Mary Katherine Fualaau[1] (previously Letourneau, née Schmitz; January 30, 1962 – July 6, 2020) was an American teacher who pleaded guilty in 1997 to two counts of felony second-degree rape of a child and subsequently married her former student.

Mary Schmitz met Steve Letourneau while attending Arizona State University; they had a child out of wedlock and married out of social pressure.

After achieving a teaching degree in 1989, Mary Letourneau started working at an elementary school in Burien, Washington.

A judge revoked her plea agreement and reinstated the prison sentence for the maximum allowed by law of seven-and-a-half years.

[5] Letourneau was imprisoned from 1998 to 2004, spending half a year in solitary confinement for her communication attempts with Fualaau.

When Mary Kay was two years old, her father began a political career, successfully running as a Republican for a seat in the state legislature.

[10][17] While attending Arizona State University (ASU), Mary Schmitz met fellow student Steve Letourneau.

[19] After a year in Alaska, Steve was transferred to Seattle, Washington, where Mary subsequently gave birth to their second child.

Determined to get a career in education, Mary Kay enrolled in Seattle University and was awarded a teaching degree in 1989.

[19] Her attorney and former neighbor, David Gehrke, said that she was "emotionally and physically abused by her husband" during their marriage, and twice "went to the hospital for treatment, and the police were called," although no charges were filed.

[24][25][26] In September 1991, Letourneau first met Vili Fualaau (/ˈvɪli fʊˈlaʊ/; born June 26, 1983),[27] a child of Samoan descent,[28] when he was her second-grade student at Shorewood Elementary School.

People magazine reported Fualaau, aged 12, bet with a friend he would have sex with Letourneau and that she began fantasizing about him.

Fualaau failed to furnish a driver's license or any government-issued ID card, but the patrolman deduced he was not an adult as claimed.

On February 1997, Steve Letourneau found love letters written from his wife to Fualaau.

[34] Through a plea agreement, her sentence was reduced to six months (three of which were suspended) in the county jail and three years of sex offender treatment.

[39] On February 3, 1998,[40] four weeks after completing her jail sentence, Letourneau was found by police in a car with Fualaau near her home.

[41] When she was arrested, police found $6,200 in cash (equivalent to $12,000 in 2023[44]), baby clothes, and her passport inside the car.

[41] In February 1998, the judge revoked Letourneau's prior plea agreement and reinstated the prison sentence of seven-and-a-half years for violating the no-contact order.

[47][48] While serving her second stint in jail, Letourneau gave birth to her second daughter by Fualaau on October 16, 1998.

[31] In 1999, a second book appeared, published in the United States, but it was written with only minimal cooperation from her and none from Fualaau:[49] If Loving You Is Wrong.

She "sassed guards and balked at work," and was reportedly punished with spending "18 of her first 24 months" in solitary confinement.

[54][55][56] In 2002, Fualaau's family sued the Highline School District and the city of Des Moines, Washington, for emotional suffering, lost wages, and the costs of rearing his two children, claiming the school and the Des Moines Police Department had failed to protect him from Letourneau.

[58] Letourneau was released from prison to a community placement program on August 4, 2004, and she registered the following day with the King County Sheriff's Office as a lifetime level 2 (medium risk) sex offender.

[59][60] Letourneau and Fualaau married on May 20, 2005, in the city of Woodinville, Washington, in a ceremony at the Columbia Winery.

[7] Exclusive access to the wedding was given to the television show Entertainment Tonight,[7] and photographs were released through other media outlets.

"[59] In a 2006 interview with NBC News, Letourneau "conceded she knew it would be wrong to let the relationship go any further, but she said as soon as the school year ended, she and Vili did cross that line.

"[63] The television series Barbara Walters Presents American Scandals covered the case in December 2015 with an interview to discuss the couple's relationship and their two daughters.

[71] According to People in May 2020, an unnamed source "close to Fualaau" said that "he sees things clearly now, and he realizes that this wasn't a healthy relationship, from the start.