Indonesia on Tuesday released and deported an American man after he served 11 years in prison for the premeditated killing of his girlfriend’s mother on the resort island of Bali.
Tommy Schaefer had been sentenced to 18 years behind bars for the 2014 murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, the mother of Heather Mack. The crime, committed during an upscale vacation, became widely known as the Bali “suitcase murder.”
According to Felucia Sengky Ratna, head of Bali’s regional immigration office, Schaefer was flown back to the United States from Bali’s international airport Tuesday evening after completing his term and receiving sentence reductions for good conduct.
CBS News Chicago reported that Schaefer is scheduled to appear in federal court in Chicago on Thursday for arraignment. A 2017 indictment, unsealed in 2021, charged Schaefer and Mack with conspiracy to commit murder abroad, conspiracy to kill a U.S. national overseas, and obstruction of justice.
The body of the 62-year-old Sheila von Wiese-Mack, a wealthy Chicago socialite, was discovered in August 2014 inside a suitcase placed in the trunk of a taxi parked at the St. Regis Bali Resort.
Heather Mack, who was nearly 19 and pregnant at the time, and her 21-year-old boyfriend Schaefer were arrested on the island one day after the body was found.
In a March 31, 2015 file photo, Heather Mack and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer of Chicago are seen in handcuffs as they arrive at a Bali courtroom during their trial.
Mack served seven years of a 10-year sentence in Bali for assisting in her mother’s killing and was deported in October 2021.
She was later sentenced in Chicago to 26 years in prison in January 2024 after pleading guilty to helping murder her mother and placing the body in a suitcase during their vacation, CBS News Chicago reported.
“This was a brutal and carefully planned crime,” U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said while delivering the sentence.
Before sentencing, Mack apologized for the killing, saying there was “no excuse” for attempting to harm her mother.
Although her defense team argued she had endured years of emotional and physical abuse by her mother before the murder, Mack stated that the nature of their relationship was ultimately irrelevant.
Prosecutors contended that Mack showed minimal remorse and even tried to profit from the crime by seeking to sell her story to media outlets.
“Mack’s earning potential is substantial. Her crime is globally known, and she has likely already secured a media deal expected to generate significant income. Any money resulting from this horrific offense should go to the victim’s estate, not the defendant,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing recommendation.