Heather Mack’s Boyfriend Gets 18 Years For Killing Her Mother

Heather Mack has been all smiles in court this week, but that smile may have just been wiped off her face. Her boyfriend 21-year-old Tommy Schaefer has been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment — the maximum sentence (aside from death) sought against him for the gruesome and sadistic murder of Heather’s 62-year-old mother. The Daily Mail reports that Schaefer battered the woman to death before recruiting his girlfriend to help stuff her own mother into a suitcase. Now she’s facing a similar sentence, but her attorney has argued for it to be shorter.

Mack claims that she didn’t take part in the actual murder of her mother, and maintains that she was in a panic when she helped her boyfriend stuff her body into a suitcase. Nonetheless, the horrific death shocked Bali — a place where a person can be sentenced to death by firing squad. Even if Heather Mack is given the same sentence that was given to Schaefer, she will be very fortunate — more fortunate than her own mother was.

The Bangkok Post reports that 21-year-old Tommy Schaefer narrowly escaped the death penalty in the trial, possibly because he continually maintained that the murder was not premeditated — though his conviction was for precisely that. Schaefer has long claimed that the murder took place during a heated fight with Mack’s mother — who was angry that the 19-year-old teen was pregnant with his baby. It was even claimed at one point that the 62-year-old mom had hurled racial slurs at the man before he ultimately took her life in a savage beating.

Heather Mack hasn’t behaved as though she’s on trial for the murder of her mother. The Daily Mail notes that the 19-year-old Chicago native was more worried about the photos being taken of her than the fate that awaits her around the corner. She’s also apparently tried to present herself as a mother, keeping her infant with her publicly during the course of the trial. Her attorney’s have even argued that she deserves a lenient sentence due to her status as a young mother of 19-years-old. Nonetheless, the actions of the judge regarding Schaefer’s sentencing indicates that Mack won’t be treated with kid gloves. Both she and Schaefer have been looked at with horror ever since they were arrested for murdering the woman’s mother.

What kind of sentence do you think Heather Mack deserves regarding the murder of her own mother? When she says she didn’t help murder her mom, do you believe her?

[Photo: ABC News jail photo]