espnW

espnW: WOMEN + SPORTS SUMMITPresented by Lexus
 
  • Women's Basketball 
    • 2013 WNBA Draft 
    • 2013 NCAA Tournament 
    • 3 To See 
    • Total Access: Tennessee 
  • College Sports
  • Commentary
  • More Sports
  • Watch
    • The Word
    • espnW on ESPN3
    • More Video
  • Athlete's Life
    • espnW Blogs
    • Journeys & Victories
    • In the Game with Robin Roberts
    • espnW Summit
  • Nine For IX
    • Watch The Trailer
    • Robin Roberts on IX films
    • Title IX is Mine
    • Mosaic: Be Part of History

Manti Te'o girlfriend voice at issue

Jan 26, 2013 9:23 PM ETESPN.com news services
  • Recommend
  • Tweet
  • Comments
  • Email
  • Print
Schaap Talk: What Te'o Fiasco Says About Journalism
Jeremy Schaap examines how journalists accepted the Manti Te'o story without fact checkingTags: Jeremy Schaap, Schaap Talk, Manti Te'o
Schaap Talk: What Te'o Fiasco Says About Journalism
NEXT VIDEO video
  • Schaap Talk: What Te'o Fiasco Says About Journalism
    Schaap Talk: What Te'o Fiasco Says About Journalism
    Jeremy Schaap examines how journalists accepted the Manti Te'o story without fact checkingTags: Jeremy Schaap, Schaap Talk, Manti Te'o
  • Manti Te'o Speaks
    Manti Te'o Speaks
    Jeremy Schaap reacts to Manti Te'o interview.Tags: Manti Te'o, Jeremy Schaap
  • "Catfish" Creator Vouches For Te'o
    "Catfish" Creator Vouches For Te'o
    Nev Schulman, creator and executive producer of "Catfish," on the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax.Tags: College Football, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Manti Te'o, Nev Schulman, Catfish, Michele Steele
  • Examining The Te'o Hoax
    Examining The Te'o Hoax
    ESPN's Jeremy Schaap explores the controversy behind the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax.Tags: Jeremy Schaap, Notre Dame, Manti Te'o, hoax, girlfriend

Hollywood couldn't make this up. One day after a report that the voice of Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend belonged to the man who masterminded the hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, another voice has emerged -- that of his female cousin.

Relatives of Tino Tuiasosopo, a woman in her mid-20s who lives in Pago Pago, American Samoa, told the New York Post that Te'o has been speaking to her.

"Tino is the girl that Manti has been talking to all these months," said a Tuiasosopo cousin, according to the Post.

Maisel: Longfellow Deeds in a gold helmet

Manti Te'o isn't the first to play this role. Frank Capra made a living making movies about humble, modest men who hit hard times. Story

In an interview with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap on Friday, Te'o said that he had discovered that a cast of characters portrayed Lennay Kekua, the fake girlfriend who had supposedly been in a serious car accident and then died of leukemia.

When asked who he had been speaking to all that time, Te'o said: "Two guys and a girl are responsible for the whole thing."

He was asked if he knew who they were and he said: "I don't know. I don't know. According to Ronaiah, Ronaiah's one."

According to Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's relatives, another is Tino Tuiasosopo, who works for her father's construction company.

A source told the newspaper that she became the voice of Te'o's girlfriend after another long-distance relationship that had "extraordinary similarities" to the Te'o saga ended in late 2011. Te'o says his relationship with Kekua began in 2009, however, making it very possible others portrayed Kekua.

Tino Tuiasosopo's relatives are certain that at least on voice mails Te'o supplied for his appearance on Katie Couric's television show this week, Tino's voice can be heard.

A person identified as Tino Tuiasosopo's cousin said: "There is no doubt whatsoever that it's Tino."

After listening to the tape of "Kekua" hysterically accusing Te'o of having another girl in his room, one of the Post's sources said: "That's the way [Tino] cries when she's feeling sorry for herself. Its her, that's the voice."

Although the quality of the recording is not very good on all of the clips, the voice does sound feminine.

"It didn't sound like a man," Te'o told Couric during the interview that aired Thursday. "It sounded like a woman. It's incredible that he can make that noise."

Others didn't think it sounded like a man either. "Good Morning America" sent the tapes to four audio experts, who were unanimous in saying that the voice on the tapes was that of a woman.

A Tuiasosopo relative thinks that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo's lawyer, Milton Grimes, told the New York Daily News that his client has been the voice all this time because his client "is determined to take the rap," according to the Post.

Grimes had been clear, however, on Thursday. He said that Te'o "thought it was a female he was talking with. It was Ronaiah as Lennay."

Tuiasosopo, 22, has had dramatic training, plays in a Christian band and even auditioned last year for the television show "The Voice."

"Come on, Hollywood does it all the time," Grimes said of his client pretending to be a woman. "People can do that."

No matter the voice, Te'o did spend hours on the phone with somebody. A source close to Te'o gave ESPN's Schaap documents that the source says are Te'o's AT&T phone records from May 11 to Sept. 12, the date Kekua supposedly died of leukemia. The logs are not originals, but rather spreadsheets sent via emails, and could not be independently verified.

The records show that in the four-month span -- when Te'o has said he believed Kekua to be in a Los Angeles hospital recovering from an accident and being treated for cancer -- Te'o made and received more than 1,000 calls totaling more than 500 hours in length from the same number in the 661 area code. The 661 area code covers Lancaster, Calif., which is part of Los Angeles County. The source told Schaap that Te'o believed the 661 phone number in question was Kekua's.

Of these calls, 110 were more than 60 minutes in length, including several that were several hundred minutes long. In an ESPN interview last Friday, and in interviews with both ESPN and Sports Illustrated last fall, Te'o said he was on the phone "every single night" with a person he believed to be Kekua, often for long stretches late at night.

Last Friday, he said to Schaap in an off-camera interview: "I'd be on the phone. And she had complications from the accident and she said the only thing that could help her sleep was if I was on the phone. So I would be on the phone, and I'd have the phone on the whole night."

From the records, it does not appear that Te'o was on the phone every night for the entire night, but the volume of calls and their duration are sizable.


Information from ESPN's Jeremy Schaap and The Associated Press was used in this report.

  • Recommend
  • Tweet
  • Comments
  • Email
  • Print

Comments

Use a Facebook account to add a comment, subject to Facebook's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your Facebook name, photo & other personal information you make public on Facebook will appear with your comment, and may be used on ESPN's media platforms. Learn more.

W SportsNation

Several weeks into the NWSL season, how would you describe your interest?

  •  
    52%
  •  
    4%
  •  
    8%
  •  
    6%
  •  
    30%

(Total votes: 1,649)

MANTI TE'O

Manti Te'o

Manti Te'o denied being part of a hoax involving a relationship with a person online whom he considered his girlfriend, during an interview with ESPN on Friday night. Story »

COMMENTARY

  • Maisel: Te'o is Longfellow Deeds »
  • Hill: Notre Dame stumbles again »
  • Miller: Te'o's interview leaves bizarre taste »
  • MacGregor: Te'o's story has long history »
  • Woj: Te'o a liar or a victim? »

STORIES

  • Report: Woman was voice of 'girlfriend' »
  • Te'o reiterates lying about girlfriend »
  • Transcript: Schaap's interview with Te'o »
  • Fortuna: Support for Te'o in South Bend »
  • Friend: Tuiasosopo confesses to hoax »
  • Irish AD urges Te'o to speak »
  • Simmons: All-Te'o mailbag »
  • Fortuna: Te'o's ex-roomie lends support »
  • Te'o talked 'girlfriend' after hoax reveal »
  • Teammate: Te'o overplayed 'girlfriend' »
  • Your thoughts on Te'o situation »

AUDIO & VIDEO

  • Schaap reflects on Te'o interview Video
  • Swarbrick reacts to Te'o interview Video
  • Schaap: Examining the Te'o hoax Video
  • Irish AD Swarbrick defends Te'o Video
  • McShay: Impact on draft stock Video
  • Polian: How will NFL react? Video
  • Golic: Lots of questions remain Listen
  • Woj: No indications something was amiss Listen

More From espnW

  • More Sports

    Isaacson: Serena has nothing to prove at French

    May 22 3:24 PM ET | By Melissa Isaacson

  • Women In Racing

    May 22 12:42 PM ET

  • Smith: Is point guard Harding the Sparks' missing piece?

    May 22 10:45 AM ET | By Michelle Smith

  • Hays: Hensley changes fate for Florida State

    May 22 2:07 PM ET | By Graham Hays

Related Content

  • Lawyer: Te'o 'girlfriend' on phone was man

    Jan 25 8:27 AM ET

  • Face of Te'o's girlfriend says hoaxer confessed

    Jan 24 10:37 PM ET

  • Te'o phone logs show hours of calls to 'Kekua'

    Jan 23 8:58 PM ET

  • Woman in Te'o fake girlfriend photo speaks

    Jan 23 12:44 AM ET

  • Te'o, parents to appear on Couric's talk show

    Jan 22 4:42 PM ET

  • About espnW
  • Press
  • Advertise on espnW.com
  • Sales Media Kit
  • Interest-Based Ads
  • Corrections
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Jobs at ESPN
  • Supplier Information

2013 ESPN Internet Ventures. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information/Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to you. All rights reserved.