Manti Te'o's fake girlfriend

Manti Te'o, Notre Dame linebacker and runner up to the 2012 Heisman Trophy, recently claimed his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, died of leukemia on the day he had one of the best games of his college career. After interviewing Te'o about his girlfriend, it was discovered that she never existed and as a matter of fact, she lives in Torrance, California and claims to have never met the star athlete. She also does not suffer from leukemia. When they began researching they could not find anything besides the stories linking to her death, but they used the picture to trace it back to the actual person. Apparently a mutual friend between the two helped Te'o construct his virtual girlfriend. Te'o denies any involvement in the hoax.

I personally believe that he is lying because his story simply does not add up. According to news stories he apparently met her after a stanford vs. Notre Dame football game in November 2009. After meeting each other, they continued to communicate via phone, email, and meeting up in Hawaii. He also claims that after a car accident in the summer, she was hospitalized for leukemia and didn't survive. If he had nothing to do with this, why did he claim all of these things to be true? He clearly did not have an actual girlfriend because the real Lennay Kekua had no idea she was Te'o's fake girlfriend and she obviously did not die of leukemia so where did he get that idea from?