Heather Mack plea hearing: ‘Suitcase killer’ pleads guilty in US over Bali murder of socialite mom
Heather Mack – whose father was late musician James L Mack – and boyfriend Tommy Schaefer murdered her mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack at a luxury 5-star resort in Bali in 2014
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
“Suitcase killer” Heather Mack has pleaded guilty in a Chicago court today over the 2014 murder of her socialite mother in Bali, bringing some sort of conclusion to the shocking case.
In August 2014, Mack, then 18 and pregnant, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, then 21, bludgeoned Sheila von Weise-Mack, 62, to death with a metal fruit stand while on vacation at the luxury 5-star St Regis resort on the Indonesian island.
The couple, who described themselves as “Bonnie and Clyde” in chilling text messages, then stuffed her body in a suitcase and left it in the trunk of a taxi.
They were both convicted of premeditated murder in Indonesia – narrowly escaping death by firing squad.
After serving seven years in a Bali jail (where her daughter was born), Mack was extradited to the US where she was arrested on arrival in Chicago and hit with fresh charges of conspiracy to murder in a foreign country in November 2021.
Since then, she has been behind bars fighting the charges but had a change of heart and decided to take a plea deal.
PICTURED: Horror moment suitcase is found containing Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s body
Mack and Schaefer called themselves ‘Bonnie and Clyde’
Before carrying out the brutal murder, the young lovers exchanged messages describing themselves as the notorious criminal duo Bonnie and Clyde and in which prosecutors say show how they plotted and conspired to kill their 62-year-old victim.
In the messages, revealed in US federal court documents earlier this year, the couple plotted methods of murder, egged each other on and spoke about how “rich” they would be when Mack inherited her mother’s wealth after she was dead.
On the day that Mack and her mother von Wiese-Mack set off on their trip, Schaefer allegedly sent his girlfriend a text saying: “I can’t wait to be rich… Its crazy af Like Money Nothing rules the world.”
The next day, Mack replied telling him the “trips going as planned baby … faith”.
When Schaefer told her he had “a lot of faith” in her but “that a lot of things aren’t in her control”, Mack replied with chilling messages describing how she had been “watching” her “witch” mother.
Referring to herself as “bonnie” of Bonnie and Clyde, she urged her boyfriend not to “underestimate me”.
“I also know what is in my control … I know what makes people tick … the witch … I know what make [sic] her tick … I’m with her so much … I know her habbit [sic]… how she acts … what she does at certain times … its like breaking out of jail … It takes several years of watching … I have been watching her routine … and I know what I do control … Im sneaky … Im smart … and I watch … trust bonnie … Dn’t make everyone else mistake and under estimate me,” she wrote, per the court documents.
Other text messages revealed Schaefer encouraging Mack to smother her mother to death.
Oak Park police records reveal years of abuse of mother
Heather Mack was the daughter of socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack and famed musician James L Mack and had a privileged upbringing in the Oak Park suburb of Chicago.
But, following James L Mack’s 2006 death, von Wiese-Mack called the police to their home dozens of times due to incidents of domestic violence.
Oak Park Police records reveal at least 35 interactions with officers since 2008 including accusations that Mack broke her mother’s arm, bit and punched her.
In 2012, she was convicted of battery in juvenile court for an attack on her mother.
In 2013 – just over one year before her murder – von Wiese-Mack confided in a detective that she feared Mack was going to kill her.
Heather Mack plans to plead guilty
After years of fighting for her freedom – and blaming her mother for her own senseless killing – Heather Mack, 27, has now revealed her intentions to change her plea at a hearing in Illinois court on Thursday.
Speaking to The New York Post last week, Mack said she believed she had served her time in Indonesian prison and didn’t think she should be facing charges in the US.
“I have served nearly 10 years in prison. I felt that I had done my time, so I was gung-ho for trial,” she said.
“Now, after sitting for so long, I know what I have to do.
“I’m going to be a felon in America, and that is fine. I understand from [the US government’s] perspective that, if I don’t plead guilty and they didn’t indict me, I wouldn’t be a felon.”
She added: “I could become a police officer and work for the government… I could carry a firearm on the street.”
The exact terms of the plea deal remain unclear, but Mack said she is looking at a sentence of zero to 25 years, including time served.
Heather Mack set to plead guilty today
The daughter of an American woman whose body was found stuffed inside a suitcase at an Indonesian resort island is scheduled to appear in Chicago federal court on Friday to change her plea to guilty on charges she helped kill her mother in Bali nine years ago.
Heather Mack, 27, was convicted in Indonesia in 2015 of being an accessory to Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s murder with her then-boyfriend in a bid to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund. Mack, then 18 and pregnant, covered her mother’s mouth in a hotel room while Tommy Schaefer bludgeoned Wiese-Mack with a fruit bowl, prosecutors say.
Read more here:
Heather Mack, convicted in Bali of killing mother, set to plead guilty in US
The daughter of an American woman whose body was found stuffed inside a suitcase at an Indonesian resort island is scheduled to appear in Chicago federal court to change her plea to guilty on charges she helped kill her mother in Bali nine years ago
Heather Mack’s plea hearing: Schedule
– Hearing type: Change of plea hearing
– Date: 16 June
– Time: 8.30am local time
– Judge: Matthew F Kennelly
– Location: US District Court, Illinois
A body in a suitcase, Bonnie and Clyde fantasy and baby born in Bali prison: The chilling case of Heather Mack
It’s a chilling case that has spanned two different continents and rumbled on for the best part of eight years.
Now finally, some sort of conclusion is about to be reached as Chicago woman Heather Mack is expected to plead guilty this week to her part in her mother’s heinous 2014 murder.
Infamously dubbed the “Suitcase killer”, Mack, then 18 and pregnant, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, then 21, bludgeoned her socialite mother Sheila von Weise-Mack, 62, to death and stuffed her body in a suitcase while on vacation at a luxury 5-star resort in Bali.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp delves into the case here:
The chilling case of Heather Mack
As Chicago woman Heather Mack prepares to plead guilty over the killing of her socialite mother Sheila von Weise-Mack at a 5-star Bali resort in 2014, all these years on America remains horrified by the case involving a Bonnie and Clyde fantasy, a body stuffed in a suitcase and a baby born behind bars. Rachel Sharp reports
Heather Mack’s criminal case in Indonesia:
In 2014, Heather Mack and Tommy Schaefer were both charged with premeditated murder and faced the death penalty by firing squad in Indonesia.
While Schaefer ultimately pleaded guilty, Mack did not. Schaefer testified at trial that he killed the 62-year-old because she attacked him when she found out her daughter was pregnant. Meanwhile, Mack was allegedly motivated by a desire to be free from her controlling mother.
In March 2015, in the middle of her trial, Mack gave birth to the couple’s daughter Stella (who she raised in prison for the first two years of her life when she was placed in the care of an Australian woman living in Indonesia who Mack had befriended behind bars).
Both Mack and Schaefer were convicted of premeditated murder and – after prosecutors asked for the death penalty be taken off the table – Mack was sentenced to 10 years in prison while Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in April 2015.
In 2017, Schaefer’s cousin Ryan Bibbs, then 24, was also convicted of conspiracy to kill von Wiese-Mack and sentenced to nine years in prison after it emerged that he had coached the two killers in different murder methods.
What happened when Heather Mack was released from Bali prison?
Heather Mack was released from prison in Bali in October 2021 after serving seven years – three years early due to good behaviour – and was briefly reunited with her daughter Stella, then six, who she planned to begin a new life with. But her newfound freedom was short-lived.
Five days later, the then 26-year-old was deported from the Indonesian island back to the US and was arrested as soon as she touched down on American soil.
The convicted killer and her young daughterwere greeted by waiting FBI agents at the gate at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and was immediately taken into US federal custody.
She was indicted on two counts of conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and one count of obstruction of justice. The indictment, which was filed in 2017 but remained sealed while she remained in Indonesian prison, also charged Schaefer with the same counts.
In the more than two years since Mack has been behind bars in the US, she has fought against the charges, arguing that she paid for her crime during her prison time in Bali.
The case was set to go to trial on 1 August in Chicago before Mack revealed her intentions for a change of plea.
What happened to Tommy Schaefer?
Tommy Schaefer was 21 when he bludgeoned Sheila von Wiese-Mack to death with Heather Mack back in 2014.
He was arrested along with Mack and charged with premeditated murder.
Schaefer later testified at trial that he killed the 62-year-old because she attacked him when she found out her daughter was pregnant. Meanwhile, Mack was allegedly motivated by a desire to be free from her controlling mother.
Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in April 2015.
Now, Schaefer is still serving his 18-year sentence in Indonesia before he too will face charges on US soil.