July 8, 2020

"Mary Kay Letourneau, a one-time teacher who became a tabloid fixture in the late 1990s after she raped a 13-year-old student and later married him, after serving a prison sentence..."

"... died on Monday near Seattle.... Ms. Letourneau was a teacher in the Highline School District, near Seattle, where she taught Mr. Fualaau in the second and sixth grades. She was 34 when she began a sexual relationship with Mr. Fualaau in 1996, when he was 12 or 13. They had their first child in 1997 as she awaited sentencing after pleading guilty to charges of second-degree child rape. After serving three months of a reduced sentence in prison, she defied court orders to stay away from Mr. Fualaau, leading to her return to prison for a seven-year sentence. She gave birth to their second child in 1998, shortly after beginning her second stint in prison.... Upon her release from prison in 2004, Ms. Letourneau was required to have no contact with Mr. Fualaau, then 21. But he fought to have the order removed, and the couple married in 2005.... Mr. Fualaau said in the A&E documentary that 'at the end of the day, it was a real love story.... A lot of things that should have gone through my mind at the time weren’t going through my mind.'"

From the NYT obituary for Mary Kay Letourneau. She was 58 and died of cancer.

She came from a conservative family: "Her father, John Schmitz, was an ultraconservative U.S. representative who ran for president in 1972 as a member of the American Independent Party. One of her brothers, Joseph E. Schmitz, was the inspector general of the Department of Defense, an executive at Blackwater Worldwide and a one-time foreign policy adviser for President Trump. Another brother, John P. Schmitz, was a deputy counsel to President George H. W. Bush."

29 comments:

Darrell said...

If she lived in New York State, they'd find a way to work COVID into the COD to collect the $30K Federal bounty.

Darrell said...

The heart wants what the heart wants.
Sometimes your heart is an asshoe.

Marcus Bressler said...

A conservative family? She was an outlier then. Betcha Jeffrey Epstein and his GF both came from Liberal families. See how that's done?

THEOLDMAN

Unrelated: Has anyone seen photos or videos of Joe Biden sniffing a black girl's hair? Didn't think so. #CancelJoeBiden



DEEBEE said...

Is it only ultra-conservatives that have “interesting” children who then die. Do ultra-liberal parents kill their own or their death is not associated to their parents politics.

doctrev said...

"Senator Schmitz and His Committee Survive Attack of the Bulldykes"

Well, it's impossible for me to completely dislike the family now. I briefly realize that the NYT is perfectly fine with referring to someone by their "deadname" (a married name they haven't used in some time) as long as it might bring in a bit more revenue and they're white.

Michael K said...

She was a nut. Her father was a bit of a nut. I am surprised they did not work in his comment about "lesbian spear chuckers."

Ken B said...

So, conservatives are willing to punish conservative abusers.

rhhardin said...

It's a Romeo and Juliet story vs the law.

Eleanor said...

I taught 12 and 13 year old boys, and I loved them. They were funny and awkward, and some of them endeared themselves to me forever. But have sex with them? Make babies with them? At the time she was the topic of conversation in the teachers' lounge. We all agreed she must have been nuts.

MayBee said...

As I said about Derek Chauvin.....people who want to do the wrong things find their way to the profession that gives them access to do those things.

Women who want to have sex with early teens find their way to being middle school teachers.

Howard said...

Us boys were talking about you sexy ladies too, Eleanor. My 8th grade English newly minted 25 yo teacher dressed as you might imagine in classical attire tailored for the 1974 version of hot for teacher. She was very bright and engaging in addition to being very beautiful. Guys would sneak up behind her to smell her hair and would always ask for individual help to get up close and personal. I am sure every boy thought of her when on a date with Rosie. To top it all off, she was an excellent teacher.

My 11th grade English teacher was even hotter, but my horndog wheeler dealer swim coach was banging her.

Fritz said...

DEEBEE said...

Is it only ultra-conservatives that have “interesting” children who then die. Do ultra-liberal parents kill their own or their death is not associated to their parents politics.


George McGovern's alcoholic daughter died in a snowbank in Madison on Dec. 13, 1994.

Fernandinande said...

serving three months

Criminal courts should always be extremely lenient with women, especially those with ovaries, apparently because diminished capacity.

tim maguire said...

Interesting, this was incorporated into a running story line for 30 Rock. They didn't shy away from the creepiness of it, but this was a legitimate relationship.

It has overtones of Woody Allen--Soon Yi Previn. Creepy and maybe abusive at the start, but at some point you have to accept that they loved each other.

mikee said...

One 9TH Grade teacher, definitely not a day over 22, told our small class dirty jokes and made us laugh. She still had braces. And looked quite fit, so to speak.

As for high school teachers, back in the late 1970s: the 3 openly gay male teachers had a small devoted following of Butters-like questioning males, and they groomed them openly. The divorced, still hot 30+ year old English teacher with enormous silicone implants was known to take one senior per year and make a man of him. The principal was a WWII veteran, and I once saw him backhand a smart-mouthed student across his office and into the wall with no apparent effort.

I really, really liked and respected my principal.

Static Ping said...

It is long past time to discard the assumption that politicians are well-adjusted, regardless of views. If a country it lucky it will get a few generations of relatively normal people in positions of leadership before it gets overrun with fanatics, grifters, and psychopaths. What many people do not like about Trump is he does not act like a normal politician, but when the mask slips those normal politicians are not much different and are often significantly worse.

Ralph L said...

Her father got over a million votes when he ran for prez in 1972.

It isn't clear if her husband/prey bailed before or after she got cancer.

Skeptical Voter said...

You have to watch those lady teachers from conservative families. According to the NYT they are all baby rapers.

mockturtle said...

If it had been a man under similar circumstances would the NYT be embracing this 'love story'? And, never mind that she abandoned her husband and four children for this underage boy.

Geoff Matthews said...

According to Wikipedia, they separated in 2019.

RobinGoodfellow said...

She did everything young.

n.n said...

Trans-social, or forward-looking, but was it rape-rape?

Scotty, beam me up... said...

Did anyone else notice that the reporter is Hong Kong based and not an NYT reporter based in country? My guess is that the snowflakes in the NYT New York newsroom would have been severely traumatized while having to research her past personal history with her young student lover back in the day & her family’s political history, so they off-shored it...

rcocean said...

She came for the crazy part of the family. Having a man married to a women 20 years older runs into the problem of a 35 y/o man being married to a 55 y/o woman. So, I'm not surprised they were "separated" later on.

Earnest Prole said...

Her epitaph will read, "The heart wants what it wants."

Leora said...

The press seems to limit itself to what comes in press releases, court cases, and Democratic Party opposition research.

Tomcc said...

That woman had one very intense fixation. And I mean intense.
I hope all six of her children are happy and well adjusted people.

Mark said...

I guess that people aren't really all that concerned about child sex abuse after all.

stephen cooper said...

mikee - trust me, someone, later on, beat the crap out of that principal. or worse.

You are too naive to understand the world.

Grown men who hit kids never get through life without retribution.