A couple of Twitter users seemed to have knowledge that Manti Te'o's dead girlfriend was a hoax weeks before a Deadspin article exposed the Notre Dame linebacker and Heisman nominee.
The star football player claims he was the victim of a "sick joke" and that a series of complex online frauds led him to believe he carried on a relationship with Lennay Kekua, the woman who Deadspin revealed never existed.
Two Twitter users, however, suggested otherwise, implying that Te'o kept up the charade for his personal gain.
A series of tweets reveals that user @jayRahz appeared to know Kekua was not real weeks before Dec. 26, when Te'o told Notre Dame administrators about the situation, prompting school officials to launch an investigation.
An account @catfishhhhhhhh also seemed to have an inkling that Kekua wasn't a real person, tweeting at @jayRahz, in early December, trying to get more information about who was behind the @LeannyKay account.
"@jayRahz is it this guy? Even took pics from @FreDonna51zHUN... [expletive] #dirty http://t.co/izXUXr15"
"@nevschulman @mteo_5 @lennaykay Do a background check and you'll see that not only did Lennay Marie Kekua not die, she never existed!"
The @catfishhhhhhhh account has since
been suspended.
Another suspended account called @iCaughtaCatfish, apparently had the same info and tried to expose Te'o before the news broke.
"@jayRahz! @lennaykay is the same guy as @uilanirae who took pics from @FreDonna51zHUN... He did @mteo_5 dirty!!!! http://t.co/7aPgyLaj"
While the @LennyKay Twitter account went silent for quite some time, today the account cracked a joke just after 2 p.m.
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