In federal court, an American heiress who was convicted of murdering her mother in Bali, Indonesia, and concealing her body in a bag pled guilty to conspiracy.
Heather Mack, the ‘Suitcase Killer,’ who had already been convicted in Indonesia for being an accessory to her mother’s murder, changed her plea to guilty after federal authorities accused her with arranging the murder in the US.
On Friday, June 16, Mack, 27, appeared before District Judge Matthew Kennelly in Chicago.
When Kennelly asked if she understood her allegations of conspiring to murder a US person, she replied, “Yes, your honor.”
Mack, the heiress daughter of jazz musician James Mack, shot and killed her mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, while on holiday in Bali in 2014.
Mack, then 19, reportedly had a strained connection with her 62-year-old mother. Between 2004 and 2013, Chicago police officers responded to their residence 86 times for reports of domestic abuse and theft between mother and daughter.
In August 2014, Mack and her mother arrived at the St Regis Hotel in Bali.
Mack used her mother’s credit card to buy a business class aircraft ticket for her then-boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, after they arrived.
Mack allegedly said she flew Schaefer to Indonesia so they could inform her mother of her pregnancy. However, following further inquiry, authorities found that this was a falsehood.
Before the flight, Schaefer texted Mack about various ways to murder her mother and talked about being wealthy after inheriting Mack’s $1.5 million trust fund. The duo called themselves ‘Bonnie and Clyde.’
After an argument with von Weise-Mack in the foyer of the St Regis that was captured on hotel security tape, Mack and Schaefer returned to their room and murdered her.
Prosecutors in Indonesia claim Mack restrained and covered her mother’s mouth as Schaefer beat her to death with a metal weapon.
The couple then packed her body inside a small bag and left it in the trunk of a taxi cab outside the hotel.
Mack was found guilty of accessory in 2014. In Indonesia, she served seven years of her ten-year sentence. In 2021, she was deported and arrested by the FBI after landing in Chicago.
Her now six-year-old daughter was with her at the airport and is currently in the care of another family member.
Schaefer is still in Indonesian prison, serving an 18-year sentence for murder. In the United States, he is also charged with conspiracy.
Her sentencing hearing has been moved until December 18. She faces up to 28 years in prison if convicted.
