Vili Fualaau files for separation from former teacher Mary Kay Letourneau

By Casey McNerthney

Vili Fualaau, who married his former teacher, Mary Kay Letourneau, in May 2005, filed for separation this month, King County Superior Court records show.

Letourneau was convicted of having sex with Fualaau, who was her student as a 12-year-old.

View a photo timeline of Letourneau’s child rape case

In King County Court documents, Fualaau said the couple has no children who are still dependent, and neither he nor Mary Kay own property, and he said he’s unaware of any debts. Fualaau asked the court to divide the personal property fairly as the court decides.

Spousal support is not needed, Fualaau wrote in court documents filed in Issaquah. He did not want an order of protection.

He signed the filing for separation on May 8, which is 12 days from the couple’s 12th wedding anniversary. They were married at the Columbia Winery in Woodinville.

The couple has two daughters, Audrey and Georgia.

Audrey was born in May 1997 while Letourneau was out on bail. Georgia was born in 1998. Letourneau also has four children from her first marriage.

Letourneau’s story began in June 1996 when police discovered her and Fualaau in a minivan parked at the Des Moines Marina. Letourneau said the boy was 18. The two were taken to a police station and later released. At the time, she was a married 34-year-old mother of four.

In fall of that year, Letourneau was pregnant with Fualaau’s child. Letourneau first met Fualaau when he was a student in her second-grade class at Shorewood Elementary School in Burien.

On February 25, 1997, following a tip, police interviewed Fualaau. Letourneau was then pulled out of a teacher’s meeting and arrested for statutory rape.

In August 1997, in an agreement with prosecutors, Letourneau pleaded guilty to child rape in exchange for a 3-month jail sentence and probation. Judge Linda Lau accepted the deal on condition that Letourneau have no contact with Fualaau. By that time, Letourneau had given birth to Fualaau’s daughter.

After three months, she was released, but Seattle police officers later found Letourneau and Fualaau in a car. Letourneau is arrested for a probation violation in February 1998.

That winter, she was pregnant again with Fualaau’s child.

In February 1998, a judge vacated the plea bargain and sentenced Letourneau to 7-1/2 years in prison. She was released August 2004.

Letourneau and Fualaau were married in Woodinville on May 20, 2005. At that time, she was 43 and Fualaau was 22.

In May 2009, Letourneau and Fualaau had a “Hot For Teacher” night at Fuel nightclub in Pioneer Square. He was the DJ while she mingled with guests, signed T-shirts and took photos. Fualaau was 25 at the time and she was 47.