The good news is that Sgt. Dan Kennings did not die in combat in Iraq as reported.

The bad news, at least for the Daily Egyptian...is that there is no Sgt. Dan Kennings.

Just last week, officials at the Southern Illinois University's student-run newspaper learned that they were all caught up in an extraordinarily elaborate hoax, one that went on for almost two years, one that touched the hearts of the paper's readers and staff alike and one that all started with a moving letter from a little girl.

"Don't die, OK dad?" she wrote. "You should find Saddam and run him over with your tank...I love you and don't die. Love, Kodee."

Those are just a few excerpts from a letter supposedly written by Kodee Kennings to her father over two years ago. Since then, the Daily Egyptian has run multiple stories on Kodee as well as columns featuring her letters, captivating readers with heart-wrenching tales of abandonment and loneliness from a precocious, cherubic blonde. Newspaper staff supposedly met Sgt. Kennings when he visited the newsroom, befriending him as much as Kodee. Later, after they were told he had been killed in combat, many of them tearfully attended a memorial service arranged for the fallen soldier. Now they are all coming to grips with the fact that the past two years have been a lie.

"It's really difficult because everyone around here got caught up in the story," said one staff member who asked to remain anonymous. "Not just the readers, but also the reporters. We felt like we knew her and we knew him. It's horrible what she did."

"She" is Jaime Reynolds, a 2004 graduate of SIU, who pretended to be Colleen Hastings, Kodee's supposed caretaker. She is the one who recently admitted to spinning the web of lies, though no motive is clear. Kodee herself is actually Caitlin Hadley, a little girl who was told by Reynolds that she was acting in a movie about a soldier. Others were used for the hoax along the way, including Patrick Trovillion who also thought his portrayal of Sgt. Kennings was for a movie.

According to reports by the Chicago Tribune, Reynolds claims the idea for the hoax actually came from former Daily Egyptian reporter Michael Brenner, who first reported on Kodee. Saying that she fell in love with Brenner, Reynolds claimed the hoax was a move to help boost Brenner's journalism career. Brenner vehemently denies these allegations.

"That is completely not true," Brenner said in the Tribune report. "Obviously, she is making that up. I swear I'm telling the truth. The last two years of my life, I don't know what to believe. It's ridiculous. I feel stabbed in the back. They had an elaborate hoax. I'm telling the truth."

Brenner first reported on Kodee Kennings� situation on May 6, 2003. The story told of a little girl whose mother was dead and whose father was about to report for duty with the 101st Airborne. Calls to the military later revealed there was never a Dan Kennings enlisted.

After the story appeared, "Kodee" began calling the Daily Egyptian staff, often talking with multiple reporters. Staff now suspects it was Reynolds posing disguising her voice to sound like a little girl. Kodee's story fascinated the community and soon after, the newspaper began following her tale a little more closely, often printing letters that Kodee had allegedly written to her father in a special column.

Kodee and her father Dan also supposedly sent e-mails to staff, thanking them for their support. Later, Hadley, posing as Kodee, was brought to the Daily Egyptian newsroom, where she became friends with many of the reporters. Trovillion also came in once, posing as Kodee's military father.

"We bought it all," said the reporter. "Unbelievable."

As the story escalated, so did the attention and the pressure to keep the hoax alive. Trovillion, Hadley and Reynolds gave a motivational speech at a church in Detroit. They continued to make appearances at the newsroom and even in classes at the university. Hadley's parents allowed their daughter to travel with Reynolds because they also were under the impression that she was playing Kodee for a movie.

But then the Daily Egyptian got a call from Reynolds (posing as Hastings) saying that Dan Kennings had been killed in combat. The staff was invited to a well-designed memorial service on Aug. 20, complete with a scrapbook, video featuring Kennings and little Kodee wearing a military shirt.

At the same time, reporters from both the Chicago Tribune and the Daily Egyptian staff called to confirm the soldier's death. That's when they were informed that Kennings didn't exist and the hoax began to reveal itself.

Sources said reporters began to remember details such as differences in the way the little girl spoke in the newsroom and the way she did on the phone. Many also remembered the man who was supposedly Kennings looking much different in person than he did in the video at the memorial. On Aug. 26, the Chicago Tribune released a story that said Reynolds had admitted to putting on the hoax.

The editorial staff of the newspaper has already publicly apologized for running bogus stories for the past two years, though editors acknowledge the ramifications of this particular story might last for some time. And industry sources hope that this will be a lesson that other student and professional publications take to heart.

"Fact-checking is one of the most important responsibilities a journalist has," said Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center. "It's easy to get caught up in a good story. As a journalist, you have to take the extra care and caution to make sure the story is true."

For the staff at the Daily Egyptian, that is not a lesson that will soon be forgotten.

"The basis of journalism is truth. Not partial truth, but 100 percent truth on every page, in every story," read a recent published commentary by the editorial staff. "As it says in our mission statement, we are committed to being a trusted source of news. In this case, we failed.

"Admitting this, however, is not enough. We also retract all the stories and commentary concerning Kodee and Dan Kennings, people we now know never existed, and we pledge to redouble our efforts to regain and keep your trust."