Fighting Irish Star Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend Never Existed

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Jan 16, 2013 11:00PM

Deadspin reports that the story of Fighting Irish football star Manti Te'o's deceased girlfriend was a bunch of malarkey. Officials at Notre Dame claim Te'o and his parents were targets of a hoax, and Te'o said in a statement Wednesday afternoon saying, "To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating."

However, Deadspin says a source told the sports news blog that he was "80 percent sure" Te'o was "in on it" with publicity in mind. Furthermore, the photos used in the social media accounts for the alleged girlfriend were traced to a friend of Te'o.

Deadspin traced the story of Lennay Kekua, Te'o's supposed girlfriend, who was in a serious car accident, then diagnosed with Leukemia. Kekua died in September around the same time Te'o's grandmother died (whose death was true), and then Te'o led Notre Dame to conquer Michigan State 20-3.

After that, the news media widely promoted what was either a heartbreaking and inspirational story or a hoax that took Heisman campaigning to a very dark place.

Deadspin found no obituary or funeral announcement for Lennay Marie Kekua. The photos of Kekua turned out to be those of an anonymous woman, who contacted Deadspin. She said the photos were taken from her private social media accounts, and at one point she was contacted by Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, an old high school acquaintance, who asked her to take a photo with a sign reading "MSMK," which appears on Kekua's Twitter account. Tuiasosopo is also reportedly friends with Te'o.

This afternoon Notre Dame University spokesman Dennis Brown said in a statement on the Notre Dame football Facebook page:

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.

Te'o also released a statement Wednesday afternoon that reads:

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.

UPDATE (7 p.m.): The Notre Dame Press Conference: