Heather Mack sentenced in Chicago to 26 years for mother’s murder in Bali

An American heiress dubbed the “suitcase killer” nearly a decade ago after helping kill her mother and stuffing her body in luggage during a luxury holiday in Bali has been sentenced to 26 years in prison.

Heather Mack, 29, heard heartbreaking statements from victims before hearing her sentence Wednesday in an Illinois court where she was branded a “monster.”

Prosecutors had sought a full 28-year prison sentence after Mack’s crimes shocked the nation in 2014 when she plotted to kill her wealthy mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, with her boyfriend, Tommy Shaefer.

Mack previously pleaded guilty to the murder in Indonesia in 2015 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison before being released early in 2021. Immediately after returning to the US, she was arrested again and charged with conspiracy to murder a US citizen and obstruction of justice. .

In addition to her 26-year prison sentence, Wednesday’s hearing also ruled on $262,708 in restitution.

Mack and her ex-boyfriend were convicted in 2015 of plotting to murder Mack’s mother, socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack (with her left) at a luxury Bali resort during a family trip, and then disposing of her body to put in a suitcase (right)

Tommy Schaefer is currently in Indonesian prison on an 18-year bid and shares a child with Mack – born after the couple was convicted in 2015 – and was the one who brutally beat Von Wiese-Mack to death with a metal bowl in an attempt to a hold on her millions

Mack’s wealthy mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack — married to composer the late James L. Mack, who died during a family trip in 2006 — was murdered in 2014, stuffed in a suitcase and left in a taxi.

The heiress was in line to access a $1.5 million trust fund after her mother’s death, and prosecutors said Mack and Shaefer spent months plotting her murder so they could start a life together .

She pleaded guilty last June to conspiring to kill Wiese-Mack along with Shaefer, with prosecutors alleging that Mack, then 18 and pregnant, covered her mother’s mouth in a hotel room while Schaefer bludgeoned her with a fruit bowl.

When Mack and Shaefer tried to put the suitcase in the taxi, they fled when the driver suspected something was wrong, and were both arrested shortly afterwards at a nearby budget hotel.

Schaefer was convicted of murder and remains in Indonesia, where he is serving an 18-year prison sentence.

At her sentencing on Wednesday, Weise-Mack’s brother Bill Weise said in his victim impact statement that Mack’s “brutal actions” were “morally reprehensible,” and that her decisions after the crime were “sickening.”

Feeling like she’s a “monster and a selfish person,” Weise said Mack is “so used to lying that she doesn’t even know what’s true.”

“Heather is a master manipulator. She always knows exactly what she’s doing,” she added, reports court reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times Jon Seidel.

Mack was pregnant at the time of her mother’s murder and gave birth to a daughter, Stella, while serving her prison sentence in Indonesia. Weiss argued in court that she “should never be the parent of Stella,” who is now eight years old.

During the sentencing, a statement was read on behalf of Stella’s legal guardian, Lisa Hellmann, in which she alleged that Mack “knowingly placed her daughter in exploitative situations for monetary gain over and over again, without regard to the harmful consequences that such actions could to have. on Stella.’

She added, “Stella doesn’t want to talk to her mother” and “doesn’t want to be raised by Heather.” She said this to her therapist several times.”

Mack’s son Stella – whom she gave birth to while serving her overseas sentence in Indonesian prison – is pictured here with her father, Tommy Schaefer. Mack’s sentencing on Wednesday heard that Stella, now 8, “doesn’t want to talk to her mother” and “doesn’t want to be raised by Heather.” She has expressed this to her therapist several times.”

Mack’s wealthy mother, von Wiese-Mack – married to the late James L. Mack, a renowned composer – was murdered by the couple and stuffed into a suitcase before being left in a taxi on the island of Bali in 2014. discovered and arrested

Much of Wednesday’s hearing focused on whether Mack deserves credit for her punishment for the six years she served in Indonesia.

Mack’s attorneys went against prosecutors’ wishes of a 28-year sentence and argued for a reduced sentence, asking for a 15-year prison sentence.

Her attorney, Jeffrey Steinback, maintained that Mack was a victim of abuse by her mother, and was forced by Shaefer to kill her mother.

However, Mack seemed to dismiss these arguments when she spoke about her sentencing at the end of the hearing, saying that her turbulent relationship with her mother was “no excuse”;

“I am responsible for my decisions,” she said. ‘I have made my decision. I can’t sit here and blame them for these decisions.”

‘Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her. I miss her smile. Her ‘I love you’ and especially her holding me.’

Before her speech, several people made accusations of a racist and unhappy home in the Mack household before she killed her mother.

Onita Mack, the sister of Heather’s famous composer father James, said Wiese-Mack didn’t want black people in their home.

She added that the “abuse of isolation and cutting people off from the family is real. And Shiela did that.’

A counselor described a therapy session between the mother and daughter in which she asked Wiese-Mack to write down positive things she could think of about her daughter.

She claimed her response was to call Mack a “dirty wh***” and use a racial slur.

Lawyers for both sides doubled down on allegations about Mack’s turbulent relationship with her mother, with one prosecutor noting that Mack told investigators her mother tried to arrange for her to marry a much older man.

Mack’s lawyer Michael Leonard said Mack, then 18, was introduced to a 36-year-old man her mother wanted her to marry too, adding: “She was groomed.”

Despite the difficult relationship, prosecutors argued there was no excuse for the brutal nature of her mother’s death.

Prosecutor Frank Rangoussis said: “Ms. von Wiese died a painful death. She suffocated after repeated blows to her face broke her nose and jaw bone, blocking her airways.”

He added that she died breathing her own blood.

Mack was pregnant at the time of the murder and was taking her daughter Stella (pictured together, left) to jail. Mack’s then-boyfriend Tommy Schaefer (pictured holding Stella), who is also the father of her child, is serving an 18-year prison sentence for murder

Mack gave birth to daughter Stella during the couple’s 2015 trial in Indonesia. She was allowed to live with the child during her incarceration abroad, but her daughter now lives with her mother’s relative

The defense asked for a sentence that would include credit for the seven years she had spent in an Indonesian prison, in addition to two years of credit for the time she had spent in custody in Chicago since her return to the US.

But Weise argued that Mack should now receive no credit or leniency for admitting guilt, after previously offering several explanations and apologies for her mother’s death.

The case gained international attention in part thanks to photos of the suitcase in which Wiese-Mack was placed, which appeared to be too small to contain the body of an adult woman.

The government is also seeking five years of supervised release for the 28-year-old – who has already pleaded guilty – as well as a $250,000 fine and $262,708 in restitution.

Weiss claimed that Mack had access to some of her mother’s trust fund in prison and was able to pay for protection, one of the reasons he felt she should not get credit for the time she spent there.

He also asked for restitution to compensate for “a portion of the $150,000 Heather used to bribe prison officials.”

The next to speak was Lindsay Lococo, who read a statement on behalf of Weise-Mack’s sister Debbi Curran, saying Mack “should never see the light of day again.”

She said Curran sees flashes of “horrific images” in her mind “every time I travel or just see a suitcase,” which are “impossible to erase during the day or at night.”