Sex. Murder. Mystery(215)

“Mary Kay could have used some Mary Kay [cosmetics], if you asked me,” said one observer.

Testimony from the police, supposition from the prosecutor about what was happening [“she was going to flee”], and an emotional plea for mercy from David Gehrke because his client was out of touch with reality and functioned like an adolescent had little impact on what Judge Lau could do. Mary Kay's tears would have no bearing on the outcome, either. Nothing anyone could do would stop the judge from sending her to prison.

“This is not about flaws in the system,” said Judge Lau. “It is about an opportunity you foolishly squandered.”

Mary Kay Letourneau was led away to face seven and a half years in prison—her original sentence before it was deferred in favor of treatment. But there would be no treatment, now. She had abdicated that in favor of a prison cell. Her home would be the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor, just west of Tacoma. The first thing she did was head for the phone to call her children in Alaska. Screw the rules of the deviancy program. She was in prison, but she was free.

Inmate no. 769014 was instantly the superstar of the Washington prison system, if not the most celebrated or notorious female face behind bars in the entire country. Upward of thirty letters flooded her cell each day and filled the mailboxes of the lawyers and friends in support of her case. Some contained money for the defense fund. One man from Ohio sent $200.

“She is innocent because she didn't force the then thirteen-year-old to have a sexual relationship… He initiated the sexual part of it,” wrote one supporter.

At his home in Des Moines many months after the revocation hearing, David Gehrke blamed the groupies for Mary Kay's downfall.

“I found out that people were covering for her,” he said.

And look at what the “help” got her. He blamed Abby Campbell—“this groupie who was trying to help her, encourage her, and cover for her.” It was Abby who had provided the pager that ended up with Vili. Her actions, David believed, were paramount in setting the events in motion that led to the parole revocation.

“I don't know what [Abby] wanted but if someone had told me about all this it would have been real obvious to me that it wasn't the right thing to do if you were enabling them [Mary Kay and Vili Fualaau] to be together.”

According to David, friends also rushed over to Beth Adair's spare room where Mary had been staying and emptied it out “for fear that there was evidence of Vili” there.

“Then Abby called me on Saturday after the Friday revocation terrified that she had all this stuff… and wanted to know what to do with it.”

David told Abby he'd take care of it and that she should bring Mary Kay's belongings to him. She agreed. She was glad to get rid of the stuff.

The spick-and-span room only made it look like Mary Kay had planned to flee.

It was widely known in the neighborhood that Soona was having a hard time keeping tabs on her youngest son during Mary's month-long release from the Regional Justice Center in Kent. Several times Soona and her oldest children went on Vili hunts, knocking on doors and making phone calls all over White Center.

“His family is very strict and very religious. If he didn't come home, they'd come looking for him, the mom, the brother, and the older sister. They don't stop until they find him,” Danelle Johnson said.

It wasn't the fault of the Fualaaus—at least, not completely. At fourteen, Vili was determined to do what he wanted.

“He didn't tell them the truth. He didn't say I'm going to see my girl, Mary. He didn't come home from school when he was supposed to or he'd leave when they were asleep. They didn't let him go do it. They just felt hurt again,” Danelle added.

Danelle Johnson remembers how upset Soona had been over her son's running around. She was very worried that the authorities would find out and take Audrey from her.

“She thought that they would think she wasn't a good mother,” she said.

Though she could not see it clearly at the time, Danelle Johnson was able to see more clearly with the passage of time. Doesn't everyone? When the smoke of Mary Kay Letourneau's disaster dissipated enough for her to peer through its curtain, she could see that the teacher's legacy was formed from the trust she maintained with her young students.

“They felt like she was one of them. But she knew a little bit more than what they did, so they would do whatever she said. She wouldn't do anything wrong to them. She brought them into this thing. I don't know if it was to facilitate her thing with Vili or whatever. She dragged a lot of kids down with her.”





Chapter 69

WITH THE REVOCATION of Mary Kay's parole, all hell had broken loose and the lawyers were busier than ever. Everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Barbara Walters to Connie Chung courted David Gehrke and Robert Huff. David in particular shuttled back and forth from one satellite hookup to the next.