Manti Te'o: A linebacker, a made-up girlfriend and a national hoax

<br /><div class="cnn_stryathrtmp" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 14px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="cnnByline" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By <strong style="color: black; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Lateef Mungin and Steve Almasy</strong>, CNN</div><div class="cnn_strytmstmp" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">updated 11:03 PM EST, Thu January 17, 2013</div><div class="cnn_strytmstmp" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="The sports world and the Internet are abuzz as Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o says <a href='http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/16/sport/manti-teo-controversy/index.html'>he was the victim of a "sick joke"</a> that resulted in the creation of an inspirational story that had him overcoming the death of an online girlfriend at the same time he lost his grandmother. Here, Te'o leaves the field after a 42-14 loss against Alabama in the 2013 Discover BCS National Championship game on Monday, January 7, in Miami Gardens, Florida. See more photos of Te'o:" height="360" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130116204635-manti-teo-01-horizontal-gallery.jpg" width="640" /></div><div class="cnn_strytmstmp" style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(CNN)</strong> -- In a little more than three months, Manti Te'o probably will be drafted by an NFL team and sign a multimillion dollar deal.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Before teams sink that much money into players, they have questions.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">With the revelation that the football feel-good story of the year centered on the Notre Dame linebacker's love for a woman who never existed, many people have questions for Te'o -- a lot of questions.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">And as each question in the saga gets answered -- none publicly by Te'o --- it seems another one, or two, or three, crop up.</div><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" name="em2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></a><br /><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">For instance, why did Te'o tell reporters before the Heisman Trophy presentation on December 8 that he "lost both my grandparents and my girlfriend to cancer," when two days earlier the woman he thought was dead called him on his cellphone?</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Why did he tell a Sports Illustrated reporter in October that Kekua came to one of his games then issue a statement this week that he never met her?</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Who is now behind the one of the Twitter accounts associated with Lennay Kekua, a woman who apparently never lived, let alone died, in September before Te'o, who called her his girlfriend, played one of the biggest games of the young season?</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">A tweet Thursday purportedly from the fictional girlfriend promised she would have a big announcement that would help sort out details of the story, but the tweet was merely a joke about Te'o.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Two other tweets on the page were retweets from the verified account of Te'o.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"@LennayKay I miss you!" a November 6 tweet from Te'o said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">On September 12, Te'o <a href="https://twitter.com/MTeo_5/status/246020457298550784" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">tweeted</a> "@LennayKay you will always be with me wherever I go!"</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">It was unclear Thursday whether the person Te'o tweeted to in September used it again after reports broke of a hoax or whether someone created a new account with the same user name.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The airing of the bizarre story began Wednesday, when sports website Deadspin <a href="http://deadspin.com/5976517/manti-teos-dead-girlfriend-the-most-heartbreaking-and-inspirational-story-of-the-college-football-season-is-a-hoax" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">published a piece</a> dismissing as a hoax the existence of Te'o's girlfriend -- the one who he said died around the same time as his grandmother while his team marched toward the BCS National Championship Game.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Then Wednesday, the university held a news conference saying Te'o was the victim of a "elaborate hoax." And Te'o, the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/08/sport/heisman/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Heisman Trophy runner-up</a>, released a statement saying he was embarrassed that he was the victim of a "sick joke."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The bizarre developments left many wondering if they, instead of Te'o, were led on.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"Te'o's story that he is completely innocent in this does not really ring true to us," Timothy Burke, co-author of the Deadspin article, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Pete Thamel, the Sports Illustrated writer who published a transcript of his interview with Te'o, said he thinks the star linebacker was duped.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"If he was acting he deserves an Oscar nomination," Thamel said. "The depth and the detail of this scam is mindboggling, but I do think Te'o ... he caught the wave of this story, maybe exaggerated the depths of their relationship a little. But at the end of the day, we need to hear from Manti Te'o."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/sport/football/manti-teo-doubts/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Doubters wonder if Heisman Trophy a factor in hoax</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The </strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">h</strong><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">oax</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The story of the girlfriend came to light in September as Notre Dame continued its improbable undefeated season, and Te'o, a relentless tackler, was beginning to emerge as a front-runner for the prestigous Heisman Trophy.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">He led the Fighting Irish, amassing double-digit tackle games and becoming the face of one of the best defenses in the nation.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">In September and October, Te'o told interviewers that his girlfriend and grandmother had died within hours of each other. The girlfriend, a 22-year-old Stanford University student, died of leukemia, he said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The twin losses inspired him to honor them with sterling play on the field, Te'o said. He led his team to a 20-3 routing of Michigan State after he heard the news.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"I miss 'em, but I know that I'll see them again one day," he told ESPN.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">It was indeed a gripping interest story of determination. And the media ran with it.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">No one bothered to seek out Kekua's family until Deadspin, acting on an anonymous e-mail received last week, started poking around.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"What do you do when you first want to know something? You Google it, right?" Burke said on CNN. "And Google searches for 'Lennay Kekua' only showed up articles about her dying, and inspiring Manti Te'o.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"There's no evidence of her existing in any way, other than, you know, after she had allegedly died. And we thought that was a little weird."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Te'o's grandmother died in September, Deadspin said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph31" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">But there was no Social Security Administration record of Kekua's death. The Birth and Death Registration Office in Orange County, California, told CNN it had no record of Kekua, nor does the county coroner.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph32" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Deadspin called mortuaries and funeral homes in Carson, California, where Kekua was reportedly buried -- but came up empty.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph33" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The website sought out the person whose picture had been presented as that of Kekua and tracked her down.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph34" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/sport/teo-timeline/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Timeline: How the story unfolded</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph35" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">She was alive, didn't have leukemia and had never met Te'o.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph36" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"That sort of opened everything up," Burke said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph37" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The revelation prompted the Notre Dame athletics director to call a news conference Wednesday. There was no way for Te'o to know the relationship was a hoax because it had been conducted strictly online and on the phone, said director Jack Swarbrick.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph38" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The pair had set up several meetings, including in Hawaii, where Te'o grew up -- but Kekua never showed, Swarbrick said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph39" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The university said it did not know how many people were in on the ruse.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph40" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">According to Swarbrick, Te'o received a call from a woman claiming to be his girlfriend on December 6, telling him she was not dead. Those calls continued, but Te'o did not answer, he said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph41" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The Heisman Trophy was awarded two days later, and Te'o made comments about losing relatives to cancer before he finished second in the award voting to quarterback Johnny Manziel of Texas A & M.<i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></i></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph42" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The Stanford University registrar's office told CNN that it has never had a student registered in Kekua's name or using an alternate spelling<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">.</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph43" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"Outside of a few Twitter and Instagram accounts, there's no online evidence that Lennay Kekua ever existed," Deadspin contends. "There was no Lennay Kekua."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph44" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/sport/teo-quotes/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Te'o in his own words</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph45" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Her 'soulful eyes'</strong></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph46" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">So, how did the two fall in love?</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph47" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">According to the South Bend Tribune in Indiana -- the newspaper of Notre Dame's hometown, the two met -- yes, met -- after a football game in Palo Alto, California, in 2009.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph48" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"Their stares got pleasantly tangled, then Manti Te'o extended his hand to the stranger with a warm smile and soulful eyes," the <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Gsq3BkqY4-oJ:articles.southbendtribune.com/2012-10-12/sports/34419536_1_brian-and-ottilia-manti-te-o-irish-head-coach+brian-and-ottilia-manti-te&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">paper gushed</a>. "They could have just as easily brushed past each other and into separate sunsets. Te'o had plenty to preoccupy himself that November weekend in Palo Alto, Calif., back in 2009."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph49" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The article went on to say: "Lennay Kekua was a Stanford student and Cardinal football fan when the two exchanged glances, handshakes and phone numbers that fateful weekend three seasons ago."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph50" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Te'o's father, Brian, was quoted in the article: "They started out as just friends. Every once in a while, she would travel to Hawaii, and that happened to be the time Manti was home, so he would meet with her there. But within the last year, they became a couple."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph51" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The newspaper said Wednesday it based Teo's story on information from the linebacker, his family members and coaches -- and moved the story to its archives.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph52" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">But as Thamel reported Thursday, Te'o said they met through a cousin.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph53" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"The only time he didn't speak with confidence was when I asked how they met," <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-football/news/20130117/manti-teo-girlfriend-hoax-quotes/" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">he wrote</a>. 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."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph54" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Media reports indicate the parents never met Kekua.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph55" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/16/sport/manti-teo-social-media/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Social media jump all over story</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph56" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Te'o tried to clear things up with a statement Wednesday saying he "developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph57" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"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," he said in the statement.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph58" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">"To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating," the statement continued. "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."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph59" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Te'o didn't meet with the media Thursday as he prepared for an all-star game in Florida.</div></div></div>

Manti Te'o NFL Manti Te'o: A linebacker, a made-up girlfriend and a national hoax

By  Lateef Mungin and Steve Almasy , CNN updated 11:03 PM EST, Thu January 17, 2013 (CNN)  -- In a little more than three months, Manti Te&#...

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