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.
They may be separated, but trouble and imbroglios with these two just don’t seem to end. Things reached another weird turning point when, on Aug. 31, 2023, something happened that left people deeply concerned for Paul’s safety and well-being. A situation exacerbated by Karine’s cryptic and borderline strange social media posts.
Again, on April 1, 2024, people are once again worried about Paul, but for an entirely different reason. This time, the cryptic and strange social media posts came, not from Karine, but from Paul’s account.
Paul went missing in Brazil in the Summer of 2023
According to what his mother told TMZ, Paul has been in Brazil since the end of July.
In August 2023, Paul went missing in Brazil and no one seemed to know what had happened to him. In fact, netizens seemed 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 was an older picture or the 27-year-old was pregnant with a third child was unclear at the time. However, it now seems like it was an old photo of when she was pregnant with one of her boys.
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 stated that he needed help and a boat.
As per his last known location at the time, 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.
A Brazilian girl connected to the family, Izabele Medeiros, posted on Instagram, less than 24 hours before the time of the original writing of this article, 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 seemed to have deactivated all comments under her posts.
Although Karine’s Instagram post was closed to comments, many were 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 seemed never-ending, with many netizens speculating Paul may have done this for attention, and by extension, money, and even that Karine may have been in on the ploy.
At the time of the original writing of this article, Paul’s whereabouts and status were still unknown. John Yates, who had 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.
Paul was found safe and sound
A few days later, Paul had been found.
On 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 Edna’s explanation, Paul ended up in a remote village where the situation was not ideal but where he was not lacking any essentials. His mother hoped her son had learned from his mistake. Paul made the journey back soon afterward.
Although, as the TMZ video above shows, Paul says he did not do this for attention, all things considered, it is more than fair to take his word with a spoonful of salt. According to his IG page, he now considers himself a comedian. One of his comedy sketches actually alludes to a moment with Karine back when they both were on 90-day Fiancé. It’s in Brazilian Portuguese, however, one probably needn’t know the language to make a judgment on whether the skit is funny or in poor taste:
One of the English-language comments on the IG video reads: “So this is what Paul is doing instead of taking care of his kids. What a 🤡.”
April 2024: hacking or poor mental health?
Content warning: Allusions to suicide. Please take caution.
As of this most recent update, Paul Staehle is once again being frantically searched up by netizens. Not because he’s necessarily missing, but for a concerning post he made on his IG stories on his birthday, April 2, the day he turned 41.
The post has since been deleted, but here’s an English translation of the original Portuguese message:
“Everyday is the same… holiday… birthday… It doesn’t matter… always alone… But the second someone needs money or help, they appear and disappear as soon as their problems are solved. Solved and I’m alone at a distance. Family and friends don’t exist. Only in death do people care and become sad because they have one less person to ask for help from. My life is my choice. If I choose death respect my choice and allow me to die alone and rest in peace. I’m sick of this miserable life. This is my choice and my decision. Now is my time to end this suffering. Goodbye, everyone. I wish you all the best in life”
Despite this, Paul still posted something on his Facebook page after the apparent farewell, though only his friends can view his posts but the comments, which included his mother’s, seemed to hint that nothing was amiss. Although the IG story sounded sincere, it was also pretty generic. And it is a bit odd that it would be in Portuguese but not in English.
Of course, anyone with a heart would not dismiss such a message at face value, feeling concern for this person that obviously seems to be struggling. But it also doesn’t help Paul’s case that he seems to have before taken active steps to recapture the spotlight on himself.
The reality TV personality has half a million followers, but followers don’t mean friends. No one deserves do be dealing with suicidal thoughts and, at the end of the day, we hope Paul is okay and the the IG story was just an inconsequential spook.
As of now, Karine only has two visible posts on her IG, a stark contrast to the full timeline she had last year.
If you or anyone you know has been struggling with suicidal thoughts, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. For emergency contacts outside the US please check this list. You are not alone.