Chicago Couple Sentenced In Bali Murder Case

By Margaret Paulson in News on Apr 21, 2015 3:35PM

Heather Mack and Tommy Schaefer were found guilty of premeditated murder of Mack’s mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, by an Indonesian court on Tuesday. Heather Mack, 19, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Schaefer, 21, was sentenced to 18 years for the murder of von Wiese-Mack, whose body was found stuffed into a bloody suitcase at the St. Regis Resort in Bali last August.

The sentencing is widely seen as lenient, considering death by firing squad was one of the possible fates if the couple was found guilty. Mack, who prosecutors said helped Schaefer conceal her mother’s body by sitting on the suitcase while Schaefer closed it, was given a lenient sentence because “her newborn baby badly needs a mother’s love and breastfeeding,” according to the verdict.

Prosecutors allege Schaefer beat von Wiese-Mack to death with a metal fruit or soup bowl after an angry confrontation between the two. Von Wiese-Mack reportedly disapproved of her daughter’s relationship with Schaefer and was upset about Mack’s pregnancy.

The judge in the trial called Schaefer sadistic but admitted that his expressions of remorse led to a more lenient sentence than expected.