Bali Murder Suspects On Suicide Watch
By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 20, 2014 6:00PM
Heather Mack and Tommy Schaeffer, the suspects in the murder of Mack’s mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack in Bali, are reportedly on suicide watch in prison.
Bali police spokesman Hery Wiyanto as saying Mack and Schaeffer continue to refuse to speak with police and that, of the two, Schaeffer seems to be holding up better in jail. Wiyanto added that the “mental state” of the pair is checked on a daily basis and their access to materials they could use to commit suicide has been restricted. Police previously confirmed Mack is two months pregnant.
Mack’s Chicago-based attorney Michael Elkin is expected to arrive in Bali Wednesday with a team of lawyers and investigators to conduct their own investigation into von Wiese-Mack’s death, whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase in the trunk of a taxi. Mack and Schaeffer are being held as suspects von Wiese-Mack’s death while Bali police conduct their investigation. If charged and it is found that von Wiese-Mack’s death was premeditated, Mack and Schaeffer could face death by firing squad.
Mack and von Wiese-Mack have long had a contentious relationship. Von Wiese-Mack discovered one of her credit cards was used by Mack and Schaeffer to run up a tab at a Rush Street boutique hotel a couple weeks before their trip to Bali. The Sun-Times reports a pattern of abuse by Mack toward her mother, and police reports detailing this history date back years.
According to Oak Park Police Department documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act Request, police were called to von Wiese-Mack’s home in the suburb 86 times over the past decade. Among the incidents recorded by police, Mack was accused by her mother of hitting her already broken ankle because she refused to do household chores; broke von Wiese-Mack’s right arm in January 2011; and repeatedly bit her. Each time, von Wiese-Mack refused to press charges because she didn’t want to see Mack go to jail.
Another facet of the relationship between von Wiese-Mack and Heather Mack is an estate left behind by von Wiese-Mack’s late husband, James Mack, upon his death in 2006. The estate was worth a little more than $150,000 before a 2011 settlement with Royal Caribbean Cruises worth $1.5 million was approved by a Cook County judge. The Macks filed the lawsuit in 2001 after James Mack suffered a foot injury in a pool on a cruise ship, and alleged subsequent negligent medical treatment by a ship’s doctor.
James Mack, in his will, bequeathed his estate to Heather Mack. Von Wiese-Mack received over $340,000 after taxes in the lawsuit settlement, but was allowed to pocket another $500,000 as the estate’s “sole beneficiary.”
It’s unknown whether the estate and lawsuit settlement was a point of contention between von Wiese-Mack and her daughter.