A star of reality-TV series 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days who allegedly went missing in Brazil has been found, but questions remain about what happened to him.
In 2017, Paul Staehle, 40, appeared on the TLC show, which documented his engagement to soon-to-be wife Karine. The couple married that year but endured a rocky, on and off again relationship that ended in divorce in 2021. They rekindled their romance again in April this year, but have split again.
On August 31, Karine raised concerns on social media about her ex-husband's welfare, saying he had gone missing in her native Brazil. "Paul went missing last night in Brazil. Prayers he is found safe," the 27-year-old wrote alongside a praying hands emoji.
Since her first post, a bizarre series of events unfolded, including Staehle eventually turning up alive. His first social media post while back said he was not in a relationship with an 18-year-old woman named Issa, who had been helping his family track him down.
Celebrity blogger John Yates became involved in the search for Staehle and kept his fans updated. He is close to the family and worked with Staehle's mother to try to contact him. They even involved the U.S. Embassy in Brazil in their search.
Now, Yates has said Staehle fooled all his followers and his disappearance was a hoax. He broke down the timeline of events since Karine's first Instagram post on a YouTube livestream.
"I cannot tell anybody with 100 percent certainty this was a hoax or staged, no one ever admitted to.... Still, I hope to God it isn't. But if I'm being objective when it comes to Paul and Karine who have a history of pulling stunts, I have to look at every angle," he began. "Let me break down how I deduced certain things."
He started by pointing to Karine's unusual posts on Instagram after first saying Staehle was missing, including posting that she was pregnant and a post about life insurance. Karine also posted a video montage of her husband, where she referred to him in the past tense.
Yates contacted Staehle's mother last Thursday to ask about her son and to help in her search. "I can tell you his mom has nothing to do with this, and it's the only reason I helped, I felt bad for her," he said.
Yates shared a series of screenshots Staehle sent his mother asking for help and saying he was lost.
On Saturday, Staehle's mother contacted the U.S. Embassy in Brazil, which agreed to help find him, but things started to get strange and raised the blogger's suspicions. He received a voicemail from the reality star saying his signal was poor.
"When the authorities began looking for him, Paul reappears, which is great," Yates said, then described Staehle's first message to his fans, which said he was not with Issa.
"Does that sound like someone who was grateful to be alive, that all these people put so much work into finding him?" Yates asked.
Next, Yates said that "at the same time" Staehle reappeared on social media, Karine was posting that "Paul has showed up... I had nothing to do with his" and "I am not responsible."
"Let's dissect this for a second," Yates started and questioned why Karine could be implying that she was not involved in an alleged hoax.
"I'm just doing the math, and it's up to you to do your own math," Yates told his followers.
Yates then continued to keep his focus on Karine, who last Friday shared screenshots of Staehle calling her and suggesting Yates was the first one to announce Staehle was missing, even though she was the first to post about it.
Staehle had reportedly told loved ones that he was on a remote island in the Amazon and that he was being fed but "not out of the woods," according to Yates.
Karine and Staehle share two sons, Pierre, 4, and Ethan, 4, but the toddlers were put into foster care by Child Protective Services in June 2022. Ever since, the couple have been fighting to get their children back.
The couple reportedly have a court date for their custody battle scheduled for Wednesday, which "rang warning bells" for Yates, who said it seemed bizarre that Staehle would be in another country when he was due in court to win his kids back.
"Basically what I said to Paul when we spoke was that he needs to get his life together. He's 40 and if he cared about his family he'd be back here and not running around in Brazil with 18-year-olds," Yates said about the phone conversation they had on Sunday morning.
"When I was looking at everything, I thought, This is exactly what everybody said it was [a hoax]," he said. "Paul is very smart and cunning. Again, I'm speculating."
As recently as Monday, Staehle was still telling his mother he was not safe on the island, although in his photos he is smiling and seems well.
Yates concluded: "I'm looking at it all and nothing adds up. Either we're all suckers or he was truly missing."
Newsweek has contacted Yates and the U.S. Embassy in Brazil by email—and also reached out to Staehle on social media—for comment.
Correction 9/6/23, 12:25 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to say that Karine Staehle raised concerns on August 31, not this month, about her ex-husband Paul's welfare and said he had gone missing in Brazil.