Letourneau, ex-teacher who married student, dies
Notorious case made headlines starting in ’90s
Mary Kay Letourneau, the suburban Washington teacher who raped and later married her former sixth-grade student, died Tuesday of cancer at 58.
The case drew massive media attention as Letourneau, then 34, and her student, Vili Fualaau, then 12, were found in a minivan in June 1996, at a marina outside Seattle.
Letourneau would become pregnant months later. She pleaded guilty to child rape in 1997 and served only a few months in prison on the condition that she have not further contact with Fualaau. Soon after, she was caught having sex with the teen again and became pregnant with their second child. A judge later sentenced her to serve more than seven years.
In 2005, Letourneau and Fualaau married after Letourneau’s jail time was
up, but Fualaau filed for divorce in 2017.
Her lawyer, David Gehrke, told the New York Times that she died at home surrounded by her children and Fualaau.
Here’s what to know about the case: Letourneau taught Fualaau in second and sixth grade at Shorewood Elementary in Burien, a south Seattle suburb.
Shortly after her release from prison, Letourneau told journalist Barbara Walters in an interview that her relationship with Fualaau began as an emotional connection.
“We just bonded, we had similar interests,” she said.
A mother of four, Letourneau was having trouble with her marriage before she raped Fualaau.
The marina incident occurred in the early hours of June 19, 1996. Police found Letourneau and Fualaau in the vehicle at the Des Moines Marina.
Letourneau said the boy was 18 and both denied there had been any “touching.” They said Letourneau was babysitting the child.
Months later, Letourneau became pregnant with their first daughter.
Letourneau sentenced, then caught with Fualaau again
Letourneau pleaded guilty to seconddegree child rape in 1997 and soon gave birth to the pair’s child.
A judge reduced Letourneau’s sentence to only six months as part of a plea agreement, which stipulated that she have no further contact with Fualaau.
However, weeks after her release, Letourneau was found by police in a car with Fualaau. A judge revoked her plea agreement and reinstated the full 71⁄2-year prison term.
Letourneau gave birth to their second child in 1998 after she began her second stint in prison.
Letourneau, Fualaau marry in 2005, divorce years later
In 2004, after her release from prison, Letourneau told Walters that within hours of the “no contact” order being lifted, she and Fualaau had reunited.
They married in Woodinville, Washington, in 2005.
Fualaau and Letourneau had previously characterized their relationship as one of love, and wrote a book, “Only One Crime, Love.” Their story was the subject of a USA movie, “All American Girl.”