BURIEN, Wash. — Mary Kay Letourneau, the infamous teacher convicted of raping her 12-year-old student and later marrying him, died of cancer Monday, her attorney said.
Attorney David Gehrke said Letourneau was 58.
>>Report: Vili Fualaau says he’s still in love with wife/former teacher, Mary Kay Letourneau
Letourneau’s story began in June 1996 when police discovered her and Vili Fualaau in a minivan parked at the Des Moines Marina. At the time, she was a married 34-year-old mother of four.
In fall of that year, Letourneau was pregnant with Fualaau's child. Letourneau first met Fualaau when he was a student in her second-grade class at Shorewood Elementary School in Burien.
On February 25, 1997, following a tip, police interviewed Fualaau. Letourneau was then pulled out of a teacher's meeting and arrested for statutory rape.
In August 1997, in an agreement with prosecutors, Letourneau pleaded guilty to child rape in exchange for a 3-month jail sentence and probation. Judge Linda Lau accepted the deal on condition that Letourneau have no contact with Fualaau. By that time, Letourneau had given birth to Fualaau's daughter.
>>Mary Kay Letourneau jailed again
After three months, she was released, but Seattle police officers later found Letourneau and Fualaau in a car. Letourneau is arrested for a probation violation in February 1998.
That winter, she was pregnant again with Fualaau's child.
In February 1998, a judge vacated the plea bargain and sentenced Letourneau to 7-1/2 years in prison. She was released August 2004.
Letourneau and Fualaau were married in Woodinville on May 20, 2005. At that time, she was 43 and Fualaau was 22.
Watch KIRO 7 archival footage covering Letourneau’s case below (courtesy of UW Special Collections):
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