Manti Te'o's girlfriend who died... (1 Viewer)

[tjnc09]

Werder‏@Edwerderespn One NFL personnel scout on Manti Te'o scandal and draft impact: "If a team needs an LB, they can watch the tape and forgive him.''

That scout is right. All that talk about "character" or "distractions" is just so much piffle in September. On the other hand, Roger Goodell may feel the need to slap a suspension on him. Not that he's done anything suspendable; King Roger just likes his meaningless little "protect the shield" moments.

Who did T'eo harm here?This is getting a lot of spin and a lot of coverage and mainly it's because all of the world bought it. A funeral in a fake city? Stop it

I doubt the commissioner of a league that honors cancer victims for a month will think highly of someone making this elaborate joke about someone dying of cancer.

 

[Mills Lane]

I can't speak to whether or not Te'o was catfished or not, but I can relate my own story of being catfished...

It happened 11 years ago. I met a girl online. We chatted. Talked on the phone. She emailed me pictures. We planned to meet several times, but she cancelled each time for various reasons. We talked for months, every night, and while I definitely had my reservations, I wanted to believe she was telling me the truth. So ignored some things that nagged at me, telling myself that no one would be sick enough to go to such extremes to perpetrate a lie.

Well... long story short... it turned out she did go to such extremes. The name she gave me was false. The pics weren't of her. She told me she lived with her brother and his kids - it was actually her husband and their kids. It was hard to rationalize - the guy who was actually her husband knew she was talking to me, so I figured it had to be her brother. They were in a loveless marriage, just staying together for the kids. The kids would call her by her fake name when I would be on the phone with her - who would be that sick to have their kids call them by a fake name?

Again, I don't know what the full story is with Te'o, but I know that there are people messed up enough to create a scam like this for whatever reason, and there are people who are dumb enough to buy it, at least for a little while, especially those who are young. It was hard to face the truth, especially with my friends and family, so I can imagine the embarrassment Te'o is feeling if this was entirely a scam pulled against him.

I'm sure many of you will flame me, and deservedly so. I was young and stupid and gullible. I'm living proof that stuff like this does happen, as crazy as it sounds.

That. is. AWESOME.Seriously. I don't know why, but I love this story. I need to hear more. How did you find out? Did she come clean? Did you ever see what she looked like? My mind is boggled.

I found out two different ways. First, I hired a PI to do some research. I wasn't able to find out anything definitive, but there were some things that came up that made me question her more. I brought up some of what I found out (without letting her know I had hired a PI), but she made up more lies to try to cover it up, and I wanted to believe her.The second way was the craziest, most bizarre thing I have ever been a part of. I got a phone call from a guy not long after the PI search. He said he thought we had a common friend in the state she lived in. I said, "Are you talking about ____?" and he replied, "Oh that's the name she gave you?" It turned out she had been talking to this other guy for YEARS as her actual self (he knew her real name, age, etc.), and somehow he had gotten her phone records. He saw that she made a ton of calls to me, often times immediately after getting off the phone with him. He gave me a call to let me in on what was going on, not knowing that she had created a completely different identity with me. He told me the true story of who she really was, and when I confronted her this time she admitted it that she had made up everything. I did see a picture of her... she wasn't hideous or anything, but not as attractive as the pics she had sent.

 

[Premier]

SIG BET THROWDOWN

 

[17seconds]

LOL

that pic sums up the whole thread

awesome pic lol

 

[Sweet J]

I can't speak to whether or not Te'o was catfished or not, but I can relate my own story of being catfished...

It happened 11 years ago. I met a girl online. We chatted. Talked on the phone. She emailed me pictures. We planned to meet several times, but she cancelled each time for various reasons. We talked for months, every night, and while I definitely had my reservations, I wanted to believe she was telling me the truth. So ignored some things that nagged at me, telling myself that no one would be sick enough to go to such extremes to perpetrate a lie.

Well... long story short... it turned out she did go to such extremes. The name she gave me was false. The pics weren't of her. She told me she lived with her brother and his kids - it was actually her husband and their kids. It was hard to rationalize - the guy who was actually her husband knew she was talking to me, so I figured it had to be her brother. They were in a loveless marriage, just staying together for the kids. The kids would call her by her fake name when I would be on the phone with her - who would be that sick to have their kids call them by a fake name?

Again, I don't know what the full story is with Te'o, but I know that there are people messed up enough to create a scam like this for whatever reason, and there are people who are dumb enough to buy it, at least for a little while, especially those who are young. It was hard to face the truth, especially with my friends and family, so I can imagine the embarrassment Te'o is feeling if this was entirely a scam pulled against him.

I'm sure many of you will flame me, and deservedly so. I was young and stupid and gullible. I'm living proof that stuff like this does happen, as crazy as it sounds.

That. is. AWESOME.Seriously. I don't know why, but I love this story. I need to hear more. How did you find out? Did she come clean? Did you ever see what she looked like? My mind is boggled.

I found out two different ways. First, I hired a PI to do some research. I wasn't able to find out anything definitive, but there were some things that came up that made me question her more. I brought up some of what I found out (without letting her know I had hired a PI), but she made up more lies to try to cover it up, and I wanted to believe her.The second way was the craziest, most bizarre thing I have ever been a part of. I got a phone call from a guy not long after the PI search. He said he thought we had a common friend in the state she lived in. I said, "Are you talking about ____?" and he replied, "Oh that's the name she gave you?" It turned out she had been talking to this other guy for YEARS as her actual self (he knew her real name, age, etc.), and somehow he had gotten her phone records. He saw that she made a ton of calls to me, often times immediately after getting off the phone with him. He gave me a call to let me in on what was going on, not knowing that she had created a completely different identity with me. He told me the true story of who she really was, and when I confronted her this time she admitted it that she had made up everything. I did see a picture of her... she wasn't hideous or anything, but not as attractive as the pics she had sent.

Sweet god. I'm amazed that a woman (or anybody) would go to such length to lie about something that will never come to fruition (it's not like she's trying to get you to marry her). People are strange.

 

[dgreen]

[shader]I can't believe that Mills Lane was duped. It makes no sense.Lane is behind the hoax.[/shader]pantherclub has no opinion about Mills Lane because it doesn't involve ND.

 

[Idiot Boxer]

[shader]I can't believe that Mills Lane was duped. It makes no sense.Lane is behind the hoax.[/shader]pantherclub has no opinion about Mills Lane because it doesn't involve ND.

 

[Ramsay Hunt Experience]

I can't speak to whether or not Te'o was catfished or not, but I can relate my own story of being catfished...

It happened 11 years ago. I met a girl online. We chatted. Talked on the phone. She emailed me pictures. We planned to meet several times, but she cancelled each time for various reasons. We talked for months, every night, and while I definitely had my reservations, I wanted to believe she was telling me the truth. So ignored some things that nagged at me, telling myself that no one would be sick enough to go to such extremes to perpetrate a lie.

Well... long story short... it turned out she did go to such extremes. The name she gave me was false. The pics weren't of her. She told me she lived with her brother and his kids - it was actually her husband and their kids. It was hard to rationalize - the guy who was actually her husband knew she was talking to me, so I figured it had to be her brother. They were in a loveless marriage, just staying together for the kids. The kids would call her by her fake name when I would be on the phone with her - who would be that sick to have their kids call them by a fake name?

Again, I don't know what the full story is with Te'o, but I know that there are people messed up enough to create a scam like this for whatever reason, and there are people who are dumb enough to buy it, at least for a little while, especially those who are young. It was hard to face the truth, especially with my friends and family, so I can imagine the embarrassment Te'o is feeling if this was entirely a scam pulled against him.

I'm sure many of you will flame me, and deservedly so. I was young and stupid and gullible. I'm living proof that stuff like this does happen, as crazy as it sounds.

That. is. AWESOME.Seriously. I don't know why, but I love this story. I need to hear more. How did you find out? Did she come clean? Did you ever see what she looked like? My mind is boggled.

I found out two different ways. First, I hired a PI to do some research. I wasn't able to find out anything definitive, but there were some things that came up that made me question her more. I brought up some of what I found out (without letting her know I had hired a PI), but she made up more lies to try to cover it up, and I wanted to believe her.The second way was the craziest, most bizarre thing I have ever been a part of. I got a phone call from a guy not long after the PI search. He said he thought we had a common friend in the state she lived in. I said, "Are you talking about ____?" and he replied, "Oh that's the name she gave you?" It turned out she had been talking to this other guy for YEARS as her actual self (he knew her real name, age, etc.), and somehow he had gotten her phone records. He saw that she made a ton of calls to me, often times immediately after getting off the phone with him. He gave me a call to let me in on what was going on, not knowing that she had created a completely different identity with me. He told me the true story of who she really was, and when I confronted her this time she admitted it that she had made up everything. I did see a picture of her... she wasn't hideous or anything, but not as attractive as the pics she had sent.

God, I hope you sent at least one email titled "LET'S GET IT ON!!!"

 

[Limp Ditka]

Ok and how do we go about paying etc? I'm not tracking anoyone down and I dont care enough ot be on here harrassing you.I win you use a SIG I create and if I lose you do the same, deal?

I've worked at this website for nearly 10 years. This is my real name. Where am I going to go?We're not 10 years old. A sig bet is meaningless and certainly not a good way to back up your "guarantee".

This is going around and around. Your name is meaningless unless I end up in Chicago in need of $50, seriously.We have time before the draft...be creative.

So there's no way to exchange funds unless you're in the same municipality?

 

[biggamer3]

He's going top 20. Guaranteed.

what kind of odds you willing to give if you think it's a guarantee?I'll bet he falls out of the top 20.

You can pretty much name them, that's how sure I am.I can understand if he actually believed the fake person was real but that doesnt seem to be the case. He/ they/ whoever fooled people....you believed the hoax. My money is on that he knew it was a hoax.

No drugs...no arrests and outside of one game he has great tape and about 3 months to have his agent draw up an answer for him to recite.

Top 20. Can't see him making it past the Saints, Rams or Steelers positions

if this is true, you don't think that it's going to give some teams some pause about drafting him?

The pause will be until you watch his tape....This is the NFL not church club. He played a hoax and just because half the world bought it doesnt mean he did.

ETA**

If it turns out that he was in love with something he knew didnt exist I retract everything I've said.

I personally find it deplorable what he did, but that said I would bet a lot of money that my Giants would not pass on such a talent at the #19 spot. Gmen need a LB as bad as any team needs one and this stupid Hoax he tried pulling is not a criminal act so it will be easier to overlook. remember the Gmen were the only team to give Ahmad Bradshaw a shot as a rookie after misconduct at college.

 

[Buck Bradcanon]

[shader]I can't believe that Mills Lane was duped. It makes no sense.Lane is behind the hoax.[/shader]pantherclub has no opinion about Mills Lane because it doesn't involve ND.

 

[-fish-]

Ok and how do we go about paying etc? I'm not tracking anoyone down and I dont care enough ot be on here harrassing you.I win you use a SIG I create and if I lose you do the same, deal?

I've worked at this website for nearly 10 years. This is my real name. Where am I going to go?We're not 10 years old. A sig bet is meaningless and certainly not a good way to back up your "guarantee".

This is going around and around. Your name is meaningless unless I end up in Chicago in need of $50, seriously.We have time before the draft...be creative.

So there's no way to exchange funds unless you're in the same municipality?

can't be too careful...he just heard that some people on the innernets aren't real.

 

[Steve Tasker]

quoteLennayKay My statement: This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but I have been told by Alabama's offense that Manti Te'o is not real.

lol

 

[HughHoney]

Congrats to lazy, shoddy journalism all around. You professionals should be proud.

Yep and it's continuing right now. Espn basically still saying exactly what notre dame put out instead of actually reading some of researched facts about the case. To folks like Moe. and sweet J have you guys actually read the deadspin article?

 

[hagmania]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-quotes/#all

SI: How did you meet her?TE'O: We met just, ummmm, just she knew my cousin. And kind of saw me there so. Just kind of regular.

Oh boy.

 

[shader]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-quotes/#all

SI: How did you meet her?TE'O: We met just, ummmm, just she knew my cousin. And kind of saw me there so. Just kind of regular.

Oh boy.

I'm telling you guys, this thing stinks to high heaven. I don't care what ESPN or Manti Te'o is saying. There are quotes all over the internet that blow his story to smithereens. If he came out and told the truth it would blow over. Just admit you made a mistake and were a dumb kid who got caught up in the hype.

 

[HughHoney]

Another layer to this is that Manti went to HS with Tuiasaopo right? This wasnt a complete stranger that duped(?) him.

Your previous post makes an assumption to what's going on here and now this post questions something that was easily explained in the story on deadspin. So you didnt get the facts and you're posting your opinions on it. Do you work at Espn?

 

[Buck Bradcanon]

Another layer to this is that Manti went to HS with Tuiasaopo right? This wasnt a complete stranger that duped(?) him.

Your previous post makes an assumption to what's going on here and now this post questions something that was easily explained in the story on deadspin. So you didnt get the facts and you're posting your opinions on it. Do you work at Espn?

I edited this one a few posts after this and corrected myself. I can edit or delete this original. What was the post before this? Sorry Honey.

 

[hagmania]

The transcript is just, wow.

SI: Wow, did she get out?TE'O: She didn't get out. She went from there. Remember she got in the accident and she was in a coma. We lost her, actually, twice. She flatlined twice. They revived her twice. It was just a trippy situation. It was a day I was flying home from South Bend to go home for summer break. It was May. Mid-May. That was the day where they said, "Bro, we're going to pull it. We're going to pull the plug." I remember having this feeling like everything is going to be OK. They were telling me, "Say your goodbyes." From April 28 to around mid-May, I was always talking to my girlfriend who was on a machine.SI: She couldn't communicate?TE'O: No. She could only breathe. One of the miraculous things was when I talked to her and she would hear my voice her breathing would pick up. Like quickly, and then she would start crying. But her breathing would quicken, and she would start crying. So her brother was in the room with the nurse. They were monitoring her. She said, "Who is she on the phone with?" Her boyfriend. She was like, "That's amazing. She doesn't do that with anybody else." So that happened. And then she flatlined and we were losing her.

 

[Joe Summer]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-quotes/#all

SI: How did you meet her?TE'O: We met just, ummmm, just she knew my cousin. And kind of saw me there so. Just kind of regular.

Oh boy.

Well, technically he never says that he met her in person. Just that she "saw him" (at a football game?), which could be what the imposter told him via email or Twitter.

 

[Sweet J]

Congrats to lazy, shoddy journalism all around. You professionals should be proud.

Yep and it's continuing right now. Espn basically still saying exactly what notre dame put out instead of actually reading some of researched facts about the case. To folks like Moe. and sweet J have you guys actually read the deadspin article?

I skimmed the deadspin article.My take is that the line between "he orchestrated the hoax" and "he had an online relationship with some chick, and milked it when she died" is a tough one to discern.If I had to make a guess, it would be the latter: he met a (pretend) chick online, maybe emailed her here and there, maybe talked to her on the phone once or twice. And then she tells him she's dieing of cancer and he figures this is a great way to get sympathy/attention without much effort. So he tells people that it is his "girlfriend" (even though he knows that he barely knows her), and boo-hoos about it and everybody loves on him for being a great guy. In this way, he's not "making her up" in the sense that he thinks that there is a real person out there with cancer, but he is making her up in the sense that he exaggerated his relationship with her.Anyway, that's the only thing that makes sense to me. And I think it is consistent with Deadspin (but again, I only skimmed it).edit: by the way, under my theory, he's an even bigger scumbag than if he was the hoax perpetrator, because he thinks that there is a real person dying, and he is exaggerating for his own attention. It's kind of heartless. If he is behind the hoax, at least nobody got "hurt." He's more like Andy Kaufman. Just a weirdo.

 

[Mills Lane]

I can't speak to whether or not Te'o was catfished or not, but I can relate my own story of being catfished...

It happened 11 years ago. I met a girl online. We chatted. Talked on the phone. She emailed me pictures. We planned to meet several times, but she cancelled each time for various reasons. We talked for months, every night, and while I definitely had my reservations, I wanted to believe she was telling me the truth. So ignored some things that nagged at me, telling myself that no one would be sick enough to go to such extremes to perpetrate a lie.

Well... long story short... it turned out she did go to such extremes. The name she gave me was false. The pics weren't of her. She told me she lived with her brother and his kids - it was actually her husband and their kids. It was hard to rationalize - the guy who was actually her husband knew she was talking to me, so I figured it had to be her brother. They were in a loveless marriage, just staying together for the kids. The kids would call her by her fake name when I would be on the phone with her - who would be that sick to have their kids call them by a fake name?

Again, I don't know what the full story is with Te'o, but I know that there are people messed up enough to create a scam like this for whatever reason, and there are people who are dumb enough to buy it, at least for a little while, especially those who are young. It was hard to face the truth, especially with my friends and family, so I can imagine the embarrassment Te'o is feeling if this was entirely a scam pulled against him.

I'm sure many of you will flame me, and deservedly so. I was young and stupid and gullible. I'm living proof that stuff like this does happen, as crazy as it sounds.

That. is. AWESOME.Seriously. I don't know why, but I love this story. I need to hear more. How did you find out? Did she come clean? Did you ever see what she looked like? My mind is boggled.

I found out two different ways. First, I hired a PI to do some research. I wasn't able to find out anything definitive, but there were some things that came up that made me question her more. I brought up some of what I found out (without letting her know I had hired a PI), but she made up more lies to try to cover it up, and I wanted to believe her.The second way was the craziest, most bizarre thing I have ever been a part of. I got a phone call from a guy not long after the PI search. He said he thought we had a common friend in the state she lived in. I said, "Are you talking about ____?" and he replied, "Oh that's the name she gave you?" It turned out she had been talking to this other guy for YEARS as her actual self (he knew her real name, age, etc.), and somehow he had gotten her phone records. He saw that she made a ton of calls to me, often times immediately after getting off the phone with him. He gave me a call to let me in on what was going on, not knowing that she had created a completely different identity with me. He told me the true story of who she really was, and when I confronted her this time she admitted it that she had made up everything. I did see a picture of her... she wasn't hideous or anything, but not as attractive as the pics she had sent.

God, I hope you sent at least one email titled "LET'S GET IT ON!!!"

 

[HughHoney]

Has Wojciechowski been fired yet?

Sorry for the Hipplings.He's been their go to guy all day. One quote he had was, "I didnt ask for the grandmothers death certificate", while trying to defend himself on why he didn't dig deeper on the gf.

 

[badmojo1006]

SI: Where did you meet her in California?TE'O: She actually came to one of the games. She saw me at one of the games.SI: October 15, I assume is USC?TE'O: That was in November. But she saw me at the USC game of my sophomore year. We were still just friends, we were acquaintances.

Per the ND Athletic Director, Manti never met her in person

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

the victim story would likely be that he was too embarassed to explain that he had only met her online so he made up the rest as a cover. Obviously he's going to be caught in a lot of lies after the fact, but it's at least a plausible explanation for what may have been going through his head at the time.

 

[HughHoney]

Sweet j, how do you explain him and his father saying they met the girl?

 

[badmojo1006]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-quotes/#all

SI: How did you meet her?TE'O: We met just, ummmm, just she knew my cousin. And kind of saw me there so. Just kind of regular.

Oh boy.

And I can't tell if he was in the hospital room with her from his quotes

 

[Marmalade]

What is the big deal? So he duped millions of people. Nothing criminal happened.

 

[HughHoney]

Bob Holtzman on outside the lines said most students he talked to on campus today thought his gf was made up and some players and students thought he loved every bit of attention he got. Holtzman said Te'o would point up at the tv's every time he was on. What a victim this poor kid is.

 

[Limp Ditka]

Manti Te'o just compared to Puxatony Phil on SportsCenter.

 

[pantagrapher]

What is the big deal? ... he duped millions of people.

 

[biggamer3]

are there really people who think that Teo was completely duped and not complicit in this hoax?

 

[Good Posting Judge]

Has Wojciechowski been fired yet?

Sorry for the Hipplings.He's been their go to guy all day. One quote he had was, "I didnt ask for the grandmothers death certificate", while trying to defend himself on why he didn't dig deeper on the gf.

Him not wanting to keep pushing the guy for information about the gf is reasonable. But that doesn't mean you just let it drop and assume it's true. You verify it through other paths.

 

[pantagrapher]

are there really people who think that Teo was completely duped and not complicit in this hoax?

There are people who insist it's plausible, and I think those people are gullible.

 

[shadyridr]

The transcript is just, wow.

SI: Wow, did she get out?TE'O: She didn't get out. She went from there. Remember she got in the accident and she was in a coma. We lost her, actually, twice. She flatlined twice. They revived her twice. It was just a trippy situation. It was a day I was flying home from South Bend to go home for summer break. It was May. Mid-May. That was the day where they said, "Bro, we're going to pull it. We're going to pull the plug." I remember having this feeling like everything is going to be OK. They were telling me, "Say your goodbyes." From April 28 to around mid-May, I was always talking to my girlfriend who was on a machine.SI: She couldn't communicate?TE'O: No. She could only breathe. One of the miraculous things was when I talked to her and she would hear my voice her breathing would pick up. Like quickly, and then she would start crying. But her breathing would quicken, and she would start crying. So her brother was in the room with the nurse. They were monitoring her. She said, "Who is she on the phone with?" Her boyfriend. She was like, "That's amazing. She doesn't do that with anybody else." So that happened. And then she flatlined and we were losing her.

he talked to his dying girlfriend who was hooked up to a respirator and couldnt talk ON THE PHONE EVERYDAY? And nobody thought this seemed bizarre?

 

[biggamer3]

are there really people who think that Teo was completely duped and not complicit in this hoax?

There are people who insist it's plausible, and I think those people are gullible.

plausible? He never met her at the very least he was not as shaken at her loss even if she died a brutal death. Putting aside his dads remarks that they had met. Watch some of the ESPN pieces on him, he was acting like he just lost a wife

 

[badmojo1006]

The transcript is just, wow.

SI: Wow, did she get out?TE'O: She didn't get out. She went from there. Remember she got in the accident and she was in a coma. We lost her, actually, twice. She flatlined twice. They revived her twice. It was just a trippy situation. It was a day I was flying home from South Bend to go home for summer break. It was May. Mid-May. That was the day where they said, "Bro, we're going to pull it. We're going to pull the plug." I remember having this feeling like everything is going to be OK. They were telling me, "Say your goodbyes." From April 28 to around mid-May, I was always talking to my girlfriend who was on a machine.SI: She couldn't communicate?TE'O: No. She could only breathe. One of the miraculous things was when I talked to her and she would hear my voice her breathing would pick up. Like quickly, and then she would start crying. But her breathing would quicken, and she would start crying. So her brother was in the room with the nurse. They were monitoring her. She said, "Who is she on the phone with?" Her boyfriend. She was like, "That's amazing. She doesn't do that with anybody else." So that happened. And then she flatlined and we were losing her.

he talked to his dying girlfriend who was hooked up to a respirator and couldnt talk ON THE PHONE EVERYDAY? And nobody thought this seemed bizarre?

I find it bizarre she, who is the love of his life, is on her deathbed and he does not find some way to get to the hospital.That just blows my mind

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-quotes/#ixzz2IHI5ysxg

Manti Te'o in his own words

We asked SI senior writer Pete Thamel to give an account of his reporting on the Manti Te'o story, which ran in the Oct. 1 issue and can be found here. The story was assigned after reports surfaced that Te'o's grandmother and girlfriend had died within six hours of each other on Sept. 12 and 13, and that Te'o, Notre Dame's star linebacker, was continuing to play.

The detail he provided me about Lennay Kekua, who he said had died 10 days earlier -- six hours after his grandmother passed away -- was staggering. He said that they met through his cousin nearly four years ago and started "dating" on Oct. 15, 2011. Te'o told me she graduated from Stanford, lived in Carson, Calif., had family roots in Hawaii and helped take over part of her dad's job in the construction business, though her passion was to work with children and she'd traveled as far as New Zealand to do so. He said she got hit by a drunk driver on April 28, 2012, discovered that she had leukemia while recovering, and received her cancer treatment at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Calif. He never specified that he'd met her in person, and I didn't ask. Why would you ask someone if he'd actually met his girlfriend who recently died?

Before I went to campus, I had conducted lengthy interviews with Brian Te'o, Manti's dad, and Dalton Hilliard, a close friend from Punahou High in Honolulu who played at UCLA. Both said they were in frequent communication with Kekua; Brian Te'o told me he had received a condolence text from her after his mother died. They also spoke on the phone at length, as he did with Lennay's brothers after her "death." Hilliard said he received frequent texts and tweets from her.

For the interview on Sunday afternoon Te'o and I sat in the linebacker meeting room in Notre Dame's football facility and he looked straight at me as he spoke. His eyes welled up at times. The only time he didn't speak with confidence was when I asked how they met. I didn't press him, as it was clearly something he didn't want to share. I suspected they may have met online, understood he wouldn't have wanted that public and moved on.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

are there really people who think that Teo was completely duped and not complicit in this hoax?

There are people who insist it's plausible, and I think those people are gullible.

plausible? He never met her at the very least he was not as shaken at her loss even if she died a brutal death. Putting aside his dads remarks that they had met. Watch some of the ESPN pieces on him, he was acting like he just lost a wife

You don't think people can be shaken by the death of someone they've never met?

 

[17seconds]

are there really people who think that Teo was completely duped and not complicit in this hoax?

There are people who insist it's plausible, and I think those people are gullible.

plausible? He never met her at the very least he was not as shaken at her loss even if she died a brutal death. Putting aside his dads remarks that they had met. Watch some of the ESPN pieces on him, he was acting like he just lost a wife

The Swarbrick press conference convinces me Teo was not in on the hoax. ND has known about this for weeks now. Swarbrick probably has all the information on what happened and put himself behind that conclusion 100%. If he's wrong or lying he just ruined his own image and/or career. For a player that is already done at ND.I understand it doesn't seem possible now, but Swarbrick would have to be more gullible than Teo to give a presser like that and be wrong.

 

[Time Kibitzer]

Bob Holtzman on outside the lines said most students he talked to on campus today thought his gf was made up and some players and students thought he loved every bit of attention he got. Holtzman said Te'o would point up at the tv's every time he was on.

What a victim this poor kid is.

I see no reason to doubt the authenticity of those students claims despite the fact that they came after the story broke. None at all...

 

[Buckfast 1]

I think that there are some very clear signs that Te'o was intentionally lying -- not being a naive victim of a hoax -- throughout the entire scheme.

This was posted very early in the the thread, but if you haven't listed to Jim Rome's October 2012 interview with Te'o, I think it is very telling, specifically at the 5:30 point:

Jim Rome: Tell me about her. What was she like?

Manti Te'o: Man...if....she......I can't describe her.

I read Te'o's reaction as if he is just struggling to invent something to say about his imaginary girlfriend.

Then, in the September 2012 interview with SI's Pete Thamel, the following exchange occurs:

SI: When did you start talking to her all night?

TE'O: When she got in her accident.

SI: So starting in April?

TE'O: Yeah and you know, she was in a coma. I would try, and you know.

SI: Hit by a drunk driver. What were her injuries?

TE'O: I don't know. She had a lot of different injuries.

SI: How long was she hospitalized?

TE'O: She was in that hospital for about two months.

SI: Wow, did she get out?

TE'O: She didn't get out. She went from there. Remember she got in the accident and she was in a coma. We lost her, actually, twice. She flatlined twice. They revived her twice. It was just a trippy situation. It was a day I was flying home from South Bend to go home for summer break. It was May. Mid-May. That was the day where they said, "Bro, we're going to pull it. We're going to pull the plug."

How would Te'o not know what injuries his girlfriend had if he spent all this time talking to her? That never came up in conversation when he was spending all these nights talking to her? If he actually had any relationship with a person who was faking being injured to the extent that they were talking of "pulling the plug" on her, I can assure you that Te'o would have been able to answer the question about what injuries she had better than a "I don't know" response. Also, when discussing his "girlfriend" in the SI interview:

SI: What did she do?

TE'O: She actually just graduated from Stanford. She worked at Clark's Construction Company, I think. She replaced her dad after her dad passed.

SI: When did her dad pass?

TE'O: In October. She took that mantle for him.

SI: Does the family own a construction business?

TE'O: No. But they're part of the whole administration, the higher-ups. Their family worked really hard and worked their way up.

.....

SI: What did she study?

TE'O: She graduated in 2011 or 2010. 2011.

SI: What was her major?

TE'O: Her major was in English and something. I'll double check.

So, despite talking to her for hours on the phone every night, Te'o is not entirely sure where she works (although he later goes into great detail about how she took her dad's position after he passed); he is not sure when she graduated from college; and he does not know her majors. You would think that there would not be any hesitation to answer those questions if he had been "duped" by someone who made up things to tell him. Instead, Te'o seems as if he is just making stuff up spontaneously off of the top of his head or trying to remember what he said before.Another thing that I found striking from the SI interview is the way in which Te'o describes his "girlfriend" in that interview.

SI: How do you want her to be remembered?

TE'O: Lennay was so special. Her relationship with the heavenly father was so strong. She's so humble, hard working. And her main thing was her family. Her family was everything to her. As long as she took care of her family. And as long as she knew that her relationship with our heavenly father was strong, she had faith that everyone would work out. With her it was just always loving God and her family. I was just blessed to be part of that.

So, his "girlfriend" was very religious and her family meant everything to her. Sounds strikingly similar to Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, who lives in the same town as his family, plays Christian music in the church where is dad is a pastor, and posts religious music on YouTube. Oh, and don't forget that Tuiasosopo was also in a car accident shortly before Te'o "girlfriend" was.

My sense just tells me that Te'o's responses in these interviews were those of someone who was intentionally lying to hide a bigger secret -- not someone who was naively duped into believing a false tale.

 

[Steve Tasker]

are there really people who think that Teo was completely duped and not complicit in this hoax?

There are people who insist it's plausible, and I think those people are gullible.

plausible? He never met her at the very least he was not as shaken at her loss even if she died a brutal death. Putting aside his dads remarks that they had met. Watch some of the ESPN pieces on him, he was acting like he just lost a wife

I think it is plausible that he may have developed a relationship (not necessarily an emotional relationship) with a "girl" online only to discover later that he had been totally catfished after he was in way too deep, causing him to spin a ridiculous web of lies. Maybe this Tuiasosopo guy revealed the hoax and Te'o conspired with him to fake her death (which could explain some of his obvious lies around/after the time of her "death", if he already knew at this point it was fake). Could be that he played up her death because he wanted the media attention, could be he just didn't know what else to do and had to keep making up answers, digging himself further into a hole with all of the interview quotes people are bringing up here.Or he was totally in on it from the start and is having a good ol' laugh about his media attention right now. My main question with the "he was in on it from the start" angle is....could it all have been just for the Heisman and media hype? What other motive would there be? He had to think people would ask questions sometime, right? There are so many unanswered questions

 

[General Malaise]

I can't speak to whether or not Te'o was catfished or not, but I can relate my own story of being catfished...

It happened 11 years ago. I met a girl online. We chatted. Talked on the phone. She emailed me pictures. We planned to meet several times, but she cancelled each time for various reasons. We talked for months, every night, and while I definitely had my reservations, I wanted to believe she was telling me the truth. So ignored some things that nagged at me, telling myself that no one would be sick enough to go to such extremes to perpetrate a lie.

Well... long story short... it turned out she did go to such extremes. The name she gave me was false. The pics weren't of her. She told me she lived with her brother and his kids - it was actually her husband and their kids. It was hard to rationalize - the guy who was actually her husband knew she was talking to me, so I figured it had to be her brother. They were in a loveless marriage, just staying together for the kids. The kids would call her by her fake name when I would be on the phone with her - who would be that sick to have their kids call them by a fake name?

Again, I don't know what the full story is with Te'o, but I know that there are people messed up enough to create a scam like this for whatever reason, and there are people who are dumb enough to buy it, at least for a little while, especially those who are young. It was hard to face the truth, especially with my friends and family, so I can imagine the embarrassment Te'o is feeling if this was entirely a scam pulled against him.

I'm sure many of you will flame me, and deservedly so. I was young and stupid and gullible. I'm living proof that stuff like this does happen, as crazy as it sounds.

That. is. AWESOME.Seriously. I don't know why, but I love this story. I need to hear more. How did you find out? Did she come clean? Did you ever see what she looked like? My mind is boggled.

I found out two different ways. First, I hired a PI to do some research. I wasn't able to find out anything definitive, but there were some things that came up that made me question her more. I brought up some of what I found out (without letting her know I had hired a PI), but she made up more lies to try to cover it up, and I wanted to believe her.The second way was the craziest, most bizarre thing I have ever been a part of. I got a phone call from a guy not long after the PI search. He said he thought we had a common friend in the state she lived in. I said, "Are you talking about ____?" and he replied, "Oh that's the name she gave you?" It turned out she had been talking to this other guy for YEARS as her actual self (he knew her real name, age, etc.), and somehow he had gotten her phone records. He saw that she made a ton of calls to me, often times immediately after getting off the phone with him. He gave me a call to let me in on what was going on, not knowing that she had created a completely different identity with me. He told me the true story of who she really was, and when I confronted her this time she admitted it that she had made up everything. I did see a picture of her... she wasn't hideous or anything, but not as attractive as the pics she had sent.

 

[tjnc09]

The transcript is just, wow.

SI: Wow, did she get out?TE'O: She didn't get out. She went from there. Remember she got in the accident and she was in a coma. We lost her, actually, twice. She flatlined twice. They revived her twice. It was just a trippy situation. It was a day I was flying home from South Bend to go home for summer break. It was May. Mid-May. That was the day where they said, "Bro, we're going to pull it. We're going to pull the plug." I remember having this feeling like everything is going to be OK. They were telling me, "Say your goodbyes." From April 28 to around mid-May, I was always talking to my girlfriend who was on a machine.SI: She couldn't communicate?TE'O: No. She could only breathe. One of the miraculous things was when I talked to her and she would hear my voice her breathing would pick up. Like quickly, and then she would start crying. But her breathing would quicken, and she would start crying. So her brother was in the room with the nurse. They were monitoring her. She said, "Who is she on the phone with?" Her boyfriend. She was like, "That's amazing. She doesn't do that with anybody else." So that happened. And then she flatlined and we were losing her.

he talked to his dying girlfriend who was hooked up to a respirator and couldnt talk ON THE PHONE EVERYDAY? And nobody thought this seemed bizarre?

I find it bizarre she, who is the love of his life, is on her deathbed and he does not find some way to get to the hospital.That just blows my mind

Is it possible that he truly developed feelings for this "girl" online and was devastated to find out it was a hoax? So, he makes up the car accident story so people stop asking him about her. They ask why he doesn't go visit her so he comes up with the cancer story as he finds out his grandmother is dying. This will be his out from the humiliation as he can show real sadness (for grandmother) and people will take it as real for both "girl" and grandmother?

 

[Bob Sacamano]

oops

 

[Limp Ditka]

oops

gone

 

[Bob Sacamano]

oops

gone

It was fine. Delete was accidental.

 

[Limp Ditka]

oops

gone

It was fine. Delete was accidental.

Abraham alias?

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Could be. Is he shammered too?