Update: Sept. 4, 8:20 am CT: Paul has been found. Less than 12 hours ago (Sept. 3), Yates went live once more on YouTube, this time with the participation of Paul’s mother, Edna. Edna relayed to John Yates the contents of her conversation with her son: “I said ‘Paul why did you do that? Why did you leave me like that?’ and he said ‘Mama, I was in danger.’ [He] was in danger because […] he took a canoe-type boat — which I think is stupid, I don’t know why he would go somewhere at night by himself, alone, but he did — and he went to the wrong place. […] It might’ve been that place everybody was talking about that was so dangerous [Marapatá] and he freaked out, and that’s where he said he screwed up.” According to the rest of what Edna explained, Paul ended up in a remote village where the situation is not ideal but where he’s not lacking any essentials. His mother has hope her son has learned from his mistake. Paul is to make the boat journey back to Manaus very soon.
Original story is as follows.
From the very beginning, 90 Day Fiancé’s Paul and Karine Staehle’s relationship was ridden with difficulties and contention. For a period longer than most people would find reasonable, neither spoke the other’s language — Paul did not speak Portuguese and Karine did not speak English, which made communication even trickier. Nevertheless, they ended up marrying in 2017, had a son, Pierre, moved to Louisville, and had their second child, Ethan.
The trials and tribulations in their relationship never seemed to end. Life in America did not live up to Karine’s expectations. Paul failed to impress her multiple times, from walking her through the supermarket as if she had never been to one, to going to see some houses for them to move into and none of them being up to par, especially since they already had a baby. To make matters worse, Paul’s criminal record for arson made it difficult for him to find a job. Karine even told her parents that unlike how Paul acted in front of them, he wasn’t always nice to her.
At one point, the two separated and even lost custody of their children. Most netizens seemed to feel sorry for neither adult, only for the two innocent children stuck in the eye of the domestic storm. Even Brazilian fans wrote comments like: “The truth is the only victims in this situation are the children.” Things were so unstable that the pair were even excluded from The 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? Tell-All.
Trouble and imbroglios with these two just don’t seem to end. And now, as of last Thursday, i.e., Aug. 31, things have reached another turning point, one that has people deeply concerned for Paul’s safety and well-being. A situation that has been exacerbated by Karine’s cryptic and borderline strange social media posts.
Paul went missing in Brazil
As of this writing, Paul has allegedly gone missing in Brazil and no one seems to know what happened to him. In fact, netizens seem to be even more confused due to the things Karine shared on her Instagram stories and a cryptic post she made on Sept. 1.
The first IG story the Brazilian native made was accompanied by a prayer emoji and read: “Paul went missing last night in Brazil. Prayers he is found safe.” About an hour afterward, Karine shared a picture of what seemed to be her belly bump. Whether it’s an older picture or the 27-year-old is pregnant with a third child is unclear. Hours later, Karine shared yet another story this time about life insurance. The post read: “Life insurance is a final way of telling your loved ones, ‘I’ve got you.’”
All of these were screenshotted and shared by celebrity blogger John Yates, who also posted the screenshots from Paul’s conversation with his mother, Edna, before his phone died and he officially went missing. In the text messages, Paul clearly states that he needs help and a boat.
As per his last known location, Paul needed a boat because he was apparently stuck on an island off the coast of the city of Manaus. Yates called this island Kennedy Holmes but it is actually known by locals as Ilha de Marapatá (Isle of Marapatá), or Ilha da Consciência (Isle of Consciousness), because, legend had it, the travelers would leave their shame on the island before docking in Manaus. “I’m a Brazilian, and there’s no way I would ever go to those places.” Wrote @simonepryor under Yates’ post with Paul’s last known location. According to what his mother told TMZ, Paul has been in Brazil since the end of July.
A Brazilian girl connected to the family, Izabele Medeiros, posted on Instagram, less than 24 hours prior to the time of this writing, that she had thought Paul wanted to be alone — which wasn’t alarming at the time — so their group let him be. She recorded the Instagram story outside of Paul’s house in the region saying she would give further updates once those were known. However, her next post, in English this time, gave no additional answers other than they were waiting for the mandatory time to pass before being able to involve the authorities.
According to other updates shared by Izabele, efforts were being made to check the security cameras around the area where Paul resided. The Brazilian native ended her IG story streak saying that she was doing her best to get any news about her friend but that she needed to take care of her own mental and physical health. The 18-year-old had previously been the target of speculation that she was Paul’s new girlfriend. However, Paul’s relationship with another 18-year-old, Jaciane Teixeira, became the new focus of gossip after multiple photos and videos of the two together came to light.
But what alarmed netizens the most was the post Karine made with a video montage of Paul with her and their children. The caption read: “Not all of our memories were bad. Our children loved you very much. We will never forgot (sic) you or the good memories we all shared.” These words were preceded by a broken heart emoji. Karine also seems to have deactivated all comments under her posts.
Although Karine’s Instagram post is devoid of comments due to her own choice, netizens have been far from quiet online. “Karine shouldn’t have made a post until she had all of the details.” Wrote @amandainsa under one of Yates’ posts, “Her posts alluded to him dying. We are all skeptical of death notices on IG due to the recent death hoaxes.” The rumors and theories online seem never-ending, with many netizens speculating Paul may be doing this for attention, and by extension, money, and even that Karine may be in on the ploy. However, there is no proof of this yet.
At the time of the original writing of this article, Paul’s whereabouts and status were still unknown. John Yates, who’s been in touch with Edna, went live on YouTube on Sept. 1 to say there were no concrete updates. Paul’s phone would go straight to voicemail and if contacted on IG or WhatsApp the call would just keep on ringing.