48 Hours

Matchmaker (13x20)

Air date: Feb 14, 2000

There are more than 70 million single adults in America today. That seems like a lot to choose from, but finding a soulmate is not easy. Americans are working harder these days, and that leaves little time for dating. But the search for true love goes on. Millions are using new methods of matchmaking - everything from online dating services to international singles tours. 48 Hours takes a look at a few of these new-fangled ways of making a connection. Love At First Byte: A singer who lives in San Francisco, Christine LeDoux signed up for Match.com, an online dating service. After going on 15 online dates, will her sixteenth be the charm? As 48 Hours tagged along, she went out with British computer consultant Andy Wright. Find out if the sparks flew. A successful real estate saleswoman in Bentonville, Arkansas, Della Ivy Lavan, also signed up with Match.com. She met a North Carolina man named Scott Bradburg. They seemed to have a lot in common, and Lavan decided to fly to North Carolina to meet him. Will they - and their children - get along? Will Bradburg pass the "car door test?" Hot Pursuit: Looking for love, some single men signed up for a matchmaking tour in Moscow. Dan McGovern, Ed Lee and 28 other American bachelors each paid $3,000 to meet a group of almost 200 Russian women. "You're going to have a few girls that are looking to get a ride to the United States," said Preston Stuckle, president of the company running the tour. "But 90 percent of these girls are just looking for a good man." McGovern ended up meeting a Ukrainian named Julia, while Lee met a woman named Natasha. Did either of them find true love? Find out. Dangerous Liaison? In 1996, Texas oilman Maple Hughes went to Odessa, Ukraine, to find his perfect match. There, Hughes, 63, met Roxana Yani, 40 years his junior. A few months later, the pair married in Las Vegas. Under confusing circumstances, Yani returned to Ukraine. When she didn't return after five months, a despe