Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend is a Hoax *Merge*

[joseephuss]

I never even heard the story in the first place and now I find out it is a hoax.

http://********.com/5976517/manti-te...ason-is-a-hoax

Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax

Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, the stories said, played this season under a terrible burden. A Mormon linebacker who led his Catholic school's football program back to glory, Te'o was whipsawed between personal tragedies along the way. In the span of six hours in September, as Sports Illustrated told it, Te'o learned first of the death of his grandmother, Annette Santiago, and then of the death of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua.

Kekua, 22 years old, had been in a serious car accident in California, and then had been diagnosed with leukemia. SI's Pete Thamel described how Te'o would phone her in her hospital room and stay on the line with her as he slept through the night. "Her relatives told him that at her lowest points, as she fought to emerge from a coma, her breathing rate would increase at the sound of his voice," Thamel wrote.

Upon receiving the news of the two deaths, Te'o went out and led the Fighting Irish to a 20-3 upset of Michigan State, racking up 12 tackles. It was heartbreaking and inspirational. Te'o would appear on ESPN's College GameDay to talk about the letters Kekua had written him during her illness. He would send a heartfelt letter to the parents of a sick child, discussing his experience with disease and grief. The South Bend Tribune wrote an article describing the young couple's fairytale meeting—she, a Stanford student; he, a Notre Dame star—after a football game outside Palo Alto.

Did you enjoy the uplifiting story, the tale of a man who responded to adversity by becoming one of the top players of the game? If so, stop reading.

Manti Te'o did lose his grandmother this past fall. Annette Santiago died on Sept. 11, 2012, at the age of 72, according to Social Security Administration records in Nexis. But there is no SSA record there of the death of Lennay Marie Kekua, that day or any other. Her passing, recounted so many times in the national media, produces no obituary or funeral announcement in Nexis, and no mention in the Stanford student newspaper.

Nor is there any report of a severe auto accident involving a Lennay Kekua. Background checks turn up nothing. The Stanford registrar's office has no record that a Lennay Kekua ever enrolled. There is no record of her birth in the news. Outside of a few Twitter and Instagram accounts, there's no online evidence that Lennay Kekua ever existed.

The photographs identified as Kekua—in online tributes and on TV news reports—are pictures from the social-media accounts of a 22-year-old California woman who is not named Lennay Kekua. She is not a Stanford graduate; she has not been in a severe car accident; and she does not have leukemia. And she has never met Manti Te'o.

[rocboy22]

where is this from? this seems totally ridiculous. how could what this is saying actually be true, and it is just being found out now?

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Originally Posted by rocboy22

where is this from? this seems totally ridiculous. how could what this is saying actually be true, and it is just being found out now?

given the reaction some here have when someone dares to question a sad story, people didn't have the guts to question a dead g/f.

[Chocolate Lab]

Originally Posted by CanadianCowboysFan

given the reaction some here have when someone dares to question a sad story, people didn't have the guts to question a dead g/f.

Yep. The media love these heartbreaking stories so much now, I'm sure they never investigated it. They'd hate for it to not be true.

[newlander]

Originally Posted by Chocolate Lab

Yep. The media love these heartbreaking stories so much now, I'm sure they never investigated it. They'd hate for it to not be true.

...could Pete Thamiel of SI OR the S.Bend Tribune NOT have checked the basic FACTS of this out? Simple search for her would've cut it off at the pass. Thamiel, T'Eo and Kelly plus ND better hope this is BS: what a completely sick and narcissistic thing to do by T'EO if true.

[LatinMind]

Te'o was fooled by his friend.

[newlander]

looks like the ND public relations machine is in FULL motion:

Statement from Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown:
"On Dec. 26, Notre Dame coaches were informed by Manti Te’o and his parents that Manti had been the victim of what appears to be a hoax in which someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia. The University immediately initiated an investigation to assist Manti and his family in discovering the motive for and nature of this hoax. While the proper authorities will continue to investigate this troubling matter, this appears to be, at a minimum, a sad and very cruel deception to entertain its perpetrators."


still trying to cover manti's butt!!!!!!!!

[newlander]

Originally Posted by LatinMind

Te'o was fooled by his friend.

.....if not, dude is a WHACK job

[JoeyBoy718]

I read the whole thing in ********. Either 1) He lied about having met her because he was embarrassed and he carried on a relationship via text only with someone who he thought was a real girl but turned out to be one of his best (guy) friends, or 2) he and his guy friend and probably some other people concocted this whole story to gain sympathy and recognition.

[crazytown41]

A fraud on and off the field...

[17yearsandcounting]

What a psychopath. Put him on the watch list.

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Even if it was mostly online, shouldn't he at least have talked to her on the phone?

[WPBCowboysFan]

Originally Posted by CanadianCowboysFan

Even if it was mostly online, shouldn't he at least have talked to her on the phone?

One would think.

[Chocolate Lab]

Originally Posted by JoeyBoy718

I read the whole thing in ********. Either 1) He lied about having met her because he was embarrassed and he carried on a relationship via text only with someone who he thought was a real girl but turned out to be one of his best (guy) friends, or 2) he and his guy friend and probably some other people concocted this whole story to gain sympathy and recognition.

Pretty much. Someone lied to the paper about their exchanging glances, etc. Ugly story either way...

[Joshmil53]

So is NDPR saying that Manti didn't know she was fake or something? I'm too lazy to read