Heather Mack — the Chicago woman convicted of helping kill her mother and stuffing her body in a suitcase on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali in 2014 — served about seven years of a 10-year sentence in Indonesia, only to be arrested by the FBI when she landed at O’Hare International Airport in 2021 on a federal indictment that had been filed under seal in 2017. She pleaded guilty in June 2023 to one count in the federal murder conspiracy case against her in Chicago federal court.

Lawyers for Mack have asked a federal judge in Chicago to impose the minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and grant her credit for nearly 10 years already spent behind bars.

Below are some major points in the case, as found in the Tribune archives.

[ Attorneys for Heather Mack ask for minimum sentence, credit for time served in ‘Bali suitcase’ murder of mother a decade ago ]

The body of Chicagoan Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, is found inside a bloodied suitcase placed in the trunk of a taxi outside the luxury St. Regis hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali. Her daughter, Heather Mack, 18, and Mack’s boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, 21, are arrested and detained as suspects.

In the early hours of the same day, von Wiese-Mack and her daughter had argued in the hotel’s lobby after Heather Mack used her mother’s credit card to book a hotel room for her boyfriend.

Indonesian police formally designate Mack and Schaefer as prisoners in connection with von Wiese-Mack’s death. The designation comes after they were held for more than 48 hours, as is the practice in Indonesia.

In the days after the discovery of von Wiese-Mack’s body, past police reports and statements from neighbors show that Mack and her mother had a volatile relationship. Police were often called to their former home in Oak Park.

Bali police say ultrasound and urine tests confirm that Mack is pregnant, as she had said. Earlier, police had suggested the pregnancy might have been a ruse to ensure she was sent home.

Police disclose that witnesses reported seeing Mack and von Wiese-Mack arguing in the lobby of their hotel. Police say it is not clear what the argument was about and when it occurred.

Indonesian police say the suspects have made separate confessions: Schaefer admits to killing von Wiese-Mack, and Mack admits helping him stuff the body into the suitcase. Mack later says she and Schaefer are innocent.

Police conclude their four-month investigation into von Wiese-Mack’s slaying. Mack and Schaefer are briefly reunited before being transferred to the custody of prosecutors.

Indonesian prosecutors charge Mack and Schaefer with premeditated murder in the death of von Wiese-Mack. The charges carry a possible death penalty under Indonesian law.

Mack sues her uncle, William Wiese, for access to von Wiese-Mack’s $1.56 million estate. Mack’s lawyers ask a Cook County judge to force William Wiese, who von Wiese-Mack had named as trustee with control over the funds until her daughter’s 30th birthday, to release funds for her legal defense.

A Cook County judge rules that Mack has the right to access a fund established by her late mother to hire a defense attorney. Three months before her death in Bali, von Wiese-Mack placed her $1.56 million estate in a trust to be used for the “health, support, education and maintenance” of her only child.

In a series of interviews with the Chicago Tribune, Mack insists she is innocent and says she is “petrified” about her future and that of her unborn child. Mack says she was compelled to contact the newspaper because her Indonesian criminal defense attorney is not being paid from her trust fund as ordered.

She also says there are good Samaritans helping her get food and vitamins and even a bed in her jail cell. She declines to offer details on the people’s identities.

“Indonesia’s been great to both me and Stella,” Mack said, using the name she plans to give her unborn child. She said her daughter will be named after Schaefer’s great-grandmother. She said she has ultrasounds once a month. Her baby is due April 1.

A Cook County judge denies requests for medical and legal fees related to the unborn child. Lawyer Vanessa Favia, who had worked two weeks on the Indonesian island, seeks $126,000 in legal fees for her role representing the unborn child.

Testifying at Mack’s trial, Schaefer tells the court that he killed von Wiese-Mack because he was angry after she threatened to kill his unborn baby and choked him for about half a minute. “I was angry, I took the fruit bowl and hit her,” Schaefer said in tears.

Mack gives birth to a healthy 6-pound, 1-ounce girl at a hospital near the prison. Mack tells the Tribune she hopes to keep her daughter with her in the prison.

Von Wiese-Mack’s friend Elliott Jacobson provides the Tribune with more than 150 emails he said he received from von Wiese-Mack that chronicle her tumultuous relationship with her daughter. Some of the emails show von Wiese-Mack feared for her safety.

The trial is delayed after newborn Stella falls ill with jaundice. The sentence demand had been scheduled to be read in court, but it could not be read in the defendants’ absence.

Prosecutors ask that Mack and Schaefer be spared the maximum possible penalty — death by firing squad — if the three-judge panel convicts the young couple of killing Mack’s mother. The prosecution’s recommendation of a 15-year prison sentence for Mack and an 18-year term for Schaefer outraged the slain woman’s family in the U.S.

Lawyers representing Mack and Schaefer argue that there is no evidence of premeditated murder in von Wiese-Mack’s death and seek light sentences if they are convicted. Judges could ignore the sentencing requests.

In a unanimous verdict, the three-judge panel in Denpasar District Court convicts Mack and Schaefer in the slaying of von Wiese-Mack. Mack is sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Schaefer, who admitted fatally beating von Wiese-Mack but claimed self defense, receives an 18-year prison term.

After prosecutors appeal Mack’s conviction, she files an emergency motion in Chicago seeking more money from the $1.5 million trust fund to pay for her anticipated upcoming legal fees.

Mack considers having a local couple in Bali raise her baby until she is freed, one of her attorneys says.

Schaefer’s mother, Kia Walker, expresses fears to a Chicago judge that Stella is being sold for $150,000. Mack’s attorney calls the allegation “nothing more than a smearing campaign.”

A certified English translation of the written findings of the three-judge panel, made public in Cook County court, offers a closer look at the trial and some of its haunting details — including the last time von Wiese-Mack was seen in public alive.

A cousin of Schaefer’s is arrested on federal charges alleging he conspired with the couple to kill von Wiese-Mack. Robert Bibbs, 24, of Chicago, advised Mack and Schaefer about how to kill Mack’s mother, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Chicago.

He pleads not guilty the following month.

Months after their tearful trial testimonies won them leniency, federal authorities allege recently released text messages between Mack and Schaefer — who refer to themselves as Bonnie and Clyde — expose a far more sinister plot.

In written correspondence to a Cook County judge presiding over her $1.56 million trust case, Mack says “with all due respect” to her slain mother, she believes von Wiese-Mack lied and falsified court documents years earlier to gain control over a more substantial inheritance the daughter was due from her father’s estate.

Schaefer instructs baby Stella’s court-appointed guardian to cease communicating her health to the court — something Judge Neil Cohen finds troubling.

Under an agreement with federal prosecutors, Schaefer’s cousin Bibbs will not be sentenced to more than 20 years in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit foreign murder of a national of the United States.

Mack appears to confess on YouTube that she alone committed the killing, motivated by revenge, and that Schaefer was merely part of the crime’s attempted cover-up. She said she entrapped him into that role and expresses her remorse for it.

Mack and her lawyer release a statement saying that the assertions she made in videos posted to YouTube were false and recorded under pressure. The statement said Mack was reading words written by Schaefer.

A Cook County judge denies a request from Kia Walker, the paternal grandmother of baby Stella, to get guardianship of the child.

On the child’s second birthday, Mack gives custody of Stella to an Australian woman until her release from prison.

Bibbs is sentenced to nine years in prison for helping coach Schaefer in the murder in return for a share of von Wiese-Mack’s estate.

Mack gives up her claim to her mother’s estate. The financial terms of the settlement agreement are confidential, but court records filed in the Cook County case make it clear Heather Mack will not receive “any property, benefit, or other interest.”

Instead, the beneficiary is Mack’s daughter, Stella, who was born in an Indonesian prison in March 2015 as Mack and her then-boyfriend awaited trial.

Mack walks free from prison after serving seven years of a 10-year-sentence. The 26-year-old will have to stay for a few days at the Immigration Detention Center in Bali, while awaiting flight and travel arrangements. She will be deported to the United States.

Her Indonesian attorney said the early release was in part due to a six-month remission of sentence awarded to her by the Indonesian government during the nation’s recent Independence Day celebration.

Mack arrives at an airport in Indonesia for her deportation to the United States.

Federal agents in Chicago arrest Mack as she steps off a plane at O’Hare International Airport on conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges stemming from the 2014 murder of her mother in Bali, authorities said.

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She pleads not guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and obstruction of justice.

Lawyers for Heather Mack waive her right to a detention hearing on federal murder conspiracy charges stemming from the 2014 slaying of her mother at Bali vacation resort.

The decision means Mack, who was arrested by the FBI after being deported from Indonesia, will be held in custody while the charges are pending, though her lawyers could renew a request for bond at any point.

Mack’s release request is denied. She will remain in custody at Chicago’s Metropolitan Correction Center.

Mack pleads guilty in the federal murder conspiracy case stemming from the 2014 slaying of her mother.

Sources: Tribune reporting and archives; AP

Originally Published: Oct 29, 2021 at 1:13 pm