She abused her sixth grade student and married him: the scandalous story of Mary Kay Letourneau

An immense feeling of nausea hit him. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. The the messages were of love. They were talking sex, passion and desire.

There was no doubt, his wife had written to him. But they weren’t for him, and she had to admit it with horror. They were for a student his. a boy of 13 years he was alone months older than your child.

Not knowing very well what to do, still in shock, overwhelmed, he told someone in his family this terrible news. Y the complaint reached the school immediately.

That was the end of their marriage. But also the beginning of one of the most perverse scandals of recent decades in the United States.

The story of Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau shook that country in the late 1990s. The case took up hours of television and dozens of newspaper covers. Between surprise and disgust, society has witnessed a situation of abuse that has exceeded all imaginable limits: the relationship between a 34-year-old teacher and her 13-year-old student.

Ultra-Catholic family, husband and four children

Mary Kay Schmitz was born in the middle of winter, there January 30, 1962, in Tustin, California. His father, John G., was a university professor; his mother, Mary, was a chemist. In addition to Mary Kay, the couple had eight other children.

They all grew up in a rigid Catholic and Republican family. John G. also began a political career and was elected a state senator several times.

In 1973, one of the children of the marriagea three-year-old child, He drowned in the swimming pool of the family home.. Although it was declared an accident, Mary Kay, who was only 11, always blamed herself for the accident, as she promised to take care of him.

Mary Kay attended Cornella Connelly High School, a Catholic girls’ school in Anaheim. She was an average student and a “normal” teenager: she liked travel, kids and parties, like everyone else.

With the intention of pursuing a political career like his father, he enrolled in the Arizona State University. There began a relationship with Steve Letourneau, a classmate. While the two studied, she became pregnant and their first child, Steven Jr .. was born.

In 1985, the couple married and dropped out of college before moving to Anchorage, Alaska, Steve’s hometown. Just a year later they move to Seattle, Washington, where they were born. three other children: Mary Claire, Nicholas and Jacqueline.

a sick relationship

The decade was drawing to a close. In 1989, after her 27th birthday, Mary Kay – now known as Mary Kay Letourneau– got work like teacher at Shorewood Elementary. Charming, capable and educated, she quickly earned a place of respect among her colleagues and students.

As a tutor, she met Vili Fualaau in 1992, a child born in June 1983. However, the closest contact came four years later when she became his sixth-grade pupil.

Mary Kay saw that he had great artistic talent and decided to encourage him. The guy also visited her several times at home and he even stimulated her to friendship with Steven, her eldest sonwho was only a few months younger.

But the connection has intensified. And it has exceeded all limits. In a clear situation abuse, Mary Kay, 34, began a sexual relationship with Vili, who was only 13. The first time was on a warm June night in 1996.

Two decades later, speaking of that first meeting in an interview with journalist Barbara Walters, the woman said so I didn’t feel any kind of remorse because I loved him.

“The incident happened late at night and we didn’t stop after we kissed. I thought he was going to stay there, but it didn’t. And I thought, ‘why does it have to be just a kiss?'”he remembered.

They went on like this, like furtive lovers, for a few months. At the height of the madness, they were in his car, inventing extra classes and taking advantage of free time to escape. But the connection ended in February 1997.

Steve Letourneau had found love letters that his wife had written to VIII. Within days, the relative the man had told of the incident informed the school officials.

informed, police arrested Mary Kay and charged her with rape. At that moment, she I was pregnant of your student.

his husband She filed for divorce Y moved with their four children of the couple back in Alaska.

Prison, maternity and reunification

In May of ’97 Audrey was born, the first daughter of the teacher and her pupil. She was detained at the time of delivery; she pleaded guilty to two counts of rape of a minor.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, she was sentenced to six months in prison and then to three years of psychiatric treatment. However, and beyond this pain, the most important thing is that he was forbidden to have any kind of contact with Vili. He couldn’t get close to his house; much less him. For the rest of his life.

The promise didn’t last long. In February 1998, Mary Kay broke the terms of her probation. One night, Seattle police received a tip about a suspiciously parked vehicle.

When they went to check, they found her inside with the baby. They had relationships. Plus, they had $ 6,000 in cash, passports, and bought new clothes.

Faced with this situation, the authorities soon suspected that both were planning to flee the country. The woman was arrested again.

Without hesitation, the judge in the case sentenced her to comply seven and a half years of imprisonment.

During that short time she was free, Mary Kay was pregnant again. The couple’s second child, Georgia, was born in October 1998.

The girls spent the first few years of their life with Soona, his paternal grandmother. The woman sued the school for allowing the rape of a minor: she asked for money to compensate for the emotional damage caused to Vili and to be able to cope with the education of her granddaughters. In this case, the court was not on her side.

A life together

the pain is over 2004. Mary Kay left prison and registered as a child molester in the child abuse registry. But Vili was already 21 years old. At this point of age, she was able to get the restraining order still in effect lifted so that she could finally see her again.

On May 20, 2005, Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau got married..

From that time until 2020 – although they divorced a year earlier – they lived with their daughters. In those years they gave several interviews to talk about their relationship. In addition, he worked as an assistant in a law firm and he, renovating houses and animating parties as a DJ.

Mary Kay died in July 2020. He was with Vili and his family. She was 58 and had colon cancer. This is the only thing that was known about his last days.

Thus, without further ado, he remained the protagonist of one of the biggest scandals of the 90s. So, without further ado, not a love story ended, but a sinister story of sexual abuse between a teacher and her student.