Catfish: The TV Show (2012–…): Season 7, Episode 29 - Mathan & Leah - full transcript
Nev and co-host Kamie Crawford help Mathan find Leah, a girl he's been talking to for a decade yet can never meet, but Leah has shocking secrets beyond their wildest imaginations that will lead them on one of their toughest chases to date.
- Mathan, since he was 13,
has been talking to Leah.
It's been nine years.
- I love her and
I care about her, you know?
I can't just drop her.
I need to meet her.
- Something is not right.
What is with just disappearing?
- Oh, whoa.
What is this?
Oh, my God.
- Fugitive watch.
- Dang.
- This could get really ugly.
[knocking]
- Someone's coming.
Someone's coming.
[suspenseful music]
- Hey guys, Nev here,
and we're back
with a brand new batch
of all new "Catfish" episodes.
Let's do it!
We've been making this show
for over seven years
and we've done
over 125 episodes.
- You're a coward, man.
- And what's amazing is we're
still encountering things
we've never seen before.
He was dead for a couple days.
What?
- Everybody in Hawaii
is in on this.
- ♪ Prophecy is just the tip
of the iceberg ♪
- New ways to fall in love...
Never have we had
two homegirls hook up.
All new deceptions.
- You just lied about
so much [bleep].
- And new "what the [bleep]
firsts" that are gonna
completely flip the script
on what you think you know
about "Catfish".
- He has a twin.
- An identical twin?
So join me and all
our favorite cohosts.
- Are we gonna get jumped?
- Oh, my gosh.
- As we dive head first into
an all new season of episodes
each with a unique
"Catfish" first.
- ♪ What we see is just
the tip of the iceberg ♪
[dramatic musical sting]
[upbeat music]
- How's it going?
- What's up?
Kamie!
I gotta say,
people are loving you.
- I love them.
They're being so nice.
- From what
I've seen on Twitter,
you got fans, girl.
- I've been getting fan mail.
- Wow.
- But my grandma texted
her pastor to be like,
"Kamie's on 'Catfish'."
- Oh, really?
- You know, "Tune in."
And I said "dick pic"
on national TV.
Grandma literally was like,
"Oh, Kamie!"
[laughs]
Her Jamaican accent.
- Were you with her?
- Yes, I was with her.
And I was just kinda like,
"Sorry."
- [laughs]
Great to have you back.
- Thank you.
- We got an email.
"I need your help.
"My name is Mathan.
I'm 22 years old.
"And I just moved
to Los Angeles.
"This is about
my best friend Leah.
She lives in Washington state
and I'm in love with her."
- Ooh.
- ♪ Baby it's so weird to me ♪
- Well, you came to
the right place, Mathan.
All right,
we're gonna help you.
"I started talking to Leah
back when I was 13.
- ♪ The space where
you used to be ♪
- "It went from chatting
to text to phone calls,
"from a few minutes
to a few hours.
"We had an amazing connection.
"We really started
to love each other
and began talking about
building a future."
- ♪ All of the plans we made ♪
- "We've even lightweight
talked about marriage."
I love that.
Lightweight.
- Lightweight.
It's like low-key.
- "The problem is Leah has
always been kind of mysterious
like she's never telling me
the whole story."
- ♪ There's this empty space ♪
- "She'll go in and out
of my life for months on end.
- ♪ And you're
not here with me ♪
- "She always pops up again but
never explains what happened."
- She's in jail.[laughs]
- That's an option.
- ♪ The picture's incomplete ♪
"She won't video chat with me,
either."
- ♪ There's this empty space ♪
- "Every time I ask,
she makes an excuse
or just ghosts me."
- ♪ And you're
not here with me ♪
- I've heard this before.
- Yeah.
"The couple of times
we've tried to plan trips
"to see each other,
she can only do it
if I pay for everything."
Uh-oh.
- She's trying
to get that coin.
- ♪ 'Cause I'm missing you ♪
- "I know she's hiding
something from me
"and I wish I could move on.
But I've never felt like this
about anyone else."
- ♪ I miss you ♪
- "I really need your help.
Mathan."
Whoo!
It's been nine years.
- It's a great story.
But I'm gonna need for Mathan
to want a little bit better
for himself than a girl that
just keeps disappearing on him
every five seconds.
- Well, he's tried.
But he still can't let her go.
Let's call this guy--
find out more.
[line trilling]
- Oh!
- Yo!
- Hey!
- What's up Mathan?
- Hey, Nev, how's it going?
- Hey, this is Kamie,
by the way.
- Hi.
- Hello.
- She's here to help us out.
- Cool. Sounds good.
- I like your energy, man.
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
- Crazy story.
Tell us everything.
- I'm 22 years old,
just moved to L.A.
- Okay, so you just
moved to L.A.
- Yes.
- You're a handsome young man.
Can't you find someone
you'd be interested in here?
- Well, Leah--
she's very special and unique.
She means a lot to me.
We've been talking for about,
like, eight or nine years.
She's always
been there for me.
Her humor would always bring
my energy up when I was down.
I felt like I connected with
her in a way that I haven't
been able to connect with
any other girl that
I've been talking to or dated.
- But you've dated other girls.
- I've had, like,
a couple relationships,
like, not too many.
- When you have
other girlfriends,
do you and Leah still talk?
- Yeah, we still talk.
She's helped with giving,
like, advice through
relationships.
She knows, like, pretty much
everything about me.
- What is her deal?
Is she online?
Is she on Instagram
and Snapchat and--
- Yeah, I have her
on all social media--
Facebook, Instagram, Snap,
you know what I mean?
- But have you seen her face
and heard her voice in a video?
- Not in a video, no.
We've never
video chatted ever.
- Has she ever posted a video
or a Snapchat where
she's talking to the camera?
- No.
Never any videos,
just pictures.
- But you've been talking
to her for so long.
- You're 22.
You don't need to be trying
to cash out on some girl
who can't even, like,
video chat.
Have you ever asked her, like,
what the [bleep] is up, girl?
- For sure.
Many, many times.
Like, sometimes
she gives excuses.
Sometimes they're good.
Sometimes they're bad.
Sometimes they don't
make any sense at all.
I still really want
to see her really bad.
I can't, like,
just stop thinking about her
and forget her.
Like, it's not possible.
Our relationship has been
building for a long time.
I want to make it happen
and I feel like
the only way that
it could possibly happen
is if you guys
could help me out.
- You're, like,
five minutes away.
Why don't we just go meet you?
- You guys are welcome.
Come through.
- All right.
Send us your address
and we'll head over there.
- Yes.
See you guys.
- Ooh!
Do you think
she would have come down
if he had paid for everything?
- No.
She sounds fishy.
Catfishy AF.
- All right, let's do it.
- All right.
- ♪ We're going tripping ♪
♪ We're going up,
up, and away ♪
♪ We're going tripping ♪
- What is going on
with this girl?
Why is she disappearing
for months at a time?
Unless that's, like,
the only way she knows
how to avoid coming--
- Telling the truth.
- Telling the truth.
- Something is not right.
- Okay.
You ready, girl?
- Ready.
[knocking]
At your service.
- Whoa, what's up, man?
- Nice to meet you.
How's it going?
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm Mathan.
- I have a lot of questions,
so let's have a seat.
Let's get into it.
We got work to do.
- Yeah.
- Good.
- Take us back and kind of
explain how this whole--
all started and--and
the progression of it.
- So, when I first
started talking to Leah,
it was on a site called MeetMe.
And then we exchanged numbers,
started texting,
and then started calling.
We became best friends,
talking to each other
every day.
My parents are divorced
and there is times
I would lean on her to,
like, help me feel better,
and help me to not,
like, be lonely and stuff.
And, like,
I had no one to talk to.
I could call her any time
and she would always, like,
make me feel better
and more uplifted.
- But in the eight years
you guys have been so close,
I would imagine as a teenager,
you must have felt, like,
"We should be video chatting."
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
Video chat, yeah.
And it was a huge thing then.
Like, UVU, Skype--
like, that was huge,
especially during that time.
- Yeah.
- I tried to get her to video
chat so, so, so many times.
There's times she'd be like,
"Yeah, I'm down."
And then, like,
just never do it,
or she just disappears.
- Can we talk about this,
the disappearing act?
- Of course, yes.
- She's Houdini?
- That whole disappearing act--
it has been bad
'cause next thing you know it,
like, it's just,
she won't answer her phone.
Her number's changed.
Like, she's just gone.
- Number's changed, too?
- Yeah, and there's been times
we would be having
serious phone calls.
I would be telling a story.
And then she would
just disappear.
Like, completely gone.
Like, just drops the phone--
like, like--
- Wait a second.
- What?
- Mid-phone call?
- Mid-phone call.
I'm like, "Hello, hello?"
- And then you don't
hear from her for...
- It could be weeks, months.
Like, I never know.
- Something's up
with this girl for sure.
- I know that, like,
she had, like, a rough past.
There's been a couple times
where she ran away from home
and she didn't have a phone.
- Oh.
- She also has kind of
a bumpy past with some
of her previous boyfriends
and exes.
She got pregnant one time.
- Hmm.
- With one of her exes.
She told me
she had an abortion.
Another thing that was huge
was that her father passed away
about a year ago.
- Oh, re--pretty recently.
- Yeah, and that had, like,
a huge impact on her.
- From the outside--I mean,
not that that stuff's not all
very possible...
- Yeah.
- But it feels very theatrical.
- Yeah.
- I need to see what
this girl looks like.
- Come over here and show us
pictures of this girl.
- Yes, yes.
- All right,
so this is her Facebook.
- This is her Facebook.
So as you can see, like,
most of her photos have,
like, filters.
- So she's on Snapchat.
- Yeah, I have her on Snapchat.
- Huh.
What's up with this girl?
- I don't know.
- When you're talking,
is she, like, affectionate,
and does she say, "I love you"?
- Yeah.
It's always good
when we do talk--
good feelings,
chemistry, everything.
Connection's always there
whenever we talk.
It's just, like,
she just disappears
for such a long time and--
- This girl isn't really
treating you consistently well.
- Right.
It's not fair, for sure.
- It's been nine years.
It's not fair!
- No, it's not fair at all.
- Why are you putting--
Why are you allowing this woman
to--to do this to you?
- Because I love her
and I care about her.
You know, it's like--it's just
I can't just drop her.
You know what I mean?
- It's unconditional love.
- You are allowing yourself
to go through this crazy
never-ending masochism because
you want to be with her.
- I'm just at that point
where I'm just--
I need to meet her.
I need to make it happen.
- I mean, I'm at that point.
- I mean--
- What is going on
with this girl?
- Yeah.
- We gotta figure this out.
You've been waiting too long.
- For real.
- All right, man.
- Yeah.
- See you tomorrow.
- Thank you guys
for helping me.
- Later, Mathan.
- See you guys.
[suspenseful music]
- Mathan.
Too nice.
- Too nice.
- This girl's been walking
all over him for years.
- She's tap dancing all over
his heart and I don't like it.
- Even if you're
lying to someone,
what is with just disappearing?
- It's so bizarre.
She's kind of the worst--
getting what
she needs out of it...
- Right.
- And then just ghosting.
- We got work to do.
We should sit
at separate tables
and race to see
who can figure it out first.
- Oh, it's gonna be me.
- Oh, you think so?
- I'm the FBI.
I've told you this
a million times.
- Oh, that's right.
Should we warm up a little bit?
- I'm not ready.
- Do a little searching
finger stretch.
All right,
so what do we got?
Let's refresh.
Mathan, 22--
since he was 13,
has been talking to Leah.
Love starts to develop,
and all of a sudden,
Leah starts having
these strange lapses
where she just disappears
for months at a time.
They talked about meeting up,
then she backs out.
If she really likes him,
why would you
treat someone like that?
- In my experience, you teach
people how to treat you.
And so, if you're just okay
with somebody disappearing
on you every five seconds
and pulling Houdinis...
- Right.
- That's what they'll do.
- All right,
let's see what we can find.
"Hey, guys.
Thanks again for meeting.
This is what I have on Leah."
She's got a Facebook page.
Leah Mayer.
"Now she lives near Seattle
in a town called Everett."
Okay, that's something.
"I also attached a couple
pictures I have of her
"without filters on
because those are rare.
LOL."
All right.
Let's search these pics.
First one.
Search.
It's a negative.
Picture number two.
All right, no, nothing.
Picture three.
Nothing.
We got nothing
on those pictures.
Let's check out
her Facebook page.
Leah Mayer lives in
Everett, Washington,
uh, went to
[bleep] High School.
This is a real page
for a real high school.
- In Everett.
- What's this?
This is a recent post.
"Happy birthday, Daddy."
Wait, so there's
a dad profile, too.
His last name is [bleep].
- Different last name.
He passed, remember?
- Oh.
"Today is the first birthday
we are celebrating of yours
"since you passed.
Rest easy, Daddy,
and happy birthday."
- Okay, oddly enough,
this makes it more real.
- Yeah, I mean, look.
She just posted yesterday
on her anniversary--
first anniversary
of her father's passing.
So, okay.
So there's a dad page.
Even though he's passed,
people are commenting on this.
It's starting to feel more
and more like this girl
is just this girl.
So then what's her crazy secret
or what's with the mystery?
What's she hiding?
- She's definitely
hiding something.
Something's not--
- Let--
Let's just look up Leah Mayer.
Is that her last name?
Why is her last name Mayer?
Is she married?
♪ ♪
Okay, that's weird.
Nothing comes up.
What about her dad's last name?
[bleep].
♪ ♪
"16-year-old girl delivers baby
without doctors."
Oh, whoa, whoa.
What is this?
"16-year-old girl delivers baby
without doctors,
had troubled past."
Everett.
"16-year-old Leah [bleep]
reportedly left her home
"over a year ago.
"Police now believe
she may have given birth
while on heroin."
- Jesus.
- "Authorities are asking
for any help in finding
this missing runaway."
Whoa.
- But we still don't know
this is her necessarily.
- We don't.
- There's another article,
and I need to see it.
both: "Baby still missing."
- My God.
Baby still missing in county
after teen mother booked--
Oh, wow.
- [gasps]
Oh, my God.
- That's her!
Look. There it is.
- No!
[rock music plays]
- Deputies on a desperate
search to find this teen's
newborn baby.
And tonight in Snohomish
County, the search is on.
Police have located that mom,
but they cannot...
- Oh, my heart
just dropped to my butt.
- And they believe
the infant is in danger.
- 16-year-old Leah [bleep]
was found this afternoon
in south Everett
on Casino Road,
and Janet Kim is live
for us there tonight.
Janet, do detectives have
any good clues to go on?
- They're talking
to her as we speak,
and what they do want
is the public's help
in trying to help
find that baby.
The teen is believed
to have delivered a baby girl
without help
from doctors and nurses.
- It's her!
- Did this baby receive
any medical care?
We don't believe she did.
And, um, mother's also known
to be a heroin addict.
- Every minute counts.
They are asking anyone
who might have information
to call 911.
- How does he not know
any of this?
She just hasn't told him...
- How--
- And he thinks
her last name is Mayer.
- This is her 100%.
- Obviously.
And she's had a crazy life.
She's in and out of rehab
or detention or drug houses,
which is why
she just disappears,
told him she had got pregnant
but not that she actually
had a baby and it was,
like, a big news story
because she was on the streets
and the baby...
- Where's the baby at?
- Well, the baby must not
be missing anymore.
I mean, something
must have resolved.
- It seems like
she just was able to go on
and live her normal life.
- She's been hiding
a lot from Mathan.
But she's not lying
about who she is.
You can't get more proof that
someone is the person they say
they are than a news story
about her with pictures of her.
So, it's her.
This is some
really wild [bleep].
- He's such a nice,
optimistic guy.
I'm gonna need him to, like,
snap into reality real quick
because this girl
has a lot going on.
- I really don't know
how Mathan is gonna react.
He doesn't know any of this.
- I just don't know
if anything is gonna
make a difference for him.
He might think
he can change her.
Like, he might think that
he can be her savior.
- This is a wake-up call.
- Yeah.
Aww, it's gonna crush
his little sweet heart.
- [sighs] Let's do it.
Hello?
- Hey.
- What's u--
whoa, the hair is down.
- Totally new look.
- Come on in.
- How are you?
- Good.
How are you guys doing?
- Good.
- We got a lot to talk about.
- Ooh, okay.
Dang.
- Why don't we just dive in?
- I'm very curious.
- Let's, uh--
Let's all tuck in here.
So we started
on her Facebook page.
Very first thing we saw
was her most recent post
that you--have you...
- Right, I just saw that
last night, yeah.
- Right, so her--the
anniversary of her dad's death
was yesterday.
- Yes.
- And the first thing that
jumps out at us was that
his last name was [bleep],
because she goes by Leah Mayer.
Not sure why,
but that felt like
a bit of a clue.
So the next thing we did
was a Google search
for Leah [bleep],
her dad's last name.
Here's what we found.
- Deputies on a desperate
search to find this teen's
newborn baby.
And tonight in Snohomish
County, the search is on.
Police have located that mom,
but they cannot find
her newborn baby.
- 16-year-old Leah [bleep]
was found this afternoon
in south Everett
on Casino Road.
- The teen is believed
to have delivered a baby girl
without help
from doctors and nurses.
- Mother's also known
to be a heroin addict, so--
and transient.
[tense music]
- [sighs] Wow.
[soft somber music]
- It's a lot.
- Wow.
♪ ♪
- Um, does this even sound
remotely like the person
you've been talking
to all these years?
♪ ♪
- No, I mean, it's crazy.
I don't--I--like, she would
have told me, you know?
- She's the person
she told you she was, but
she's not who you
thought she was.
- Like, I would have
supported her and,
like, talked to her,
like, helped her, you know?
Like, as much as I could.Like...
♪ ♪
But this is--
this is wild.
♪ ♪
- You know, I think that
someone who has gone through
as much as she has--
drugs, this baby--
to think that you could
help her through that--
I think that you would have
been way in over your head.
This is somebody
you've been dedicated to
for eight years,
and they're not even remotely
being honest about themselves.
- [exhales]
Man.
It's pretty messed up.
I really do care about her,
you know?
I still really want to see her
and just be able to talk,
you know?
- You're doing a lot to try
to look out for her
and make excuses for her,
but you need to start
looking out for yourself.
- You deserve an apology.
You deserve an explanation.
I think at this point,
we just have to reach out.
- Let's try and call her
and see--
see what happens.
- Yeah.
- Let's see what happens.
[line trilling]
- Please leave your message
for 425--
- She's not answering.
All right,
let me send a text.
"Hey, Leah.
"This is Nev.
Please call me.
Thanks."
Since we're sitting here
waiting to hear back from her,
let's see if we can find out
where she's at.
So let's do Leah [bleep].
Here we go, here we go.
Leah [bleep].
Everett, Washington.
So that is her.
Wow, so we have an address.
So this could be
where she's living.
If we don't hear back from her,
I still think we should
go up there and assume that
we'll figure something out.
- Yeah, 100%.
- We're going to Washington?
- Do it.
- All right.
All right.
- Thank you.
- Sorry to be the bearer
of sort of not great news.
- It's all good.
- All right.
- See you tomorrow.
- All right.
- Let us know
if you hear anything.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- Poor thing.
- He's--
- He's distraught.
- Devastated, but he just
isn't ready to, like,
come to terms
with his feelings.
- I still think, though,
that he thinks
in the back of his mind that
he can save this girl.
[cell phone rings]
- All right.
Hold on,
I think that's a 425.
Hello?
Hi, is this--
is this Leah?
- All right.
- Is that--
I think that's a 425.
Hello?
Hi, is this--
is this Leah?
- Hey, Leah.
- Uh, thank you so much
for getting back to me.
We just left Mathan,
who we've been with--
- Who we've been with
the last couple days.
- You are?
- Okay, well that's good news.
Uh, I know he would love
to meet you also.
Are you in Washington?
- Right.
Listen, we found out
a little bit about your past.
- And obviously,
he was very surprised.
- Great, yeah.
We're gonna get on a flight
in the morning,
which means we can probably
potentially meet up with you
tomorrow afternoon.
- Good, okay.
I'm glad to hear that.
Thanks, Leah.
Look--looking forward
to meeting you.
- All right, bye.
- That sounds like a shockingly
pleasant individual.
- She seems nice.
- But this is gonna be bad.
I can see it.
And I don't want to, so nope.
- Well, we're going to Seattle.
[dramatic music]
[upbeat music]
- ♪ Saw you on the corner ♪
♪ Saw you down the last time ♪
- ♪ Ooh, you were
really something ♪
♪ We were so much
younger then ♪
- And it's not that she just,
like, left all of this out.
It's crazy.
- ♪ I got you talking
in your sleep at night ♪
♪ About the places
you ain't never been ♪
♪ You said you'd never leave ♪
♪ ♪
[thunder rolling]
- Hello.
- Hey.
- Come on in.
- Thank you.
- [chuckles]
- It's really raining
out there.
They weren't kidding
about the Pacific Northwest.
- It's pouring out.
- It's already, like, 10:00.
- I know.I know.
I did try to reach out to her
and give her a call,
but there was no response.
- I don't know why
she hasn't responded.
- Yeah.
- Like,
she committed to showing up.
- I know.
- I mean, I hope this isn't
the first time a catfish
just ghosts us.
- You came all this way
to meet this girl.
And she knows that.
- Yeah.
- [sighs]
- I'm wondering, like,
check, like, her social media,
see if there's,
like, anything new.
- Let's see if we can find her.
Nothing.
Wait, there we go.
Look at this.
She just posted this.
Oh, my God.
"I love my man so much
and I'm so glad
you're finally out of jail."
- What?
Oh, God.
- And then,
"My baby Darnell [bleep]."
- I've seen that name before.
- Oh.
- I think that's her ex.
- What--what the hell?
- I know.
I don't know.
- Who's this guy?
Darnell [bleep]?
You've seen his name before?
- I saw it on Facebook.
[suspenseful music]
- Let's see.
Darnell [bleep].
Oh.
Oh, my God.
Look at this.
Fugitive watch.
- Oh, my God.
- All right, let's see.
Darnell [bleep].
Oh.
Oh, my God.
Look at this.
Fugitive watch.
- Oh, my God.
- "Darnell [bleep], 22,
has a felony warrant
"for failing to report to State
Department of Corrections.
"He's being supervised
for attempting to allude
pursuing police vehicle."
- Dang.
- So a cop tried to
pull him over, I guess,
and he fled.
Released, 12/19.
That's yesterday.
- Oh, [bleep].
- He just was in jail
for two months.
And this is her boyfriend
who she's excited
to be seeing right now?
- I'm baffled because she said,
"I'm ready.
I'll be there."
And just a couple hours ago,
she's shouting out
her jailbird boyfriend
talking about,
"Miss you, baby.
Can't wait to see you."
She couldn't have waited,
like--
- Pretty cray.
- A day?
- I'm not surprised.
All her exes seem to be, like,
people who get in trouble,
end up going to jail
at some point.
I just don't understand
why she continues to, like,
want to be involved
with a guy like this.
You know what I mean?
- If she's still
messing with this dude
who just got out of jail...
- Exactly.
- For running from the cops,
what is with this girl?
- For real.
- I'm gonna call her.
[line trilling]
- Please leave
your message for--
- Oh, honey.
Whoo!
- That's not a good sign.
- How do you feel?
- I'm not mad at her.
I'm upset and,
like, you know--
but I'm not, like,
angry at her, you know?
Like, it's not like when
I see her I'm gonna be like,
"Why'd you do this?
Why'd you do that?"
- [sighs]
- [laughs softly]
I know, Kamie.
I know. I know.
- The nice route,
like, is no more.
- No more?
- She's been playing you,
and playing games.
I want for you to want
better for yourself,
even as a friend.
Friends don't ghost you.
Friends are there
no matter what--
good friends, at least.
Like, she should be
just as excited to see you
even if it's not
in a romantic way.
But just be like,
"Oh, my friend's in town.
I want to see my friend."
- Yeah.
- Like, to me that's no--
that's normal.
- Yeah.
- In the back of your mind,
are you hoping that
when she sees you she, like,
is head over heels in love
and wants to pursue
a relationship?
Be honest.
- I would like that
but then again, you know,
this is gonna be
the first time, like,
I'm meeting her and
actually getting to know
the real her, so--
- At least you know
face-to-face she can't
drop the phone and
disappear for five months.
She's gonna have to talk.
She can't just run away.
- All right, well, look,
we obviously have to prepare
ourselves to not
hear back from her.
If that's the case,
we have an address.
Tomorrow morning,
if she hasn't responded,
we'll just head over there.
I don't wanna just roll up,
but we gotta get this girl.
- We came all this way.
- Yeah.
- And it's been
all these years.
At some point you're gonna have
to find out some kind of truth.
- That time is now.
- Well, look, we texted her.
I called her.
We still haven't
heard from her.
We're here.
We have an address.
Let's just go over.
All right.
- On the road again.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- This is gonna be crazy,
seeing her for the first time.
I'm nervous.
Super nervous.
- Yeah, I mean, we've never
had a situation like this.
We don't know what to expect.
- The fugitive boyfriend
could come to the door.
- Yeah, I mean,
this could get really ugly.
[tense music]
A mobile home park.
♪ ♪
I see eight over there.
♪ ♪
I guess that's it.
They don't have any lights on.
- Are we sure that
we're supposed to be here?
- I have no idea.
- Let's keep--
leave the car running.
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- This is so weird.
[knocking]
♪ ♪
- Hello?
♪ ♪
I mean, someone was in there,
right?
Is there, like,
another entrance?
- Is there a side door?
- Oh, maybe this is where
they go in.
[knocking]
♪ ♪
- Let me try.
♪ ♪
[knocking sharply]
- Someone's coming.
Someone's coming.
- Somebody's coming?
- Yeah.
[knocking sharply]
[suspenseful music]
- Someone's coming.
Someone's coming.
- Somebody's coming?
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- Hi.
- Hi.
- Uh, we're looking
for Leah [bleep].
- Okay,
so you don't know a girl--
a young girl named Leah?
- Leah Mayer?
- Oh, yeah--Mayer?
I think we might just have
the wrong address.
- Okay, sorry to bother you.
- No problem.
- Yeah.
[soft dramatic music]
What do we do next?
- Call her one more time.
[line trilling]
- Please leave
your message for--
- You wanna look and see
if she's posted lately?
Maybe something?
I don't know.
Go to her timeline.
Wait, wait, wait.
- "Call me."
Who is this person,
Jasmine [bleep]?
She might know Leah in person.
- Are you friends
with that person?
- No.
- Maybe add them and
see if we can call her.
- Let's go in the car.
- Yeah.
- It'll be quieter.
- Thank you.
Does she have it where you can
call her without being friends?
- Uh, actually, yeah, she does.
- Call her.
- Hi, is this Jasmine?
- Hey, um, I'm Mathan.
I'm one of Leah's, like,
really, uh, close friends,
and I flew up here
to come see her,
and now she's just going ghost.
If you have any way
to contact her,
can you just, like,
let her know?
- Absolutely.
- Do you know where she stays,
by any chance?
Like, is she still in Everett?
- Which courthouse?
Do you know?
- In Everett?
Okay.
Perfect.
Thank you so much.
- All right.
Bye-bye.
- There it is.
It's already almost 1:00.
Do we wanna do this?
Do we want to just...
- [bleep] it.
What else are we gonna do?
- I guess so.
What else are we gonna do?
So apparently she has to
check in every day for, like,
some sort of
probation requirement.
- ♪ Let me recognize ♪
♪ The end ♪
- Is this our court?
- ♪ Who longs
to neglect and... ♪
- Like it's a stakeout.
- [laughs] Oh, my God.
- I mean, we'll see her
if she comes.
She's gonna come right here.
- What time is it?
- 1:45.
♪ ♪
- We didn't bring donuts.
[cars whooshing]
- She could pull up any second.
♪ ♪
- How do we know she didn't
come before we got here?
- We don't.
♪ ♪
Captain's log.
It's been 500 years
we've been sitting in this car.
♪ ♪
- Why don't we call Jasmine
just to see if she can
tell us anything else?
Maybe we can FaceTime her.
- Yeah, let's do it.
Hey.
- Hi.
- So I'm at the courthouse
waiting for Leah right now.
Uh, oh, this is Nev with me.
- Hi.
By the way, we're making
an episode of "Catfish."
- [laughs]
- In case you didn't know.
- This is Kamie back here.
- Hi.
- What else can you
tell us about her?
How do you know her?
- Leah's my sister.
- Wait, your actual sister?
- Yeah.
We didn't grow up
in the same house,
but I was there
every other weekend
with Dad, her, and her mom.
- So what's up with the whole
news story a couple years ago?
I imagine you're aware
of all of that.
- Yeah, I'll never know
the whole truth.
So, I just kind of
take what's given to me
with a grain of salt,
if that makes any sense.
- Yeah.
What do you know about
this guy Darnell?
- No comment.
- [laughs softly]
Okay.
- All right.
- Well, all right.
Thank you.
- Good luck.
- Thank you so much.
- Nice meeting you.
- Take care.
- Bye.
- Bye-bye.
- It's like--
- Wow, that's wild, though,
that that's her sister, though.
That--that caught me off guard.
- But that's her sister.
- That's pretty crazy.
- Yeah.
- Food's here.
- Thanks, man.
Classic stakeout.
I love it.
- It's hella funny.
- Oh, my God.
Oh, yeah.
But don't get distracted.
Keep your eye on the prize.
- Yeah, mm-hmm.
♪ ♪
- Courthouse probably closes
at 4:30, right?
- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.
- 30 more minutes.
♪ ♪
Who's that?
Is that them?
Or her?
I couldn't see them.
I'm gonna go check it out.
♪ ♪
Hey.
- Hi.
- Neither of you are Leah,
right?
- No.
- No.
- Aren't you, like, famous?
- Kinda, yeah.
- Ah, cool.
- No, you don't know this girl,
Leah [bleep], do you?
She grew up in Everett.
- No.
- All right, well, thanks.
♪ ♪
Well, the court house--
oh, there's the bell.
It's officially 4:30, which
means the courthouse is closed,
which means if she
hasn't shown up by now,
she's not showing up.
♪ ♪
Well, they closed.
They locked the door.
I mean, that's it.
- Oh, we tried.
- I can't believe
she didn't show up.
- We've gotta find her.
I mean, we always do.
I guess we could
try the sister again.
- Should we ask the sister
about the house address?
- Yeah, maybe she can
help us figure out
what the hell to do next.
- Hey, it's Mathan.
Have you talked to her lately?
- Can we come by?
- We're, like, downtown
right now at the Vintage Café.
- Thank you.
- This is the final attempt.
- It's now or never.
- I guess if sister's with her
and thinks she can convince her
to come, it's worth a try.
- Yeah.
- I think the issue
is her boyfriend.
I don't know if he knows
about you or the show.
- She's probably
talking to Leah
and Leah's being stubborn
right now.
- This is the best chance
we're gonna get, is her sister.
- She doesn't even need
to answer any questions,
just show up.
Anything would be better
than nothing.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Oh, what?
- What?
- "I'm coming around the block
and going to pull up
in about three minutes."
- Okay.
- Who is? Jasmine?
- Well, Jasmine wrote that.
- Is this her here?
- Huh?
- Is that her?
- I mean--
- Yeah.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[car door slams]
- Is that her?
- Is that her?
- Yeah.
- Is that her?
♪ ♪
- Hey.
- Hi.
- Hi.
I'm Jasmine.
- How's it going?
I'm Mathan.
- So good to meet you.
- Good to meet you, too.
- [sighs]
[soft dramatic music]
I couldn't get her to come.
She chose to stay there
with her boyfriend.
She thought that
that was the right decision.
So, I'm sorry.
- Is she seeing
all our messages?
Is she just--
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- Yeah, she is.
Um, that's--it's hard
for her to leave
and then have to go back.
I think that's the...
- To explain it to him?
- Yeah, right.
- But--so at the--so he just
doesn't know anything?
- Oh, no, he knows.
- Oh, he does know?
- Yeah, he knows.
Um, and he doe--
he doesn't like it.
I think it's a jealousy issue.
- [exhales]
- So he doesn't want her to go.
I don't know much about him.
I've only met him
a couple times,
so I can't speak
to his character.
- Mm-hmm.
- But...
[sighs]
So, I'm sorry.
[somber music]
- [sighs]
- Thanks for trying.
- Yeah.
- I tr--yeah, I did.
I did.
She wasn't budging.
- Well, that's--
Appreciate it.
Nice to have met you.
- Yeah.
Yeah, it's good to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- You, too.
- Thanks for coming.
- I guess that's it,
unless there's any--I mean,
you have any other questions?
I mean, 'cause this is
the closest you're gonna get.
- Yeah, if you want
to know anything.
♪ ♪
- I'm good, you know?
- All right.
- As her older sister,
I am sorry on her behalf.
Yeah.
- All right, well, it's cold...
- Yeah.
- And late, so why don't
we all just call it?
Nice to meet you.
- You, too.
- Thanks, Jasmine.
- Nice to meet you.
- Thanks, you guys.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
- [sighs]
- After all these years,
it's the first time
we didn't get our girl.
I'm sorry.
I guess that's it.
- That's so [bleep]ed up.
So [bleep]ed up.
[sighs]
[bleep] it.
- You can send her a message
and say, like,
"Look, we're here.
We did everything we could."
♪ ♪
- ♪ I watch the wind
running through ♪
♪ The trees ♪
- Here's the message man.
- [sniffs]
- You all right?
- Yeah.
- ♪ I wish that
I could move so wild ♪
- Can you read that
for us or...
- Yeah.
"Leah,
"this'll be the last message
I'll ever send you.
"I want you to know that
I am very, very upset
"and hurt about
this whole situation.
"I have never been
so disappointed in you
"in our entire friendship.
"You've made me promises,
left me hanging,
"and lied to me multiple times,
and I still forgave you.
"But this time,
I'm completely done for good.
"Please don't try to contact me
after this message
"because I will not respond.
"Just know that
I'll always love you
and hope the best for you.
Mathan."
- ♪ Sometimes
you need to run ♪
♪ To remember who we are ♪
- That's really big of you.
- ♪ Sometimes
your roots are good ♪
♪ To tell you where is home ♪
- I think you're doing
the right thing, Mathan.
- Well, you still
have to let go though.
- Yeah.
- ♪ I need to run ♪
- Ready to go home?
- Yeah, let's do it.
♪ ♪
- ♪ I need to run ♪
- Just need to move on.
- ♪ I need to run ♪
[Skype tone trilling]
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Oh!
What up, Mathe?
- How's it going?
- Still got that smiling face.
- Last time we saw you,
things were bonkers.
- Yeah.
- Having done this
for a long time,
I can honestly say
the catfish not showing up
was a total first.
Give us an update.
- Yeah, I actually
haven't talked to Leah since,
haven't, like, tried to reach
out ever since that message.
- Nothing?
- Nothing.
- Wow.
- I'm happy to hear this.
I'm glad that you are
moving on with your life.
- She's completely gone.
I've actually been talking
to a new girl recently.
- Whoo!
- Um...
And it's getting
pretty serious.
- You've met her before?
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
- Okay, no,
I'm just making sure.
- I actually met her
in high school.
Yeah, we're gonna actually
be doing some traveling.
- Are you gonna bring her
convict boyfriend with you
on your road trip?
- Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
There's no boyfriend
involved at all.
- Oh, okay.
Good, good.
- Aww.
- Wow, that's exciting.
- You know, I needed
that closure and that--
you know, that finish, though.
Thank you.
Thank you.
See you guys.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye.
- Bye.
- Faith has made me feel things
that nobody ever has.
And I just want to know
who she is.
- I told Christina
I live on an island
and it's super hard
to get here
due to the lake freezing.
- Oh, yeah, that's frozen.
That's crazy.
- I don't even know if she's
gonna show up tomorrow.
- She literally
can't hide from you.
- Oh, my God.
Did you do this?
1061
00:41:36.
has been talking to Leah.
It's been nine years.
- I love her and
I care about her, you know?
I can't just drop her.
I need to meet her.
- Something is not right.
What is with just disappearing?
- Oh, whoa.
What is this?
Oh, my God.
- Fugitive watch.
- Dang.
- This could get really ugly.
[knocking]
- Someone's coming.
Someone's coming.
[suspenseful music]
- Hey guys, Nev here,
and we're back
with a brand new batch
of all new "Catfish" episodes.
Let's do it!
We've been making this show
for over seven years
and we've done
over 125 episodes.
- You're a coward, man.
- And what's amazing is we're
still encountering things
we've never seen before.
He was dead for a couple days.
What?
- Everybody in Hawaii
is in on this.
- ♪ Prophecy is just the tip
of the iceberg ♪
- New ways to fall in love...
Never have we had
two homegirls hook up.
All new deceptions.
- You just lied about
so much [bleep].
- And new "what the [bleep]
firsts" that are gonna
completely flip the script
on what you think you know
about "Catfish".
- He has a twin.
- An identical twin?
So join me and all
our favorite cohosts.
- Are we gonna get jumped?
- Oh, my gosh.
- As we dive head first into
an all new season of episodes
each with a unique
"Catfish" first.
- ♪ What we see is just
the tip of the iceberg ♪
[dramatic musical sting]
[upbeat music]
- How's it going?
- What's up?
Kamie!
I gotta say,
people are loving you.
- I love them.
They're being so nice.
- From what
I've seen on Twitter,
you got fans, girl.
- I've been getting fan mail.
- Wow.
- But my grandma texted
her pastor to be like,
"Kamie's on 'Catfish'."
- Oh, really?
- You know, "Tune in."
And I said "dick pic"
on national TV.
Grandma literally was like,
"Oh, Kamie!"
[laughs]
Her Jamaican accent.
- Were you with her?
- Yes, I was with her.
And I was just kinda like,
"Sorry."
- [laughs]
Great to have you back.
- Thank you.
- We got an email.
"I need your help.
"My name is Mathan.
I'm 22 years old.
"And I just moved
to Los Angeles.
"This is about
my best friend Leah.
She lives in Washington state
and I'm in love with her."
- Ooh.
- ♪ Baby it's so weird to me ♪
- Well, you came to
the right place, Mathan.
All right,
we're gonna help you.
"I started talking to Leah
back when I was 13.
- ♪ The space where
you used to be ♪
- "It went from chatting
to text to phone calls,
"from a few minutes
to a few hours.
"We had an amazing connection.
"We really started
to love each other
and began talking about
building a future."
- ♪ All of the plans we made ♪
- "We've even lightweight
talked about marriage."
I love that.
Lightweight.
- Lightweight.
It's like low-key.
- "The problem is Leah has
always been kind of mysterious
like she's never telling me
the whole story."
- ♪ There's this empty space ♪
- "She'll go in and out
of my life for months on end.
- ♪ And you're
not here with me ♪
- "She always pops up again but
never explains what happened."
- She's in jail.[laughs]
- That's an option.
- ♪ The picture's incomplete ♪
"She won't video chat with me,
either."
- ♪ There's this empty space ♪
- "Every time I ask,
she makes an excuse
or just ghosts me."
- ♪ And you're
not here with me ♪
- I've heard this before.
- Yeah.
"The couple of times
we've tried to plan trips
"to see each other,
she can only do it
if I pay for everything."
Uh-oh.
- She's trying
to get that coin.
- ♪ 'Cause I'm missing you ♪
- "I know she's hiding
something from me
"and I wish I could move on.
But I've never felt like this
about anyone else."
- ♪ I miss you ♪
- "I really need your help.
Mathan."
Whoo!
It's been nine years.
- It's a great story.
But I'm gonna need for Mathan
to want a little bit better
for himself than a girl that
just keeps disappearing on him
every five seconds.
- Well, he's tried.
But he still can't let her go.
Let's call this guy--
find out more.
[line trilling]
- Oh!
- Yo!
- Hey!
- What's up Mathan?
- Hey, Nev, how's it going?
- Hey, this is Kamie,
by the way.
- Hi.
- Hello.
- She's here to help us out.
- Cool. Sounds good.
- I like your energy, man.
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
- Crazy story.
Tell us everything.
- I'm 22 years old,
just moved to L.A.
- Okay, so you just
moved to L.A.
- Yes.
- You're a handsome young man.
Can't you find someone
you'd be interested in here?
- Well, Leah--
she's very special and unique.
She means a lot to me.
We've been talking for about,
like, eight or nine years.
She's always
been there for me.
Her humor would always bring
my energy up when I was down.
I felt like I connected with
her in a way that I haven't
been able to connect with
any other girl that
I've been talking to or dated.
- But you've dated other girls.
- I've had, like,
a couple relationships,
like, not too many.
- When you have
other girlfriends,
do you and Leah still talk?
- Yeah, we still talk.
She's helped with giving,
like, advice through
relationships.
She knows, like, pretty much
everything about me.
- What is her deal?
Is she online?
Is she on Instagram
and Snapchat and--
- Yeah, I have her
on all social media--
Facebook, Instagram, Snap,
you know what I mean?
- But have you seen her face
and heard her voice in a video?
- Not in a video, no.
We've never
video chatted ever.
- Has she ever posted a video
or a Snapchat where
she's talking to the camera?
- No.
Never any videos,
just pictures.
- But you've been talking
to her for so long.
- You're 22.
You don't need to be trying
to cash out on some girl
who can't even, like,
video chat.
Have you ever asked her, like,
what the [bleep] is up, girl?
- For sure.
Many, many times.
Like, sometimes
she gives excuses.
Sometimes they're good.
Sometimes they're bad.
Sometimes they don't
make any sense at all.
I still really want
to see her really bad.
I can't, like,
just stop thinking about her
and forget her.
Like, it's not possible.
Our relationship has been
building for a long time.
I want to make it happen
and I feel like
the only way that
it could possibly happen
is if you guys
could help me out.
- You're, like,
five minutes away.
Why don't we just go meet you?
- You guys are welcome.
Come through.
- All right.
Send us your address
and we'll head over there.
- Yes.
See you guys.
- Ooh!
Do you think
she would have come down
if he had paid for everything?
- No.
She sounds fishy.
Catfishy AF.
- All right, let's do it.
- All right.
- ♪ We're going tripping ♪
♪ We're going up,
up, and away ♪
♪ We're going tripping ♪
- What is going on
with this girl?
Why is she disappearing
for months at a time?
Unless that's, like,
the only way she knows
how to avoid coming--
- Telling the truth.
- Telling the truth.
- Something is not right.
- Okay.
You ready, girl?
- Ready.
[knocking]
At your service.
- Whoa, what's up, man?
- Nice to meet you.
How's it going?
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm Mathan.
- I have a lot of questions,
so let's have a seat.
Let's get into it.
We got work to do.
- Yeah.
- Good.
- Take us back and kind of
explain how this whole--
all started and--and
the progression of it.
- So, when I first
started talking to Leah,
it was on a site called MeetMe.
And then we exchanged numbers,
started texting,
and then started calling.
We became best friends,
talking to each other
every day.
My parents are divorced
and there is times
I would lean on her to,
like, help me feel better,
and help me to not,
like, be lonely and stuff.
And, like,
I had no one to talk to.
I could call her any time
and she would always, like,
make me feel better
and more uplifted.
- But in the eight years
you guys have been so close,
I would imagine as a teenager,
you must have felt, like,
"We should be video chatting."
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
Video chat, yeah.
And it was a huge thing then.
Like, UVU, Skype--
like, that was huge,
especially during that time.
- Yeah.
- I tried to get her to video
chat so, so, so many times.
There's times she'd be like,
"Yeah, I'm down."
And then, like,
just never do it,
or she just disappears.
- Can we talk about this,
the disappearing act?
- Of course, yes.
- She's Houdini?
- That whole disappearing act--
it has been bad
'cause next thing you know it,
like, it's just,
she won't answer her phone.
Her number's changed.
Like, she's just gone.
- Number's changed, too?
- Yeah, and there's been times
we would be having
serious phone calls.
I would be telling a story.
And then she would
just disappear.
Like, completely gone.
Like, just drops the phone--
like, like--
- Wait a second.
- What?
- Mid-phone call?
- Mid-phone call.
I'm like, "Hello, hello?"
- And then you don't
hear from her for...
- It could be weeks, months.
Like, I never know.
- Something's up
with this girl for sure.
- I know that, like,
she had, like, a rough past.
There's been a couple times
where she ran away from home
and she didn't have a phone.
- Oh.
- She also has kind of
a bumpy past with some
of her previous boyfriends
and exes.
She got pregnant one time.
- Hmm.
- With one of her exes.
She told me
she had an abortion.
Another thing that was huge
was that her father passed away
about a year ago.
- Oh, re--pretty recently.
- Yeah, and that had, like,
a huge impact on her.
- From the outside--I mean,
not that that stuff's not all
very possible...
- Yeah.
- But it feels very theatrical.
- Yeah.
- I need to see what
this girl looks like.
- Come over here and show us
pictures of this girl.
- Yes, yes.
- All right,
so this is her Facebook.
- This is her Facebook.
So as you can see, like,
most of her photos have,
like, filters.
- So she's on Snapchat.
- Yeah, I have her on Snapchat.
- Huh.
What's up with this girl?
- I don't know.
- When you're talking,
is she, like, affectionate,
and does she say, "I love you"?
- Yeah.
It's always good
when we do talk--
good feelings,
chemistry, everything.
Connection's always there
whenever we talk.
It's just, like,
she just disappears
for such a long time and--
- This girl isn't really
treating you consistently well.
- Right.
It's not fair, for sure.
- It's been nine years.
It's not fair!
- No, it's not fair at all.
- Why are you putting--
Why are you allowing this woman
to--to do this to you?
- Because I love her
and I care about her.
You know, it's like--it's just
I can't just drop her.
You know what I mean?
- It's unconditional love.
- You are allowing yourself
to go through this crazy
never-ending masochism because
you want to be with her.
- I'm just at that point
where I'm just--
I need to meet her.
I need to make it happen.
- I mean, I'm at that point.
- I mean--
- What is going on
with this girl?
- Yeah.
- We gotta figure this out.
You've been waiting too long.
- For real.
- All right, man.
- Yeah.
- See you tomorrow.
- Thank you guys
for helping me.
- Later, Mathan.
- See you guys.
[suspenseful music]
- Mathan.
Too nice.
- Too nice.
- This girl's been walking
all over him for years.
- She's tap dancing all over
his heart and I don't like it.
- Even if you're
lying to someone,
what is with just disappearing?
- It's so bizarre.
She's kind of the worst--
getting what
she needs out of it...
- Right.
- And then just ghosting.
- We got work to do.
We should sit
at separate tables
and race to see
who can figure it out first.
- Oh, it's gonna be me.
- Oh, you think so?
- I'm the FBI.
I've told you this
a million times.
- Oh, that's right.
Should we warm up a little bit?
- I'm not ready.
- Do a little searching
finger stretch.
All right,
so what do we got?
Let's refresh.
Mathan, 22--
since he was 13,
has been talking to Leah.
Love starts to develop,
and all of a sudden,
Leah starts having
these strange lapses
where she just disappears
for months at a time.
They talked about meeting up,
then she backs out.
If she really likes him,
why would you
treat someone like that?
- In my experience, you teach
people how to treat you.
And so, if you're just okay
with somebody disappearing
on you every five seconds
and pulling Houdinis...
- Right.
- That's what they'll do.
- All right,
let's see what we can find.
"Hey, guys.
Thanks again for meeting.
This is what I have on Leah."
She's got a Facebook page.
Leah Mayer.
"Now she lives near Seattle
in a town called Everett."
Okay, that's something.
"I also attached a couple
pictures I have of her
"without filters on
because those are rare.
LOL."
All right.
Let's search these pics.
First one.
Search.
It's a negative.
Picture number two.
All right, no, nothing.
Picture three.
Nothing.
We got nothing
on those pictures.
Let's check out
her Facebook page.
Leah Mayer lives in
Everett, Washington,
uh, went to
[bleep] High School.
This is a real page
for a real high school.
- In Everett.
- What's this?
This is a recent post.
"Happy birthday, Daddy."
Wait, so there's
a dad profile, too.
His last name is [bleep].
- Different last name.
He passed, remember?
- Oh.
"Today is the first birthday
we are celebrating of yours
"since you passed.
Rest easy, Daddy,
and happy birthday."
- Okay, oddly enough,
this makes it more real.
- Yeah, I mean, look.
She just posted yesterday
on her anniversary--
first anniversary
of her father's passing.
So, okay.
So there's a dad page.
Even though he's passed,
people are commenting on this.
It's starting to feel more
and more like this girl
is just this girl.
So then what's her crazy secret
or what's with the mystery?
What's she hiding?
- She's definitely
hiding something.
Something's not--
- Let--
Let's just look up Leah Mayer.
Is that her last name?
Why is her last name Mayer?
Is she married?
♪ ♪
Okay, that's weird.
Nothing comes up.
What about her dad's last name?
[bleep].
♪ ♪
"16-year-old girl delivers baby
without doctors."
Oh, whoa, whoa.
What is this?
"16-year-old girl delivers baby
without doctors,
had troubled past."
Everett.
"16-year-old Leah [bleep]
reportedly left her home
"over a year ago.
"Police now believe
she may have given birth
while on heroin."
- Jesus.
- "Authorities are asking
for any help in finding
this missing runaway."
Whoa.
- But we still don't know
this is her necessarily.
- We don't.
- There's another article,
and I need to see it.
both: "Baby still missing."
- My God.
Baby still missing in county
after teen mother booked--
Oh, wow.
- [gasps]
Oh, my God.
- That's her!
Look. There it is.
- No!
[rock music plays]
- Deputies on a desperate
search to find this teen's
newborn baby.
And tonight in Snohomish
County, the search is on.
Police have located that mom,
but they cannot...
- Oh, my heart
just dropped to my butt.
- And they believe
the infant is in danger.
- 16-year-old Leah [bleep]
was found this afternoon
in south Everett
on Casino Road,
and Janet Kim is live
for us there tonight.
Janet, do detectives have
any good clues to go on?
- They're talking
to her as we speak,
and what they do want
is the public's help
in trying to help
find that baby.
The teen is believed
to have delivered a baby girl
without help
from doctors and nurses.
- It's her!
- Did this baby receive
any medical care?
We don't believe she did.
And, um, mother's also known
to be a heroin addict.
- Every minute counts.
They are asking anyone
who might have information
to call 911.
- How does he not know
any of this?
She just hasn't told him...
- How--
- And he thinks
her last name is Mayer.
- This is her 100%.
- Obviously.
And she's had a crazy life.
She's in and out of rehab
or detention or drug houses,
which is why
she just disappears,
told him she had got pregnant
but not that she actually
had a baby and it was,
like, a big news story
because she was on the streets
and the baby...
- Where's the baby at?
- Well, the baby must not
be missing anymore.
I mean, something
must have resolved.
- It seems like
she just was able to go on
and live her normal life.
- She's been hiding
a lot from Mathan.
But she's not lying
about who she is.
You can't get more proof that
someone is the person they say
they are than a news story
about her with pictures of her.
So, it's her.
This is some
really wild [bleep].
- He's such a nice,
optimistic guy.
I'm gonna need him to, like,
snap into reality real quick
because this girl
has a lot going on.
- I really don't know
how Mathan is gonna react.
He doesn't know any of this.
- I just don't know
if anything is gonna
make a difference for him.
He might think
he can change her.
Like, he might think that
he can be her savior.
- This is a wake-up call.
- Yeah.
Aww, it's gonna crush
his little sweet heart.
- [sighs] Let's do it.
Hello?
- Hey.
- What's u--
whoa, the hair is down.
- Totally new look.
- Come on in.
- How are you?
- Good.
How are you guys doing?
- Good.
- We got a lot to talk about.
- Ooh, okay.
Dang.
- Why don't we just dive in?
- I'm very curious.
- Let's, uh--
Let's all tuck in here.
So we started
on her Facebook page.
Very first thing we saw
was her most recent post
that you--have you...
- Right, I just saw that
last night, yeah.
- Right, so her--the
anniversary of her dad's death
was yesterday.
- Yes.
- And the first thing that
jumps out at us was that
his last name was [bleep],
because she goes by Leah Mayer.
Not sure why,
but that felt like
a bit of a clue.
So the next thing we did
was a Google search
for Leah [bleep],
her dad's last name.
Here's what we found.
- Deputies on a desperate
search to find this teen's
newborn baby.
And tonight in Snohomish
County, the search is on.
Police have located that mom,
but they cannot find
her newborn baby.
- 16-year-old Leah [bleep]
was found this afternoon
in south Everett
on Casino Road.
- The teen is believed
to have delivered a baby girl
without help
from doctors and nurses.
- Mother's also known
to be a heroin addict, so--
and transient.
[tense music]
- [sighs] Wow.
[soft somber music]
- It's a lot.
- Wow.
♪ ♪
- Um, does this even sound
remotely like the person
you've been talking
to all these years?
♪ ♪
- No, I mean, it's crazy.
I don't--I--like, she would
have told me, you know?
- She's the person
she told you she was, but
she's not who you
thought she was.
- Like, I would have
supported her and,
like, talked to her,
like, helped her, you know?
Like, as much as I could.Like...
♪ ♪
But this is--
this is wild.
♪ ♪
- You know, I think that
someone who has gone through
as much as she has--
drugs, this baby--
to think that you could
help her through that--
I think that you would have
been way in over your head.
This is somebody
you've been dedicated to
for eight years,
and they're not even remotely
being honest about themselves.
- [exhales]
Man.
It's pretty messed up.
I really do care about her,
you know?
I still really want to see her
and just be able to talk,
you know?
- You're doing a lot to try
to look out for her
and make excuses for her,
but you need to start
looking out for yourself.
- You deserve an apology.
You deserve an explanation.
I think at this point,
we just have to reach out.
- Let's try and call her
and see--
see what happens.
- Yeah.
- Let's see what happens.
[line trilling]
- Please leave your message
for 425--
- She's not answering.
All right,
let me send a text.
"Hey, Leah.
"This is Nev.
Please call me.
Thanks."
Since we're sitting here
waiting to hear back from her,
let's see if we can find out
where she's at.
So let's do Leah [bleep].
Here we go, here we go.
Leah [bleep].
Everett, Washington.
So that is her.
Wow, so we have an address.
So this could be
where she's living.
If we don't hear back from her,
I still think we should
go up there and assume that
we'll figure something out.
- Yeah, 100%.
- We're going to Washington?
- Do it.
- All right.
All right.
- Thank you.
- Sorry to be the bearer
of sort of not great news.
- It's all good.
- All right.
- See you tomorrow.
- All right.
- Let us know
if you hear anything.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- Poor thing.
- He's--
- He's distraught.
- Devastated, but he just
isn't ready to, like,
come to terms
with his feelings.
- I still think, though,
that he thinks
in the back of his mind that
he can save this girl.
[cell phone rings]
- All right.
Hold on,
I think that's a 425.
Hello?
Hi, is this--
is this Leah?
- All right.
- Is that--
I think that's a 425.
Hello?
Hi, is this--
is this Leah?
- Hey, Leah.
- Uh, thank you so much
for getting back to me.
We just left Mathan,
who we've been with--
- Who we've been with
the last couple days.
- You are?
- Okay, well that's good news.
Uh, I know he would love
to meet you also.
Are you in Washington?
- Right.
Listen, we found out
a little bit about your past.
- And obviously,
he was very surprised.
- Great, yeah.
We're gonna get on a flight
in the morning,
which means we can probably
potentially meet up with you
tomorrow afternoon.
- Good, okay.
I'm glad to hear that.
Thanks, Leah.
Look--looking forward
to meeting you.
- All right, bye.
- That sounds like a shockingly
pleasant individual.
- She seems nice.
- But this is gonna be bad.
I can see it.
And I don't want to, so nope.
- Well, we're going to Seattle.
[dramatic music]
[upbeat music]
- ♪ Saw you on the corner ♪
♪ Saw you down the last time ♪
- ♪ Ooh, you were
really something ♪
♪ We were so much
younger then ♪
- And it's not that she just,
like, left all of this out.
It's crazy.
- ♪ I got you talking
in your sleep at night ♪
♪ About the places
you ain't never been ♪
♪ You said you'd never leave ♪
♪ ♪
[thunder rolling]
- Hello.
- Hey.
- Come on in.
- Thank you.
- [chuckles]
- It's really raining
out there.
They weren't kidding
about the Pacific Northwest.
- It's pouring out.
- It's already, like, 10:00.
- I know.I know.
I did try to reach out to her
and give her a call,
but there was no response.
- I don't know why
she hasn't responded.
- Yeah.
- Like,
she committed to showing up.
- I know.
- I mean, I hope this isn't
the first time a catfish
just ghosts us.
- You came all this way
to meet this girl.
And she knows that.
- Yeah.
- [sighs]
- I'm wondering, like,
check, like, her social media,
see if there's,
like, anything new.
- Let's see if we can find her.
Nothing.
Wait, there we go.
Look at this.
She just posted this.
Oh, my God.
"I love my man so much
and I'm so glad
you're finally out of jail."
- What?
Oh, God.
- And then,
"My baby Darnell [bleep]."
- I've seen that name before.
- Oh.
- I think that's her ex.
- What--what the hell?
- I know.
I don't know.
- Who's this guy?
Darnell [bleep]?
You've seen his name before?
- I saw it on Facebook.
[suspenseful music]
- Let's see.
Darnell [bleep].
Oh.
Oh, my God.
Look at this.
Fugitive watch.
- Oh, my God.
- All right, let's see.
Darnell [bleep].
Oh.
Oh, my God.
Look at this.
Fugitive watch.
- Oh, my God.
- "Darnell [bleep], 22,
has a felony warrant
"for failing to report to State
Department of Corrections.
"He's being supervised
for attempting to allude
pursuing police vehicle."
- Dang.
- So a cop tried to
pull him over, I guess,
and he fled.
Released, 12/19.
That's yesterday.
- Oh, [bleep].
- He just was in jail
for two months.
And this is her boyfriend
who she's excited
to be seeing right now?
- I'm baffled because she said,
"I'm ready.
I'll be there."
And just a couple hours ago,
she's shouting out
her jailbird boyfriend
talking about,
"Miss you, baby.
Can't wait to see you."
She couldn't have waited,
like--
- Pretty cray.
- A day?
- I'm not surprised.
All her exes seem to be, like,
people who get in trouble,
end up going to jail
at some point.
I just don't understand
why she continues to, like,
want to be involved
with a guy like this.
You know what I mean?
- If she's still
messing with this dude
who just got out of jail...
- Exactly.
- For running from the cops,
what is with this girl?
- For real.
- I'm gonna call her.
[line trilling]
- Please leave
your message for--
- Oh, honey.
Whoo!
- That's not a good sign.
- How do you feel?
- I'm not mad at her.
I'm upset and,
like, you know--
but I'm not, like,
angry at her, you know?
Like, it's not like when
I see her I'm gonna be like,
"Why'd you do this?
Why'd you do that?"
- [sighs]
- [laughs softly]
I know, Kamie.
I know. I know.
- The nice route,
like, is no more.
- No more?
- She's been playing you,
and playing games.
I want for you to want
better for yourself,
even as a friend.
Friends don't ghost you.
Friends are there
no matter what--
good friends, at least.
Like, she should be
just as excited to see you
even if it's not
in a romantic way.
But just be like,
"Oh, my friend's in town.
I want to see my friend."
- Yeah.
- Like, to me that's no--
that's normal.
- Yeah.
- In the back of your mind,
are you hoping that
when she sees you she, like,
is head over heels in love
and wants to pursue
a relationship?
Be honest.
- I would like that
but then again, you know,
this is gonna be
the first time, like,
I'm meeting her and
actually getting to know
the real her, so--
- At least you know
face-to-face she can't
drop the phone and
disappear for five months.
She's gonna have to talk.
She can't just run away.
- All right, well, look,
we obviously have to prepare
ourselves to not
hear back from her.
If that's the case,
we have an address.
Tomorrow morning,
if she hasn't responded,
we'll just head over there.
I don't wanna just roll up,
but we gotta get this girl.
- We came all this way.
- Yeah.
- And it's been
all these years.
At some point you're gonna have
to find out some kind of truth.
- That time is now.
- Well, look, we texted her.
I called her.
We still haven't
heard from her.
We're here.
We have an address.
Let's just go over.
All right.
- On the road again.
[suspenseful music]
♪ ♪
- This is gonna be crazy,
seeing her for the first time.
I'm nervous.
Super nervous.
- Yeah, I mean, we've never
had a situation like this.
We don't know what to expect.
- The fugitive boyfriend
could come to the door.
- Yeah, I mean,
this could get really ugly.
[tense music]
A mobile home park.
♪ ♪
I see eight over there.
♪ ♪
I guess that's it.
They don't have any lights on.
- Are we sure that
we're supposed to be here?
- I have no idea.
- Let's keep--
leave the car running.
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
Let's do it.
♪ ♪
- This is so weird.
[knocking]
♪ ♪
- Hello?
♪ ♪
I mean, someone was in there,
right?
Is there, like,
another entrance?
- Is there a side door?
- Oh, maybe this is where
they go in.
[knocking]
♪ ♪
- Let me try.
♪ ♪
[knocking sharply]
- Someone's coming.
Someone's coming.
- Somebody's coming?
- Yeah.
[knocking sharply]
[suspenseful music]
- Someone's coming.
Someone's coming.
- Somebody's coming?
- Yeah.
♪ ♪
- Hi.
- Hi.
- Uh, we're looking
for Leah [bleep].
- Okay,
so you don't know a girl--
a young girl named Leah?
- Leah Mayer?
- Oh, yeah--Mayer?
I think we might just have
the wrong address.
- Okay, sorry to bother you.
- No problem.
- Yeah.
[soft dramatic music]
What do we do next?
- Call her one more time.
[line trilling]
- Please leave
your message for--
- You wanna look and see
if she's posted lately?
Maybe something?
I don't know.
Go to her timeline.
Wait, wait, wait.
- "Call me."
Who is this person,
Jasmine [bleep]?
She might know Leah in person.
- Are you friends
with that person?
- No.
- Maybe add them and
see if we can call her.
- Let's go in the car.
- Yeah.
- It'll be quieter.
- Thank you.
Does she have it where you can
call her without being friends?
- Uh, actually, yeah, she does.
- Call her.
- Hi, is this Jasmine?
- Hey, um, I'm Mathan.
I'm one of Leah's, like,
really, uh, close friends,
and I flew up here
to come see her,
and now she's just going ghost.
If you have any way
to contact her,
can you just, like,
let her know?
- Absolutely.
- Do you know where she stays,
by any chance?
Like, is she still in Everett?
- Which courthouse?
Do you know?
- In Everett?
Okay.
Perfect.
Thank you so much.
- All right.
Bye-bye.
- There it is.
It's already almost 1:00.
Do we wanna do this?
Do we want to just...
- [bleep] it.
What else are we gonna do?
- I guess so.
What else are we gonna do?
So apparently she has to
check in every day for, like,
some sort of
probation requirement.
- ♪ Let me recognize ♪
♪ The end ♪
- Is this our court?
- ♪ Who longs
to neglect and... ♪
- Like it's a stakeout.
- [laughs] Oh, my God.
- I mean, we'll see her
if she comes.
She's gonna come right here.
- What time is it?
- 1:45.
♪ ♪
- We didn't bring donuts.
[cars whooshing]
- She could pull up any second.
♪ ♪
- How do we know she didn't
come before we got here?
- We don't.
♪ ♪
Captain's log.
It's been 500 years
we've been sitting in this car.
♪ ♪
- Why don't we call Jasmine
just to see if she can
tell us anything else?
Maybe we can FaceTime her.
- Yeah, let's do it.
Hey.
- Hi.
- So I'm at the courthouse
waiting for Leah right now.
Uh, oh, this is Nev with me.
- Hi.
By the way, we're making
an episode of "Catfish."
- [laughs]
- In case you didn't know.
- This is Kamie back here.
- Hi.
- What else can you
tell us about her?
How do you know her?
- Leah's my sister.
- Wait, your actual sister?
- Yeah.
We didn't grow up
in the same house,
but I was there
every other weekend
with Dad, her, and her mom.
- So what's up with the whole
news story a couple years ago?
I imagine you're aware
of all of that.
- Yeah, I'll never know
the whole truth.
So, I just kind of
take what's given to me
with a grain of salt,
if that makes any sense.
- Yeah.
What do you know about
this guy Darnell?
- No comment.
- [laughs softly]
Okay.
- All right.
- Well, all right.
Thank you.
- Good luck.
- Thank you so much.
- Nice meeting you.
- Take care.
- Bye.
- Bye-bye.
- It's like--
- Wow, that's wild, though,
that that's her sister, though.
That--that caught me off guard.
- But that's her sister.
- That's pretty crazy.
- Yeah.
- Food's here.
- Thanks, man.
Classic stakeout.
I love it.
- It's hella funny.
- Oh, my God.
Oh, yeah.
But don't get distracted.
Keep your eye on the prize.
- Yeah, mm-hmm.
♪ ♪
- Courthouse probably closes
at 4:30, right?
- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.
- 30 more minutes.
♪ ♪
Who's that?
Is that them?
Or her?
I couldn't see them.
I'm gonna go check it out.
♪ ♪
Hey.
- Hi.
- Neither of you are Leah,
right?
- No.
- No.
- Aren't you, like, famous?
- Kinda, yeah.
- Ah, cool.
- No, you don't know this girl,
Leah [bleep], do you?
She grew up in Everett.
- No.
- All right, well, thanks.
♪ ♪
Well, the court house--
oh, there's the bell.
It's officially 4:30, which
means the courthouse is closed,
which means if she
hasn't shown up by now,
she's not showing up.
♪ ♪
Well, they closed.
They locked the door.
I mean, that's it.
- Oh, we tried.
- I can't believe
she didn't show up.
- We've gotta find her.
I mean, we always do.
I guess we could
try the sister again.
- Should we ask the sister
about the house address?
- Yeah, maybe she can
help us figure out
what the hell to do next.
- Hey, it's Mathan.
Have you talked to her lately?
- Can we come by?
- We're, like, downtown
right now at the Vintage Café.
- Thank you.
- This is the final attempt.
- It's now or never.
- I guess if sister's with her
and thinks she can convince her
to come, it's worth a try.
- Yeah.
- I think the issue
is her boyfriend.
I don't know if he knows
about you or the show.
- She's probably
talking to Leah
and Leah's being stubborn
right now.
- This is the best chance
we're gonna get, is her sister.
- She doesn't even need
to answer any questions,
just show up.
Anything would be better
than nothing.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- Oh, what?
- What?
- "I'm coming around the block
and going to pull up
in about three minutes."
- Okay.
- Who is? Jasmine?
- Well, Jasmine wrote that.
- Is this her here?
- Huh?
- Is that her?
- I mean--
- Yeah.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
[car door slams]
- Is that her?
- Is that her?
- Yeah.
- Is that her?
♪ ♪
- Hey.
- Hi.
- Hi.
I'm Jasmine.
- How's it going?
I'm Mathan.
- So good to meet you.
- Good to meet you, too.
- [sighs]
[soft dramatic music]
I couldn't get her to come.
She chose to stay there
with her boyfriend.
She thought that
that was the right decision.
So, I'm sorry.
- Is she seeing
all our messages?
Is she just--
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- Yeah, she is.
Um, that's--it's hard
for her to leave
and then have to go back.
I think that's the...
- To explain it to him?
- Yeah, right.
- But--so at the--so he just
doesn't know anything?
- Oh, no, he knows.
- Oh, he does know?
- Yeah, he knows.
Um, and he doe--
he doesn't like it.
I think it's a jealousy issue.
- [exhales]
- So he doesn't want her to go.
I don't know much about him.
I've only met him
a couple times,
so I can't speak
to his character.
- Mm-hmm.
- But...
[sighs]
So, I'm sorry.
[somber music]
- [sighs]
- Thanks for trying.
- Yeah.
- I tr--yeah, I did.
I did.
She wasn't budging.
- Well, that's--
Appreciate it.
Nice to have met you.
- Yeah.
Yeah, it's good to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- You, too.
- Thanks for coming.
- I guess that's it,
unless there's any--I mean,
you have any other questions?
I mean, 'cause this is
the closest you're gonna get.
- Yeah, if you want
to know anything.
♪ ♪
- I'm good, you know?
- All right.
- As her older sister,
I am sorry on her behalf.
Yeah.
- All right, well, it's cold...
- Yeah.
- And late, so why don't
we all just call it?
Nice to meet you.
- You, too.
- Thanks, Jasmine.
- Nice to meet you.
- Thanks, you guys.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
- [sighs]
- After all these years,
it's the first time
we didn't get our girl.
I'm sorry.
I guess that's it.
- That's so [bleep]ed up.
So [bleep]ed up.
[sighs]
[bleep] it.
- You can send her a message
and say, like,
"Look, we're here.
We did everything we could."
♪ ♪
- ♪ I watch the wind
running through ♪
♪ The trees ♪
- Here's the message man.
- [sniffs]
- You all right?
- Yeah.
- ♪ I wish that
I could move so wild ♪
- Can you read that
for us or...
- Yeah.
"Leah,
"this'll be the last message
I'll ever send you.
"I want you to know that
I am very, very upset
"and hurt about
this whole situation.
"I have never been
so disappointed in you
"in our entire friendship.
"You've made me promises,
left me hanging,
"and lied to me multiple times,
and I still forgave you.
"But this time,
I'm completely done for good.
"Please don't try to contact me
after this message
"because I will not respond.
"Just know that
I'll always love you
and hope the best for you.
Mathan."
- ♪ Sometimes
you need to run ♪
♪ To remember who we are ♪
- That's really big of you.
- ♪ Sometimes
your roots are good ♪
♪ To tell you where is home ♪
- I think you're doing
the right thing, Mathan.
- Well, you still
have to let go though.
- Yeah.
- ♪ I need to run ♪
- Ready to go home?
- Yeah, let's do it.
♪ ♪
- ♪ I need to run ♪
- Just need to move on.
- ♪ I need to run ♪
[Skype tone trilling]
- Hey.
- Hey.
- Oh!
What up, Mathe?
- How's it going?
- Still got that smiling face.
- Last time we saw you,
things were bonkers.
- Yeah.
- Having done this
for a long time,
I can honestly say
the catfish not showing up
was a total first.
Give us an update.
- Yeah, I actually
haven't talked to Leah since,
haven't, like, tried to reach
out ever since that message.
- Nothing?
- Nothing.
- Wow.
- I'm happy to hear this.
I'm glad that you are
moving on with your life.
- She's completely gone.
I've actually been talking
to a new girl recently.
- Whoo!
- Um...
And it's getting
pretty serious.
- You've met her before?
- Oh, yeah, yeah.
- Okay, no,
I'm just making sure.
- I actually met her
in high school.
Yeah, we're gonna actually
be doing some traveling.
- Are you gonna bring her
convict boyfriend with you
on your road trip?
- Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
There's no boyfriend
involved at all.
- Oh, okay.
Good, good.
- Aww.
- Wow, that's exciting.
- You know, I needed
that closure and that--
you know, that finish, though.
Thank you.
Thank you.
See you guys.
- Bye-bye.
- Bye.
- Bye.
- Faith has made me feel things
that nobody ever has.
And I just want to know
who she is.
- I told Christina
I live on an island
and it's super hard
to get here
due to the lake freezing.
- Oh, yeah, that's frozen.
That's crazy.
- I don't even know if she's
gonna show up tomorrow.
- She literally
can't hide from you.
- Oh, my God.
Did you do this?
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