Matlock‘s Leah Lewis sparked romance rumors with a new man after the conclusion of the reopened investigation into claims of sexual assault against David Del Rio.
Lewis, 29, took to Instagram Stories on Sunday, February 22, to share a sweet photo of her and Jack Edman, writing, “Last night this one told me to dress up and completely surprised me with a detailed murder mystery at my own home and I do not know how he pulled this off but he DID @jackedman.”
The actress’ social media uploads included highlights from her birthday party — and another shout-out to Edman.
“Somehow keeping me busy hopping from matcha shop to bird watching all day while my best friends set up at my house,” she added. “(He will hate that I posted this but I am just buzzin).”
Lewis and Edman were previously seen in photos with other couples in their friend circle. The highlights from Lewis’ special day came shortly after CBS’ supplemental investigation concluded with the network standing by their original decision to dismiss Del Rio, 38, from the show.
Entertainment Weekly confirmed on Friday, February 20, that the investigation was completed, with the network declining to comment on the matter due to a company policy of not addressing legal matters.
News broke in October 2025 that Del Rio was fired following an investigation after Lewis accused Del Rio of allegedly assaulting her one month prior. Days later, Lewis reported the incident to CBS and Del Rio was removed from the set.
Matlock was on hiatus from filming at the time and the cast hadn’t returned until December 2025. After the investigation was made public, Lewis broke her silence by sharing a photo with her mother from set.
“Mom is here, we’re moving forward in love and strength. I’m in good hands,” she wrote via Instagram in October. “Thank you to everybody for any kind of support and care. Truly, we’re moving forward in strength. Key word, strength. Please, let that be the take away.”
Del Rio has yet to address the scandal while his wife, Katherine Del Rio, posted Instagram Stories calling Lewis a “disturbing human being” before deleting them hours later. David was written off in the midseason finale when his character, Billy, found out his girlfriend had a miscarriage.
More recently, Matlock creator Jennie Snyder Urman addressed the speculation that a new cast member will be replacing Billy. Urman specifically weighed in on Sarah Wright Olsen and Henry Haber joining the season 2 cast with Wright Olsen playing Gwen, who is described as “an efficiency expert analyzing the firm” while Haber, 23, is Hunter a.k.a “a younger associate from the floater pool who is a total bro.”
“I’m not going to discuss details, but what I can talk about is in terms of the show,” Urman told Deadline in December 2025 about whether Haber is joining Matlock as a “replacement” for David. “The last episode you see [Billy] is in 7, and then you find out how Billy’s story ends, which is in a very organic way that has to do with our whole office and how things are being shaped in this merger.”
Urman teased how Hunter fits into the equation, saying, “We’re always bringing in new associates, new people, because we want to give our characters different energies to react to, and different obstacles to overcome. And one thing that we were talking about in the writers’ room that we’ve been wanting to bring in is a bro, like a real bro.”
Hunter will show what it would be like for Olympia (Skye P. Marshall) and Matty (Kathy Bates) to “be around a bro” in the office.
“They’ve been with characters that really see them as the pinnacle and do things their way. But what happens when you have somebody who spreads a little bit and shoots a basketball when he wants to have ideas flowing?” Urman continued. “What is that like in our ladies’ world? And I’ll tell you, it’s funny.”
Matlock returns to CBS Thursday, February 26, at 9 p.m. ET.
