Vili talked about an uncle who had started getting involved with an older girl when he was twelve. The uncle married the girl—and they were still married. The story was interesting because it told Karen that Vili had been exposed to—and accepted—early sexual experiences within his family.
As they talked and the camera recorded the soft-spoken boy's words, Karen O'Leary observed something that surprised her. The rape victim still cared for the perpetrator. She wouldn't have thought that a boy would have such strong feelings for a woman over such a long period of time. He still cared for Mary Kay. He said that his brother had tried to fix him up with other girls, but he refused. He was waiting for Mary Kay Letourneau.
As they talked, he barely made eye contact with the reporter. He seemed shy and vulnerable. Nevertheless, he did drop a couple of bombshells. He said he and Mary Kay had planned the pregnancy and that they were still planning to be married. He wore a silver engagement ring, engraved on the inside. Mary Kay, he said, wore a similar ring.
The disclosures that afternoon were shocking because they revealed a relationship that was ongoing and a relationship that had been very deliberate. It was not about a teacher who had made a mistake. It was all planned and it wasn't over.
As the interview came to a close Vili said that he felt he was older than Mary Kay. His family, he said, considered him an “old soul.” He thought Mary Kay was childish or immature in some ways. He was more grown-up than she was.
On the way back to the station to rush the story for the 5 P.M. news, Karen O'Leary was thunderstruck by the boy, the victim, and his attitude about what had happened.
“He was a very romantic young person in the way that kids who read books about princesses and dragons… live this romantic fantasy life,” she said later. The Vili Fualaau interview aired at 5, 6:30, and 11. Then, at least for Karen O'Leary, the trouble began. There was very little reaction. Only one phone call that Karen O'Leary heard about. But it was a doozy. It was from Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau's lawyer.
“The only call was from Bob Huff. It went to my boss. I'd heard that he'd called and insisted that we withdraw the story. And I knew we didn't do it. Just because somebody called up and was unhappy with a legitimate news story—that's gotten legitimately—were not going to not run it,” she said.
For Katie Hogden, the almost-eighth-grader with the weight of the world on her shoulders, the Karen O'Leary interview with Vili Fualaau solved a mystery that had hung in the back of her mind over the summer. She watched the KIRO report as Vili fiddled with the filigree-decorated silver ring that had been a gift from Mary. The inscriptions “I'll Be There” and “Oh Happy Day” triggered the memory of her teacher's request to relay three words to Vili.
Words that will let him know that everything would be all right.
It was the ill-fated lover's song “I'll Be There.” Those were the words that Mary had believed would comfort Vili.
“I knew that was what she had wanted to say. I finally figured it out,” she said later. “It was like a puzzle.”
Friday morning, August 22, 1997, started out promisingly enough for the reporter who had interviewed Vili Fualaau as they sat at a picnic table at a White Center park. She had brought to light new information and it was the talk of Seattle and beyond. A talk radio show praised Karen O'Leary for revealing the other side of the story; that the boy wasn't a victim, but was a thoughtful and caring boy. A boy who loved Mary Kay. Still. And she still loved him. They had planned their baby and plotted a future together.
If the good feeling of a good story can be savored only until the next telecast, it was over even faster for the KIRO reporter.
The bubble burst when Bob Huff showed up in front of KIRO's offices in downtown Seattle with lawsuit papers in hand. He had called other media for a surprise press conference to announce that the rape victim and his mother were suing KIRO, owner Cox Broadcasting, and Karen O'Leary for a dirty-laundry list of infractions including unlawful imprisonment, invasion of privacy, trespass, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring and supervision, and fraud.
Outrage and indignation bolstered each word. Karen stayed out of it; in fact, the station sent only a cameraman down to film what was being said. There would be no confrontation in front of the competition.
Bob Huff stuck his claim to the boy's story that morning and drew the line in the sand with a backhoe. He made sure that the message was loud and clear: Keep away from the kid.
“It rings almost hauntingly of what they are accusing Mary Kay Letourneau of doing—coming in, gaining confidence, and abusing trust to gain something from the boy,” the lawyer told a reporter after the announcement.