Holy Cow - Manti Te’o’s Dead Girlfriend is a HOAX

[Stemp]

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.

Read more: http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-te...ium=socialflow

Simply unbelievable......

[TexansBlood]

If this is true karma got him, he played like **** and missed so many tackles in the championship game.

[Stemp]

Notre Dame has released a statement.

"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. "

So they knew BEFORE the BCS NC game and it took a Deadspin story before they release a statement??

[GlassHalfFull]

Crazy stuff. Glad he didn't win the Heisman. I wonder how many of the awards he did win were off of the sympathy vote.

[Kaiser Toro]

The BCS deserves this story and it's fraudulent Golden Child. I would not be surprised if the alums had a strategic date to release this, such as the day when Obama unveils his proposals for gun control.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[Dutchrudder]

This is the goddamn funniest thing I have seen in a loooooooooong time! Great source material for jabs.

@michaelhayes: You know what was a good hoax? Ranking Notre Dame #2 in college football and letting them compete in the BCS title game.

Manti Te'o wasn't missing tackles in the National Championship, he was hugging his girlfriend.

@ObliviousNFLRef: Don't worry Manti, Ray Lewis killed a real person and people still love him

Ken Jennings ‏@KenJennings
WHOA. I am no longer the most famous Mormon to invent an always-suspiciously-absent "girlfriend" in college.

Manti Te'o, huge, huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge fan of Weekend At Bernie's.

From Notre Dame:

"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. "

[Stemp]

Te'o statement

"This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.

"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating.

"It further pains me that the grief I felt and the sympathies expressed to me at the time of my grandmother's death in September were in any way deepened by what I believed to be another significant loss in my life.

"I am enormously grateful for the support of my family, friends and Notre Dame fans throughout this year. To think that I shared with them my happiness about my relationship and details that I thought to be true about her just makes me sick. I hope that people can understand how trying and confusing this whole experience has been.

"In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious. If anything good comes of this, I hope it is that others will be far more guarded when they engage with people online than I was.

"Fortunately, I have many wonderful things in my life, and I'm looking forward to putting this painful experience behind me as I focus on preparing for the NFL Draft."

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

This is the goddamn funniest thing I have seen in a loooooooooong time! Great source material for jabs.

@michaelhayes: You know what was a good hoax? Ranking Notre Dame #2 in college football and letting them compete in the BCS title game.

Manti Te'o wasn't missing tackles in the National Championship, he was hugging his girlfriend.

@ObliviousNFLRef: Don't worry Manti, Ray Lewis killed a real person and people still love him

Ken Jennings ‏@KenJennings
WHOA. I am no longer the most famous Mormon to invent an always-suspiciously-absent "girlfriend" in college.

Manti Te'o, huge, huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge fan of Weekend At Bernie's.

From Notre Dame:

"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. "

LMAO MSR.

And of course ESPN is trying to portray him as the victim. B*tch, please.

[Dutchrudder]

[Rey]

Crazy stuff. If he didn't Kbps it was a hoax I have to question his sensibilities. I wouldn't call him stupid, but maybe he's a ditto head?

[Honoring Earl 34]

We had the Throwin Samoan and now the Lyin Hawaiian .

[Playoffs]

Gullible, naive, most likely a virgin. I feel bad for the guy.

[Texn4life]

Originally Posted by Playoffs

Gullible, naive, most likely a virgin. I feel bad for the guy.

From the details given so far I can't say I feel bad for him. He's been lying one way or another. Either he played a part in developing this fictitious character or he lied and overplayed his relationship with her. I doubt one of his friends would go throw such great lengths to create an entire family in addition to creating her to fool him. It's one of the strangest stories I've seen in a while, and I believe we've only heard the tip of the iceberg so far.

[HoustonFrog]

Best Tweet from a fellow college football player

Jadeveon Clowny ‏@JadeveonClowny

You wanna know what's weirder than Manti Teo making up a girlfriend then pretend killing her? Nothing.

[Heath Shuler]

[Wolf]

He did it so that he could drop in he draft to the Texans

[AJ-80]

Originally Posted by Wolf

He did it so that he could drop in he draft to the Texans

If he does fall to us, we should 100% take him.

Unless McNair has a no tolerance policy about fake dead girlfriends.

[Rey]

How does this affect his draft stock?

Maybe not much. Weirdos have done ok in pro sports.

[Texn4life]

Originally Posted by Rey

How does this affect his draft stock?

Maybe not much. Weirdos have done ok in pro sports.

I think it depends on how much he had to do with carrying on this lie. If he had a part in this then it says something about his mental stability to me. I think the National Championship performance along with this will drop him some, but I doubt it costs him more than a round or two.

[HoustonFrog]

Originally Posted by Texn4life

I think it depends on how much he had to do with carrying on this lie. If he had a part in this then it says something about his mental stability to me. I thin the National Championship performance along with this will drop him some, but I doubt it costs him more than a round or two.

Here is something we do know....he lied. Why we don't know. He told people he met her at Stanford and in Hawaii. That is on the record. If this was online, why lie? What talk of long nights talking from the hospital? Seems to me he got busted after being way in over his head.