BREAKING NEWS: Mary Kay Letourneau, who gained national infamy after being convicted of raping her 12-year-old student who she later married, dies from cancer at 58
Mary Kay Letourneau, the former Seattle middle school teacher who was at the center of a national scandal in the 1990s when she admitted having a sexual relationship with a sixth-grade student, has died.
The 58-year-old passed away after a quiet months-long battle with stage four cancer, her attorney David Gerke revealed Tuesday. The exact nature of her cancer has not yet been disclosed.
‘It was expected but sad anyway,’ Gerke told KOMO, announcing her death. ‘She was a good person.’
Letourneau was a sixth-grade teacher at Shorewood Elementary in 1996 when she was discovered to be having sexual relations with her 12-year-old student, Vili Fualaau.
She initially was sentenced to three months in jail as part of a plea agreement in 1997 in which she agreed to no longer have any contact with Fualaau. Letourneau gave birth to Fualaau’s first child while awaiting sentencing.
Mary Kay Letourneau, the controversial Seattle middle school teacher who was at the center of a national scandal in the 1990s when she admitted to having an affair with her sixth-grade student, has died
-Letourneau was a sixth-grade teacher at Shorewood Elementary in 1996 when she was discovered to be having sexual relations with her 12-year-old student, Vili Fualaau (left)
However, shortly after being released from jail, she was found in a car having sex with Fualaau. She was ultimately sentenced to seven years in prison on child rape charges.
Letourneau then gave birth to Fualaau’s second child while in prison. The young father had still not yet turned 15.
Upon her release from prison, Fualaau, who was by then an adult, petitioned in court for a judge to allow them to see one another.
The restraining order against Letourneau was dropped, but the shamed teacher remained a registered sex offender in Washington state.
Letourneau and Fualaau then tied the knot in 2005, but their union didn’t last. They marriage came to a halt in 2017, when Fualaau filed for divorce.
However, shortly after being released from jail, she was found in a car having sex with Fualaau. She was ultimately sentenced to seven years in prison on child rape charges.
-Letourneau was a sixth-grade teacher at Shorewood Elementary in 1996 when she was discovered to be having sexual relations with her 12-year-old student, Vili Fualaau (left)
The pair continued living together with the legal separation proceeded and had been occasionally been spotted out with one another in the Seattle area, with their two daughters, Georgina and Audrey.
Despite several attempts to reconcile, the couple finalized their split in February last year and began living apart.
A source told PEOPLE that Letourneau’s health had taken a drastic downturn in recent months, causing her to lose weight and leaving her in a perpetual state of exhaustion.
‘It was a very sad ending,’ the source told the outlet.
In addition to her two children with Fualaa, Letourneau had four children from a previous marriage.
This is a developing story…