Mary Kay Letourneau, the former teacher whose sexual relationship with a 12-year-old pupil led to a prison sentence and international infamy, has died of cancer at the age of 58.
Letourneau was convicted of second-degree child rape in 1997 after becoming pregnant by Vili Fualaau, then aged 12 or 13. She was 34 at the time. After serving her prison term, the couple married in 2005 but separated after 12 years.
Her lawyer, David Gehrke, confirmed to US media that she died at home, surrounded by her children and Fualaau. Letourneau, a married mother-of-four from Seattle, began the encounters with her sixth-grade student, initially serving only a few months in jail. However, after being paroled, she was caught having sex again with the teenager and returned to prison for another seven years.
Her two daughters with Fualaau were initially raised by his family. Letourneau had been ill for six months before her death. She was the daughter of conservative Republican congressman John G. Schmitz, whose political career ended in scandal after it emerged he had fathered two children out of wedlock.
