by Gregg Olsen
As David Gehrke and Bob Huff entertained offers from mainstream American television and film companies, a unique opportunity presented itself when James Kent, a producer from the British Broadcasting Corporation, contacted the lawyers in the early spring of 1998. A veteran of more than two decades of producing documentaries, James Kent had seen a story about Mary Letourneau in November 1997 and was intrigued. When the teacher was arrested for the second time, his interest grew. The Brit booked a flight from London to Seattle. He didn't know it at the time, but things were about to become increasingly difficult for the legitimate press, and the BBC could certainly be considered one of the premier media outlets in the world.
James Kent did not see her during that visit, but Mary Kay told him over the phone that she and her lawyers were very interested in participating in a film produced by the BBC. With that understanding, James Kent returned to London and arranged for financing.
When he returned to Seattle a short time later things had changed dramatically. By that time, messages weren't being returned by either David Gehrke or Robert Huff. Mary Kay, however, still seemed supportive of the BBC production, to the extent that she made repeated calls to the producer providing background and details that would constitute the basis for the on-camera interview that they agreed to record at the prison later in the summer.
By that time, several media deals were hammered out. Sonny Grosso, a New York producer, negotiated the rights for a television movie that eventually found a home at cable's USA Network. A book was also in the works. The publishing company was French—Fixot, headquartered in Paris. The publisher was Robert Laffont.
The rumored deal for the French book alone was a quarter of a million dollars.
“It was much more than that,” David Gehrke said later of the deal that gave Bob Huff a fifteen to twenty percent agent's fee and united both convicted rapist and victim in a mutual business deal. How much Mary Kay was getting from both deals was unclear. She told friends that a trust fund with proceeds from the book was being set up for “all of my children.” She had no profit participation with the movie.
“They [Bob Huff and David Gehrke] didn't want my name on anything,” she said later. “My involvement in any deal could be used against me by the prosecution.”
There was no contract for the TV movie and no direct promise of money, though at one time a lump sum was discussed in lieu of a percentage of the gross.
“I'm not getting anything, but I hope that there is some gift for my children. I haven't asked Susan [Gehrke] about it, but I'm hoping.”
James Kent rented a house and planned to stay for six weeks—four weeks researching and two filming.
“I was caught up in a kind of media legal tangle that I had never experienced before. It clearly was a story that involved legal participants and those in the media circle around the story in a way they themselves got entangled in it. I think there was money to be made from this story and I think that did complicate clear lines of command. Mary couldn't, ideally, represent herself. She was caught between her legal team and the media.”
The British producer knew a book deal was in the offing, but he didn't know exactly how wrapped up into the whole affair Mary Letourneau and her two Seattle lawyers were. The publishing company had big plans for the story, including a documentary and possibly even a theatrical release. What no one knew for the first few weeks of the spring of 1998 was what that all meant to members of the media seeking access to Mary Kay.
“I think they [the lawyers] themselves, to be fair, didn't realize that the publishers of the book, who had their own intended documentary planned, would have reacted so negatively to a BBC film being made.”
James Kent would become less charitable in his assessment of the Letourneau legal team. In the beginning he found sympathy for their position. He sensed David Gehrke and Bob Huff were in over their heads, unused to a story of the magnitude of the Letourneau case.
“They found themselves, let me put it this way, caught between the devil and the deep blue sea—the media, the book publishers in France, and the BBC in London,” he said later.
Sometimes Kate Stewart would wonder how it got so strange. There she was, darkness all around, with time to think about nothing but Mary Kay Letourneau. Kate was up at two A.M. waiting for a messenger to come from People magazine to take photos from Chicago to New York. She had spent half the night carefully identifying the images of Mary Kay and Steve, mostly from her 1988 wedding.
“They were a happy little family,” she said later while reviewing the images remaining in her album. Empty pages provided silent testimony to the demand for pictures from her wedding.
Mary Kay had loathed the jailhouse photos, the mug shots that had been plastered in the media. She wanted something decent out and Kate agreed not only because she was her friend, but also because she had a treasure trove of Mary Kay photos.
That early morning as she waited, firemen were flushing the hydrants and a spray of water hit the edge of the Stewarts' charming front porch. She kept an eye on the family dog to make sure no one woke up. But mostly she worried about the water ruining the photos in an envelope on the porch and the bizarre turn of events of the past months.
How did I get involved with this crazy story? she asked herself.
Chapter 72
MARY KAY LETOURNEAU was pregnant. It was the topper of all toppers and when it was discovered in mid-March it pushed Mary Kay Letourneau back on the front pages of newspapers and into world headlines—though there had barely been a lull since her arrest in February. Newsgroups chattered about her on the Internet. Talk shows geared up. American Journal came calling again. After she arrived in prison, a sonogram was performed and it detected the heartbeat of a six-week-old fetus. The fact that she was pregnant again moved her story into the category of the unbelievable, but true. For Mary Kay, it gave her something on which to focus while she appealed her case and sought a new lawyer. She was overjoyed at the life growing within her.
It was further proof of her love for Vili Fualaau.
When the second-pregnancy story made the news, it was attributed to Kate Stewart, “a good friend from the Midwest.”
But she had never confirmed anything.
“That was a reporter's trick,” she said later. “They were only saying that because they got inside information from the prison and they needed a second confirmation. They just used me. They couldn't say they got it from the prison… that was illegal. They tried to get me to confirm it but they couldn't.”
Abby Campbell called Michelle Jarvis to recount Vili's words when the teenager found out he was going to be a father again.
“Oh, fuck!” he had said.
'What do you think of his reaction?” Abby asked.
What could Michelle say? She figured it could be one of two things. Vili might have been horrified that he was going to be a father again, or it might have dawned on him instantly that her pregnancy could provide proof that they had sex again.
For Bob Huff and David Gehrke, the pregnancy meant Mary Kay had made her story worth all that much more money. And some believed that was all that mattered. As spring marched forward, Michelle Jarvis began to feel that no one really cared about Mary Kay. All they cared about was making money off her.
“She's nothing but a commodity… her story is something that is fodder for the media. They own it and it's just money making,” she said later.
Bob Huff, for one, would have no part of Michelle's allegations. He had been given a job to do—to sell her story, but he insisted that didn't mean he didn't care about her. He said when visiting her in prison, at times, he was depressed for her.
“Whatever she is… in love with Vili or some sick monster… whatever anyone thinks, prison is not the place for Mary Kay. She's quick-witted. She's charming. She's funny. And I was more concerned about what was happening to her than she was. She'd try to cheer me up.”
One of the most tragic aspects of her friend's life, Michelle believed, was that Mary Kay wa
s so wrapped up in herself and her love story that she couldn't see what was happening.
“She's so narcissistic that she thinks that she is so important to all those other people, she doesn't see herself for what she is—just a way for them to make money, that's all. I don't think that anybody really gives a damn about her. Does Vili?”
Chapter 73
IN THE LAST week in April 1998, Michelle Jarvis boarded a flight to Seattle to honor the request of her best friend. Mary Kay had asked Michelle to be Audrey's godmother. She didn't want to go and considered trying to get out of it. She had been worn down by the pressure and the hopelessness of everything that swirled around her childhood friend. Mary Kay had been mad at her for some of the things she had said on the Sally Jessy Raphael show.
“I never said Vili was twenty-some years old… ” Mary Kay protested.
Michelle had processed so much her head was spinning. She thought of excuses, but her sense of duty won out. Among the items she carried onboard was a copy of People magazine with Mary Kay and baby Audrey on the cover and a note from her husband, Michael.
“Read it when you get onboard,” he said when he kissed her good-bye.
She and Michael had argued over the whole affair and whether it really was a good idea for Michelle to be a part of what was happening in Seattle. They had anguished over it for months. There had even been tears the morning of the flight. From where the Jarvises sat, Audrey's baptism looked more crafted for the camera than for God. Michael wondered if Michelle was simply being used.
“A lot of times,” Michael Jarvis said later, “Mary Kay wasn't really there for Michelle, but whenever she needed something or help with her problems, Michelle was there.”
Michelle got to her seat and unfolded her husband's note. No words ever rang more true:
“Mary Kay being the fine manipulator that she is, look where you 're sitting right now. I know you love your girlfriend regardless [of] how she feels about you—I know you are going to be there, because that's the kind of person that you are.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks and she stared out the little oval window, not focusing on anything but her thoughts. It was such a terrible mess and Michelle knew it was far from over. She knew that because she knew her friend better than anyone else in the world. She doubted that Mary Kay still loved Vili, but she had been boxed into such a corner that she had no choice but to continue the charade.
“Regardless of what she thinks about Vili,” she said later, “she's going to have to make the world believe that she's a victim, because that's the kind of person she is. She manipulates things to that extent. It doesn't matter what she thinks of Vili, she's going to let the world believe that she's in love with him until it is convenient for her to let go.”
Michelle flipped through the pages of the magazine and turned her thoughts to the baby, the reason for her two-hour flight north.
What will become of Audrey? she asked herself.
It was to be the perfect baptism of Audrey Lokelani. Nothing short of perfect would do, because Mary Kay Letourneau expected nothing less for any of her children. She had instructed both Kate and Michelle from her prison cell to be sure the details were just so. The ceremony was set for the chapel at Seattle University. Officials from Seattle's St. James Cathedral had refused to allow the baptism to take place there because of concerns over publicity. Mary Kay was disappointed, but that the Jesuit priest who had worked with her and Steve on their “peaceful coexistence” contract was officiating lessened the blow. She had ordered a beautiful lace christening gown from an exclusive boutique in Redmond, Washington, during her weeks out with Vili in January.
She thought, of course, that she 'd be able to be there.
That morning, Mary Kay looked out the window from the prison clinic where she was being monitored for some spotting during her ninth pregnancy and held the image of the spring sky in her mind. She wrote of the day in a journal that she kept for Audrey. Though she wasn't there, she wanted her daughter to know that she was a part of the sacred day in her heart, and spirit. She made out a list so that Audrey would know who had been present. She made special mention of Michelle, of course, as her baby's godmother; Favaae Fualaau, Vili's older brother, was the godfather.
The ceremony was lovely; Kate had seen to it. Mary Kay saw her friend as a stand-in for her taste and sensibilities.
“She is me as far as aesthetics go,” Mary Kay later said. “Making sure the crown for Audrey was perfect, the roses for the top of the cake, the details at the brunch.”
It was the brunch at the Marriott Hotel near SeaTac, however, that was not so perfect. Mary Kay had selected the venue because she thought that the garden theme of the dining area would be pretty, given the time of year and the love she had for flowers. Had she been there, she would have cringed at the scene.
It was not a typical baptism brunch, nor could it be. But the way the Fualaaus and representatives of their lawyers were acting, it was clear that the focus was not on the baby, but on the business deal that had become Audrey, Vili, and Mary Kay. Attendees had been sworn to secrecy so the media wouldn't intrude. A different name was used for the reservations at the Marriott.
Bodyguards in dark glasses ran around looking in bushes, setting ground rules for photography, reminding people to keep their mouths shut to protect the Fualaaus' reported $50,000 deal with the Globe. It was assumed that the whole world would converge on the hotel if someone leaked news of it. And with all the money beginning to change hands, there was the incentive to keep a lid on it.
What is this? Kate Stewart thought, put off by the whole attitude. This is like having lunch with the Mafia.
Kate brought her camera and had only needed one good shot. She had promised Mary Kay that she would get one to James Kent, the BBC producer. She ended up taking fourteen rolls of film.
“Soona took the negatives from me,” she said later. “So in fear that they might get out somehow and jeopardize her deal, or to protect the baby, I don't know.”
A bodyguard took the film to a nearby photo processor and waited in the back while the prints were being made to make sure that nobody stole any pictures.
Michelle was dumbfounded by the whole thing as she watched a few attendees knock back drinks in the bar. This is a baptism, for God's sake. When their eyes met, she could see that Kate was feeling the same way. What was going on here?
“It's all about money,” Michelle concluded later. “When it comes down to it, nothing else mattered in this whole scenario. Not the kids, not Mary Kay, not Vili, nothing, but for the money that could be made.”
Oddly—considering their roles in the case—the lawyers had not been invited. Susan Gehrke, David's wife, however, was present. When she saw Michelle Jarvis she went up to her to tell her that she and her husband had admired the way she stood her ground during an appearance on the Sally Jessy Raphael show.
“David and I were impressed with how well you did,” the schoolteacher said.
Michelle turned her back on Susan. “Well, if your husband hadn't done such a bad job that wouldn't have been necessary.”
“It almost reduced her to tears,” David Gehrke said later of his wife's reaction to the remark.
Paranoia and blame had settled in and a baby's baptism was somehow lost in the mire.
As David Gehrke saw it later: “The Globe article had just come out and the Globe representative was birddogging Soona to protect her and protect Globe's rights. BBC was around and there was talk that they had been invited in by the Chicago faction to surreptitiously videotape it. The Boston attorney was in town and was talking that it [the fact Mary Kay was in prison] was all my fault.”
Kate had, in fact, also promised to videotape Audrey's baptism with the idea that Mary Kay's parents and the BBC would get copies. One for love; one for money. But according to Kate and others, the video was confiscated moments after she shot it. The Globe was in town and had an exclusive on the story. That meant sentiments were shoved aside. No one
was to take anything from the event. Nothing but memories.
“It felt like nothing must come in the way of the money that was being made from the Mary Kay Letourneau story,” James Kent said later. “There were people who saw this as a chance to make a lot of money, and I felt very disappointed by that.”
Lawyer Huff didn't deny that cash was being collected from the Letourneau story or from Audrey's baptism in particular. And, he said, if the air was tinged with paranoia at the blessed ceremony, there was good reason for it.
“I think Soona was worried about the pictures getting out,” Bob Huff said later. “Soona was trying to cool it on the baby pictures because she got reamed by the judge in selling photos. Also, I think she wanted to keep the photos because they were worth money. I think Mary's friend's sold some of those that Soona gave them later. Soona was real pissed about that.”
Meeting Vili and his family was eye-opening for Michelle. She and Mary Kay had spent hours in her Spyglass Hill bedroom dreaming of their lives and the men they would marry. Michelle had realized her dreams of a loving husband and three children. Sure, it wasn't exactly as she had planned, but it was close. But Mary Kay and this boy and his family seemed so far off the mark. It wasn't that Michelle didn't like or accept Vili. There was a side to him that she could see Mary Kay might have found appealing in her loneliness. Michelle's heart was touched when the fourteen-year-old put a white rose on a chair to symbolize Mary Kay's presence at what was to be a holy gathering. The three rings he had also moved her: one from Mary to him, his to her, and one for their baby, Audrey.
Michelle looked at his artwork back at the house, and like Kate, thought he was a talented artist, and some of his writings were “quite deep.” She could see how a woman falling apart might romanticize the boy and his abilities and what it all could mean to her.
But in reality, she knew, the boy with the stubby ponytail and shaved sides of his head was also a typical teenager.
“Then he turns on rap music where every other word is rap music with the F word.”