Teacher's final act before death for student she raped and married

A teacher who was convicted of raping her 12-year-old student and then marrying him years later has left her estranged husband her estate after her death aged 58.

Mary Kay Letourneau pleaded guilty to child rape after she had a sexual relationship with Vili Fualaau, who was just 12 years old in 1996 when the two were discovered in a minivan by police.

Following her release from prison, the two married on May 20, 2005.

Earlier this year, Letourneau died of advanced colon cancer at age 58.

It has now been revealed Letourneau left her estate to Mr Fualaau and their two daughters despite the two being legally separated, People reported.

A source told People Letourneau “loved Vili to the end” and he got many sentimental items.

"She had built a life with him, and he deserved to inherit what little she had,” the source said.

"They didn't have a tonne of money, but he and the girls are going to divvy that up. They're more interested in the sentimental things though."

The relationship between Letourneau and Mr Fualaau garnered international attention.

Letourneau was a married mother of four in 1996 when she taught then 12-year-old Mr Fualaau in her class at Shorewood Elementary in Burien, a southern suburb of Seattle.

Police discovered them about 1.20am on June 19, 1996, parked in a minivan at the Des Moines Marina.

Letourneau, then 34, initially told officers the boy was 18, raising suspicions that something sexual was going on.

At the police station, Mr Fualaau and Letourneau denied there had been any “touching”.

They claimed Letourneau had been babysitting the boy and took him from her home after she and her husband had a fight.

About two months later, it was discovered Letourneau was pregnant. The two had a daughter and then another conceived in 1998 after she pleaded guilty to child rape, but before she began serving a more than seven-year prison term.

Mr Fualaau’s mother filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit claiming the city and school district failed to protect her son from the teacher.

But the defendants said the relationship was so bizarre that no one could have predicted it.

The district’s lawyer said it began off school grounds after the academic year had ended.

Police argued they simply had no evidence of sexual abuse until it was too late. A jury found against the family.

The two were married from 2005 until 2017 when Mr Fualaau asked for a legal separation from Letourneau.

The two were spotted out together following the split and remained active in their grown daughters’ lives, People reported.

With Associated Press

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