Mary Kay Letourneau was a married mother of four who was having difficulties in her marriage in 1996. Vili Faulaau was a 12-year-old student in her class in a Seattle suburb, when police discovered them in a minivan parked at a marina around 1:20 a.m. June 19, 1996.
Letourneau, then 34, told police the boy was 18, raising suspicions something sexual was going on. About two months later the teacher became pregnant with the couple’s first daughter. Their second child was conceived in 1998, after Letourneau had pleaded guilty to child rape and received a suspended 7 ½ year sentence, as long as she stayed away from Faulaau. She did not.
After serving her sentence the two married in 2005. Court records show Fualaau asked the court for a legal separation in May 2017, just before their 12-year anniversary.
It is not clear why Faulaau filed for separation.
Letourneau died Monday of cancer. Most of her family including her ex-husband, Faulaau, were with her at the time. Faulaau was giving her 24-hour care the last month of her life.
