This is easily the strangest college football story I’ve ever heard. Remember the Michigan State-Notre Dame game in late September, before which Manti Te’o lost his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, and his grandmother within hours of each other earlier in the week? Some investigation on the part of Deadspin.com makes it appear that there most likely is/was no Lennay Kekua. Among the things Deadspin turned up:
-There is no Social Security Administration record of the death of Lennay Marie Kekua for September 11, 2012, or for any other date. (The death of Te’o’s grandmother on September 11, 2012 was confirmed through SSA records). For that matter, Deadspin was unable to find a birth announcement for her either.
-Deadspin was not able to find an obituary or any funeral announcements for a Lennay Kekua, nor was there any mention in the Stanford student newspaper. Kekua was allegedly a Stanford alum- although the Stanford registrar’s office has no evidence that a Lennay Kekua ever enrolled.
-The severe car accident Kekua was supposedly in early last year? No record of it anywhere.
According to a Notre Dame statement, released within the last hour, “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.”
This is certainly an elaborate hoax- I had to read the Deadspin report a couple of times to get the facts and people straight- but I find it really hard to believe that Te’o wasn’t in on it. You can read the whole report at http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax
Teo also released a statement, it 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.”
One thing is for sure, its only January 16th and college football has already given us a contender for most bizarre story of the year, and endless hours of jokes.
Photo credit: Neon Tommy via photopin cc
