Rape educator Mary Kay LeTourneau has been accused by a former student of traumatizing an entire sixth-grade class after sexually assaulting and marrying her 12-year-old student Vili Fualaau.
Caitlin Steed was in the same class at Shorewood Elementary School as Fualaau when LeTourneau was caught having sex with him in a minivan in Washington.
Now Steed, 41, says her entire class is still dealing with the trauma of that grim discovery.
“She was a mother figure to us because she was so caring,” she told the New York Post. “And then we really had to process all of this when we first learned what sex was all about.
“I think a lot of us ended up in counseling. She literally confused an entire class of sixth graders… We tried to make sense of it, but we missed our teacher.”
LeTourneau, who died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 58, made headlines around the world in 1997 when it emerged that the then 34-year-old teacher and mother of four had an abusive sexual relationship with Fualaau.
Letourneau met Fualaau when he joined her in second grade in 1992, but they did not begin their sexual relationship until four years later, when he was 12.
In 1996, after the school year ended, the couple enrolled in summer classes at the same community college and began spending more time together.
Caitlin Steed was in the same class at Shorewood Elementary School as Vili Fualaau when Mary Kay LeTourneau (pictured in 1997) was caught having sex with him in a minivan in Washington.
Now Steed, 41, says her entire class is still dealing with the trauma of that grim discovery. “I think a lot of us ended up in counseling. She literally confused an entire class of sixth graders… We tried to make sense of it, but we missed our teacher' (photo: Fualaau and Letourneau)
One day after class, the couple went out to dinner. In a 2018 interview, Fualaau recalled asking to kiss Letourneau in her car after the meal, which she accepted.
Letourneau had sex with Fualaau for the first time later that summer, when her then-husband, Steve Letourneau, was out of town.
On June 19, 1996, police found the pair around 1:30 a.m. in a minivan parked at the Des Moines marina. Letourneau was seen jumping into the front seat as officers approached the vehicle, while Fualaau pretended to be asleep in the back.
Fualaau and Letourneau denied there was any “touching.” They initially provided false names and Letourneau told police Fualaau was 18.
Letourneau then said she had been babysitting the boy at her home and took him in her van after she and her husband had an argument.
They were taken to the police station, but no further action was taken.
However, the true nature of their relationship was discovered in February 1997, when Steve Letourneau found love letters the couple had written to each other. He confronted Fualaau and demanded that he end the relationship or he would inform his parents.
Letourneau was initially sentenced to three months in prison as part of a plea agreement in November 1997 in which she agreed to have no further contact with Fualaau.
Letourneau, who died of cancer in 2020, had two children with her student
LeTourneau made headlines around the world in 1997 when it emerged that the then 34-year-old teacher and mother of four had an abusive sexual relationship with Fualaau (pictured with his family)
She was pregnant with her former student's child at the time of her conviction.
Letourneau was subsequently released on parole in 1998.
However, shortly after her release from prison, she was found having sex in a car with Fualaau again on February 3.
A judge subsequently rescinded Letourneau's previous plea deal. She was ordered to serve seven years in prison on a charge of second-degree child rape for violating the no-contact order.
She gave birth to Fualaau's second child while in prison.
The young father had not yet turned 15 years old.
After her release from prison, Fualaau, who was an adult at the time, petitioned the court to ask a judge to revoke the restraining order.
The restraining order against Letourneau was revoked, but the shamed teacher remained a registered sex offender in Washington state until her death.
Letourneau and Fualaau then shocked the world again when they tied the knot in 2005.
They remained married for twelve years until Fualaau filed for divorce in 2017.
Despite several attempts to reconcile, the couple finalized their divorce in February 2019 and began living apart, according to King County court records.
He cared for her while she battled cancer.
In the run-up to her death, she wrote numerous letters as she tried to atone for her “deep remorse.”
Letourneau began reflecting on the inappropriate relationship with Fualaau after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2020, a friend claimed.
“At the end of your life you start to reassess a lot of things,” the friend told People. “And she tried to make peace, not just with everyone else, but with herself.”
The friend told People that she received a letter from the disgraced teacher about a month and a half before she died in July 2020.
Letourneau wrote dozens of letters while she was terminally ill to atone for her actions, the newspaper said.
