Mary Kay Letourneau, Former Teacher Convicted of Raping Student, Dead at 58

She had been battling cancer.

58-year-old Mary Kay Letourneau, who made headlines back in 1996 for raping one of her then-12-year-old students, had died at her home outside of Seattle.

She was suffering from colon cancer.

Letourneau was a student at Arizona State University when she met her first husband, Steve Letourneau. They married and had four children; after a stint in Alaska, they settled down in Washington where received her teaching degree in 1989. She then started teaching in the Seattle suburb of Burien.

In the summer of 1996, police found Mary Kay in a marina parking lot with 12-year-old Vili Fualaau, who had been one of her students. She pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree child rape. She gave birth to her first child with Vili while she was awaiting sentencing.

She was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison, which was reduced to six months with three years of sex offender treatment. She was NOT required to register as a sex offender.

Two weeks after being released, she was again found in a car with Fualaau. She gave birth to their second child in 1998, while she was serving her second prison sentence.

Mary Kay was married to Vilii in 2005. He filed for legal separation in 2017 and they officially divorced in August of last year.

Her family was at her side at the time of her death, including Vili, according to her former attorney. He had been taking care of her for the last month of her life, as she required 24-hour care.