Indonesia: "murderer with a suitcase" freed from prison in Bali

An American convicted of having, with the complicity of her boyfriend, killed her mother and left her body in a suitcase on the Indonesian island of Bali, was released on Friday, October 29, announced a prison service official.

Heather Mack, who was 19 at the time of the crime, was sentenced in 2015 to 10 years in prison, while her partner Tommy Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the murder of Sheila von Wiese Mack, a figure of the Chicago jet set, in a luxury Balinese hotel.

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In 2014, Tommy Schaefer fatally struck the victim, 62, in the head with a fruit bowl during a heated argument at the St Regis Hotel. His partner hid in the bathroom during the murder and the young couple then concealed the body in a suitcase. The couple fled after leaving the suitcase in a taxi in front of the hotel, before being quickly arrested. Heather Mack, who was pregnant at the time, was convicted of aiding and abetting murder and her boyfriend of premeditated murder.

Now 25, she left the Balinese prison in Kerobokan on Friday, on early release for good behavior, said the head of the women's section of the detention center.

said prison official Lili, who like many Indonesians has only one name.

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With her eyes hidden behind sunglasses, Heather Mack, who wore the detainees' orange vest, was handed over to immigration services before her deportation to the United States. The Balinese immigration office declined to comment on his case and indicate the day of his departure. It was also not clear whether her daughter, now six years old and raised in foster care in Bali, will be deported at the same time. Earlier, her lawyer told AFP that she did not want her daughter to be deported and then

(American)

Since the start of the pandemic, Heather Mack has had only video contact with her daughter.

Tommy Schaefer, who remains in detention, admitted to the homicide during his trial but said he had to defend himself during a violent argument with the mother of his partner, unhappy that her daughter was pregnant.