Story Published:
Apr 2, 2002 at 6:58 AM PST
Story Updated:
Aug 30, 2006 at 10:55 PM PST
KING COUNTY - Vili Fualaau, 18, is scheduled to take the witness stand Tuesday in the civil suit he and his mother have filed against the Des Moines Police Department and the Highline School District.
An indication of the probable line of questioning comes from his most recent deposition where he was asked about his feelings now for Mary Kay Letourneau: the teacher convicted of child rape and victimizing Fualaau from as early as the age of 13.
"I'm not in love anymore," Fualaau said in the Feb. 6 deposition. "I mean, my love for her as strong as it was back then fell down until it just a memory, you know."
He was asked "Are you saying you're not in love with her or you just don't know at this time?"
His response was: "I'm not in love with her."
When this entire saga started, Vili Fualaau's mother stated publicly that she didn't believe her son was a victim, that he hadn't been raped, and that she believed Mary LeTourneau was "a good person."
Now she is suing the Highline School District and the Des Moines Police Department for not protecting her son.
Key to that lawsuit is Vili's own belief that now, he too sees himself as a victim and that he no longer loves the jailed teacher. But in the same deposition recorded two months ago, attorneys asked Fualaau when he changed his mind. Because just a few months earlier he'd voluntarily called a Seattle radio station to be interviewed.
"If Mary got out of jail today do you remember saying 'I would marry her today I would plan a big wedding' ?" the attorney for the Des Moines Police Department asked him. "Yes," he answered.
And when he is on the witnesses stand, attorneys for Des Moines Police and the school district will ask if he changed his mind about Mary simply to help himself and his mom win the lawsuit. In the deposition Vili denied that accusation.
Whatever the outcome, the deposition also shows a frustrated and confused 18-year-old whose life has been altered forever. He testified to suffering from depression, treatment for alcohol abuse, and that he contemplated suicide.
"I'm just sick of everything, sick of thinking of me and Mary, sick of having kids, sick of being on the news, sick of being asked questions," said Fualaau.
Fualaau also admitted at the end of the deposition that although he says he is no longer in love with Letourneau, that he does keep a photo of her in his wallet.