Records link California home and Te'o case

Water Street, in a working-class community 13 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, adds another element to the Te'o-Lennay Kekua hoax: the house six doors down, at 21403 Water, belongs to a family named Kekua — an uncommon Hawaiian name but the same one as the fictitious girlfriend at the center of the ruse.

Two members of the real Kekua family told The Associated Press they had never heard of a "Lennay Kekua."

The Kekua fabrication came to light Wednesday, when Deadspin.com revealed that the story of Te'o's girlfriend dying from leukemia last September was a fake — because Lennay Kekua never existed.

Deadspin suggested Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was the person responsible for carrying out the hoax. Te'o said Friday he had been contacted by the 22-year-old Tuiasosopo, and that the man had admitted to masterminding the scam. Members of the Kekua family and others in the neighborhood told the AP on Saturday that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo had lived at 21503 Water St. and has visited it since moving out about a year ago.

The AP reviewed a compilation of documents about the property from a variety of sources, such as real estate and bankruptcy records.

In specifying where he had sent the roses, Te'o said Friday in an interview with ESPN that he still didn't know who lives at 21503 Water Street or of any possible connection between the address and the hoax.

But he did say he knew the residents had accepted delivery of the bouquet. "They sent me a picture of the roses, of them getting it," he said. And they also sent a photo of the flowers that Te'o's parents had delivered "as proof" that their tribute to the nonexistent girlfriend had been received.