 grand prize in the hopes of regaining Fiore’s affections.
“Producers told me that he was so obsessed with winning the money so that maybe he could win back his wife,” says Hauserman. “And he’d just call her all the time from the show.”
Fiore ultimately gave in to his persistence and on Aug. 13 agreed to accompany Jenkins to a poker tournament in San Diego.
But that night, he discovered that Fiore had been secretly texting an ex-boyfriend. He was infuriated.
At 4:30 a.m., cameras showed a frantic Jenkins return to his hotel room alone. But investigators say he then left the room through the patio doors and dragged a badly beaten Fiore inside. When she tried to call the police, he strangled her to death.
Shocking discovery
Two days later, her naked and dismembered corpse was found stuffed inside a suitcase in Buena Park. But police were initially unable to identify the body, which was missing fingers and teeth.
Still, the killer “forgot one item,” Pelton says: her breast implants, which contained unique serial numbers.
While on the lam, Jenkins committed suicide in a Canadian motel.
Madison — who told The Post that she feels “kinship” with Fiore as a survivor of relationship abuse — hopes her tragic tale, as well as the others featured in the series, inspires empathy for victims.
“They’re all incredibly compelling, real-life stories that could happen to anyone,” she said.