On Friday’s Court trial, Mack Heather named as “Suitcase Killer” pleaded guilty to killing her own mother and stuffed her in a suitcase.
Heather Mack and His Former Boyfriend Pleads Guilty to the Murder of von Weise-Mack
Heather Mack pleaded guilty in the U.S. for conspiracy charges in the 2014 murder of her socialite mother during their luxurious vacation in Bali Indonesia, where her mother’s life ended, based on the news report released by the People.
Mack who is 27 years old and her now-former boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, together pleaded guilty at the Indonesian Court in the year 2015 for killing the 62-year-old Sheila von Wiese-Mack, mother of Heather. The two of them, Schaefer and Mack were both charged by U.S. Federal Court in Chicago on conspiracy charges to kill Sheila Mack.
According to Vanessa Favia, U.S.-based attorney of Mack, in her sixth year in prison for her 10-year sentence in Indonesia, Mack was released early because of her good behavior. She went back to U.S. escorted by the FBI at Chicago airport.
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Four Things to Know About Heather Mack
- Mack extended her hand in the Murder of her own mom; and stuffed the dead body in the suitcase.
Heather had a horrible relationship with her mother. The murder occurred around early in the morning when Mack and her mother had an early morning argument. During their trial, Schaefer admitted the murder. He stated in the trial that when the mother of Heather found out that Heather was pregnant, she was so angry and threatened to kill the couple’s unborn baby and even tried to choke Schaefer for nearly 30 seconds. He then repeatedly hit von Wiese-Mack with a metal fruit bowl. Mack’s defense attorney stated that Heather hid in the hotel’s bathroom when the fight between Heather’s mother and Schaefer became violent. When the couple observed that von Wiese-Mack was dead, they stuffed the dead body in the suitcase. Hours later, they placed the suitcase in the trunk of the taxi before they checked out from the hotel. The taxi driver notified the police after he saw leaked blood from the taxi’s trunk.
Heather maintained her innocence in her murder charge of which she was convicted. Heather was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, while Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.
- The complicated relationship between Mack and her mom as She Described
In an exclusive interview with Heather and their family friends, Heather explained that her mother does not want to be separated from her, yet her mother hates everything about her. Their relationship started to get cold when her father died in 2006, the renowned musician and composer, James Mack and left Heather with a $1.5 million trust fund. Prior to the death of her father, she explained that they were so close with her mother. They even bonded over shoplifting French cosmetics. Von Wies-Mack wanted the cosmetics but does not want to pay despite having plenty of money. In her narration in an interview, her mother told her that they would take thousands of dollars of cosmetics and that nobody would expect a kid like her to do that. So, Heather will be stealing cosmetics while von Wiese-Mack distracts the clerk. She does it because she wants to make her mother happy.
- Heather Mack gave birth to her baby and lives with her inside the cell for 2 years.
In 2015, after she was convicted of her mother’s murder, she gave birth to a baby girl whom she named Stella. As to Indonesian law, the baby can stay together with her mother for 2 years. Heather told in a jailhouse interview that her baby was everything to her, that the baby taught her what love is and gave her purpose to live despite their situation. Her breakdowns were even diverted, when the baby is awake, everything is good, but when the baby is asleep, things get tough. In 2017, after the 2nd birthday of Stella, Heather was forced to give her up. Her daughter was handed over to an Australian-Balinese caretaker named Oshar Putu Melody Suartama whom she became friends with after she was arrested.
- Temporary custody was granted to Mack’s cousin while in Pending Trial in the U.S
Mack returned to the U.S. together with her daughter Stella in November 2021 and was immediately placed under the custody of her attorney Favia. Seven months later, Favia gave up her custody of the baby. Suartama traveled from Indonesia to the U.S. to take custody of Stella. Only forced to give her up again in November 2022. Stella, now 7 years old, was taken care of by her mother’s maternal cousin Lisa Hellman in Colorado.