Heather Mack was released from an Indonesian prison in 2021 and was later arrested in the US. Image: GETTY IMAGES
US woman sentenced to 26 years in prison for “suitcase murder”.
During a 2014 vacation in Bali, an American woman assisted in the murder of her mother and placed her body in a suitcase; she was given a 26-year prison sentence.
In Indonesia, Heather Mack was found guilty in 2015 and given a 10-year prison term; nevertheless, she was released in 2021.
Following her arrival in the US, she was detained and accused of plotting to assassinate a citizen of the US. Mack has been detained in a Chicago prison for the past two years while she awaits her sentence.
Mack, 28, will be given credit for the time she has already spent, according to a ruling made by Judge Matthew Kennelly on Wednesday, which would cut her official sentence to about 23 years.
Mack, who plotted to assassinate her mother, affluent scholar Sheila von Wiese-Mack, with her then-boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, was urged by prosecutors to serve a 28-year prison term. According to reports, the two acted in order to obtain a trust fund worth $1.5 million (£1.17).
The prosecution said that as Ms. Mack, who was eighteen years old and pregnant at the time of the murder, covered her mother’s mouth, Mr. Schaefer beat her in the head with a fruit dish. Later on, the body was found crammed into a bag.
Prosecutors stated that following Wiese-Mack’s murder at the hotel, Ms. Mack and Mr. Schaefer left the bag containing her remains in the trunk of a cab. Later, the driver called the police.
Later on, it was found that the pair was lodging at a different Bali hotel.
Mack first entered a not-guilty plea to the US charges, but she later modified it after the prosecution, who had initially requested a lengthier term, made her a “good” offer.
Bill Wiese, the brother of Wiese-Mack, requested that the maximum sentence be given during Mack’s sentencing since he believes Mack has not expressed regret for the murder.
“If it were up to me, Heather would spend the rest of her life behind bars,” stated Wiese.
Mr. Schaefer is still incarcerated in Indonesia and is mentioned in the US indictment as well.