SIU soldier hoax ripples continue

From the Chicago Tribune, free registration required:

The hoax that led the student newspaper at Southern Illinois University to chronicle the life of a non-existent soldier in Iraq and his young daughter also duped members of a southern Illinois fire department.

Stories about Kodee Kennings and her father, Army Sgt. Dan Kennings, and letters supposedly from Kodee ran for more than one year in the college's student newspaper, the Daily Egyptian. But a Tribune investigation last week revealed that Kodee and her father do not exist.

On Sunday, the chief of the West Frankfort Fire Department confirmed that Kodee and supposed guardian Colleen Hastings--in fact, a 10-year-old Indiana girl and Jaimie Reynolds of Marion, Ill., respectively--had spoken to firefighters at his department in September 2004."She was there one day," West Frankfort Fire Chief Lawrence Jamrozek said.

The young girl said Sunday that she remembers visiting a firehouse and meeting a man, with a name similar to that of a volunteer firefighter, who arranged for her and Reynolds--in their guises as Kodee and her guardian--to speak at the firehouse.

The 2004 appearance resulted in a short article in the Southern Illinoisan, written for the newspaper by a freelance reporter who said Sunday that he happened to be passing the firehouse the day of the visit.

The talk to firefighters made no plea for money, Jamrozek said. But the volunteer firefighter did have other contacts with Reynolds and later give Christmas presents to the young girl, Jamrozek said.