Bali Suitcase Murder: Heather Mack Receives 10-Year Prison Sentence In Indonesia For Killing Mother, Boyfriend Gets 18 Years


The Bali Suitcase Murder appears to have drawn to a close, once and for all. An American couple accused of killing a woman in an luxury hotel in Bali and stuffing her body in a suitcase have received prison sentences in Indonesia.

According to CNN, Heather Mack, 19, and her 21-year-old boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, were sentenced to 10 years and 18 years in prison, respectively, in the Bali Suitcase Murder case.

The Bali suitcase murder case began last August when Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s body was discovered stuffed into a suitcase and abandoned in the back seat of a taxi on the Indonesian island.

Tommy Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for beating von Wiese-Mack to death in room 317 of the St. Regis Bali Resort. He claims he killed his girlfriend’s mother in self-defense after a heated argument broke out over the young couple’s relationship.

Described as a Chicago socialite, von Wiese-Mack was wrapped in bedding, stuffed into a silver suitcase and left inside a waiting taxi outside the resort. The couple told the driver they would return, but didn’t. After waiting a bid, the taxi driver alerted hotel staff, who discovered von Wiese-Mack’s body. The couple were later found at another hotel about nine miles away.

Attorneys for the couple feared they would be executed in the Bali murder case, but the three-panel judges sentenced them to the lighter sentence.

A twist in the Bali murder case is the birth of the couple’s child in March.

People magazine reports that Heather Mack gave birth to daughter Stella on March 18 and is allowed to keep the child with her in her cell for two years. Although Mack has been widely criticized for her decision to keep her child with her in prison, the defendant in the Bali murder case said she couldn’t bear to give her child up.

“I don’t want to separate my family. It’s too painful to think about having to be separated from my angel… The Indonesians have treated me in a decent, humane manner, and I’m grateful to the authorities for being so understanding.”

Heather Mack isn’t the only woman in prison to have a child with her behind bars.

“There’s another woman here with a child, who is about a year old. We’re allowed to walk around a little courtyard with our children, which helps when Stella gets colicky.”

What do you think of Heather Mack’s decision to keep her daughter with her behind bars after being sentenced to 10 years in the Bali suitcase murder case?

[Photo by Agung Parameswara/Getty Images]

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