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https://foxbaltimore.com/news/nation-world/mary-kay-letourneau-who-made-headlines-for-an-affair-with-her-underage-student-dies


SEATTLE (KOMO) — Mary Kay Letourneau, the former Seattle-area schoolteacher who was at the center of a national scandal in the 1990s when she admitted to having sexual encounters with her sixth-grade student, has died, her attorney confirmed to KOMO Tuesday night after losing a battle with cancer.

Her attorney, David Gehrke, said she passed away sometime Tuesday. She had apparently been ill for some time. She was in her late 50s.

"It was expected but sad anyway," he said. "She was a good person.“

Letourneau generated international headlines when she admitted to a relationship with Vili Fualaau, who was her sixth-grade student at the time. The relationship began when Fualaau was a 12-year-old boy and Letourneau, who was 34 years old at the time, was his sixth-grade teacher.

She was charged with child rape in the case, which made international headlines, and later pleaded guilty under a plea agreement in which she pledged to have no contact with Fualaau. But she was caught having sex with him, again, in a car and ended up serving seven years in prison.

After Letourneau's release from prison in 2004, Fualaau requested the court take back the no-contact order, and the two were married in 2005. They had two daughters together before Fualaau filed documents to legally separate from Letourneau in May 2017.

Fualaau filed for legal separation in early 2017, with sources telling People magazine at the time that he and Letourneau might not ultimately divorce. They were repeatedly spotted together around the Seattle area, where they lived for years.

Two years ago, Letourneau was reportedly working as a paralegal while Fualaau was said to be working as a part-time DJ.