An American heiress dubbed the ‘suitcase killer’ after helping to kill her mother and stuffing her body into luggage during a luxury holiday in Bali almost a decade ago has been sentenced to 26 years in prison.
Heather Mack, 29, heard harrowing victim impact statements before hearing her sentence in an Illinois court on Wednesday, where she was branded a “monster.”
Prosecutors had asked for 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 pleaded guilty to the murder in Indonesia in 2015 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison before her early release in 2021. Immediately after returning to the US, she was arrested again and charged with conspiracy to kill a US citizen. and obstruction of justice. .
In addition to his 26-year sentence, Wednesday’s hearing also ruled on restitution of $262,708.
Heather Mack, 29, was sentenced Wednesday to 26 years in prison for plotting to kill her mother in Bali in 2014.
Mack and her ex-boyfriend were convicted in 2015 of plotting together to kill Mack’s mother, socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack (left) at a luxury resort in Bali during a family trip, and then stuffing her body in a suitcase (right). )
Tommy Schaefer, currently in an Indonesian prison after serving an 18-year sentence, shares a son 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 achieve it. a control of your millions
Mack’s wealthy mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, married to the late composer James L. Mack, who died during a family trip in 2006, was murdered, stuffed in a suitcase and abandoned in a taxi in 2014.
The heiress was about to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund following her mother’s death, and prosecutors said Mack and Shaefer planned her murder for months so they could start a life together.
He pleaded guilty last June to one count of conspiring to kill Wiese-Mack with Shaefer, and prosecutors argued that Mack, then 18 and pregnant, covered her mother’s mouth in a hotel room while Schaefer told her. He was hitting 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 both were arrested shortly after at a nearby budget hotel.
Schaefer was convicted of murder and remains in Indonesia, where he is serving an 18-year sentence.
At his sentencing Wednesday, Weise-Mack’s brother, Bill Weise, said in his victim impact statement that Mack’s “brutal actions” were “morally reprehensible” and that his decisions after the crime were “disgusting.” .
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,” he added, reports the Chicago Sun-Times court reporter. Jon Seidel.
Pregnant at the time of her mother’s murder, Mack gave birth to a daughter, Stella, while serving her prison sentence in Indonesia. Weiss pleaded in court that she “never be allowed to be a mother to Stella,” who is now eight years old.
During the sentencing, a statement was read on behalf of Stella’s legal guardian, Lisa Hellmann, stating that Mack “knowingly and willfully placed his daughter in exploitative situations again and again for monetary gain, without regard for the harmful consequences that such actions could have.” about Estela.
He added that “Stella doesn’t want to talk to her mother” and “she doesn’t want Heather to raise her.” She has expressed this to her therapist several times.
Mack’s son Stella, whom she gave birth to while serving her sentence overseas in an Indonesian prison, is shown here with her father, Tommy Schaefer. At Mack’s sentencing on Wednesday, it was 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 and stuffed into a suitcase by the couple before being abandoned in a taxi on the island of Bali in 2014. couple was then discovered and arrested
Much of Wednesday’s hearing focused on whether Mack deserves credit for his sentence for the six years he served in Indonesia.
Mack’s attorneys argued against prosecutors’ wishes for a 28-year term and asked for a reduced sentence and requested a 15-year prison term.
Her attorney, Jeffrey Steinback, insisted that Mack was a victim of abuse at the hands of her mother and that Shaefer forced her to kill her.
However, Mack appeared to dismiss these arguments when he spoke at the end of his sentencing hearing, saying that his turbulent relationship with his mother was “no excuse.”
“I am responsible for my decisions,” he said. ‘I made my decision. I can’t sit here and blame them for those decisions.’
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about her. I miss her smile. Hers ‘hers I love you’ hers and especially her hugging me.
Before her speech, several people raised accusations of a racist and unhappy home in Mack’s home before she killed her mother.
Onita Mack, sister of Heather’s renowned songwriter father, James, said Wiese-Mack didn’t want black people inside her home.
He added that “the abuse of isolation and separation of people from family is real.” And Shiela did that.’
One counselor detailed a mother-daughter therapy session in which she asked Wiese-Mack to write down positive things she could think about her daughter.
She claimed his response was to call Mack a ‘dirty whore’ and used a racial slur.
Attorneys 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 was trying to arrange for her to marry a much older man.
Mack’s lawyer, Michael Leonard, said Mack, 18 at the time, met a 36-year-old man and her mother wanted her to agree to marry him too, adding: “She was ready.”
Despite the troubled relationship, prosecutors argued there was no excuse for the brutal nature of his mother’s death.
Prosecutor Frank Rangoussis said: ‘Mrs von Wiese died a painful death. She suffocated after repeated blows to her face fractured her nasal bone and jaw, obstructing her airway.
He added that he died “inhaling his own blood.”
Mack was pregnant at the time of the murder and gave birth to her daughter, Stella (pictured together, left), in prison. Mack’s then-boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer (pictured holding Stella, right), who is also the father of her child, is serving an 18-year sentence for murder.
Mack gave birth to their daughter Stella during the couple’s 2015 trial in Indonesia. He was allowed to live with the girl during her imprisonment abroad, but her daughter now lives with a relative of her mother.
The defense asked for a sentence that would have included credit for seven years he spent in an Indonesian prison, along with two years credit for time he spent in custody in Chicago since his return to the United States.
But Weise argued that Mack should receive no credit or leniency for admitting his guilt now, after previously offering various explanations and excuses for his mother’s death.
The case gained international attention in part because of photographs of the suitcase in which Wiese-Mack was placed, which appeared 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 fine of $250,000 and restitution of $262,708.
Weiss claimed that Mack was able to access part of his mother’s trust fund in prison and was able to pay for protection, part of the reason he felt she should not receive 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.”
Next to speak was Lindsay Lococo, reading a statement on behalf of Weise-Mack’s sister, Debbi Curran, who said Mack “should never see the light of day again.”
He said Curran sees flashes of “horrible images” in his mind “every time I travel or just see a suitcase,” which are “impossible to erase during the day or night.”