Heather Mack plea hearing: ‘Suitcase killer’ pleads guilty in US over Bali murder of socialite mom

Rachel Sharp writes:

The world first heard the story of American teenager Heather Mack and her mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack when the 62-year-old’s body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Indonesia.

But the story actually begins many years earlier.

Behind the headlines about the so-called “Suitcase Killer” is a tragic story of a mother who endured years of domestic violence at the hands of her child inside the home they shared in the Oak Park suburb of Chicago.

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There was a tense moment between Mack’s defence lawyer and Judge Kennelly earlier in court. Here’s what happened:

Jon Seidel of The Sun Times reports that Mack tells the judge that as a juvenile she believes she was diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and was “hospitalised a few times”

It transpires that the plea agreement has only been read to Mack over the phone.

There is an “angry outburst” from Judge Kennelly according to Dave Byrnes of Courthouse News as he demands to know why she has not seen a physical copy of the agreement.

Mack’s lawyer Jeffrey Steinback explains that the plea agreement has gone through several revisions and that he couldn’t get a finalized version of the agreement into Chicago’s federal prison last night.

This appears to satisfy the judge and Mack confirms she understands everything in the agreement.

Judge Kennelly explained that if Mack is sentenced to less than life in prison she will be on parole for up to five years.

She may also face a fee of up to $250,000 plus court costs and restitution to her mother’s family.

He also tells prosecutors they will not be reading the full “factual basis” from the plea agreement in court.

Jon Seidel notes: “That likely means Mack’s admissions are long and detailed.”

As with all plea deals, this is a bit of a gamble on the part of the defendant. It states that Mack’s sentence will not exceed 28 years (with consideration given to time served in Indonesia) but Judge Kennelly also explains to Mack that sentencing guidelines aren’t binding on him, Dave Byrnes reports.

“I have to make up my own mind,” he says, noting he may come up with a worse sentence for her than she’s hoping for.

He won’t decide until the sentencing.

“I plead guilty, your honour.”

Heather Mack pleads guilty to conspiring to murder her mother on the Indonesian island of Bali in the summer of 2014.

Judge Kennelly voids Mack’s planned July trial for murder conspiracy, evidence tampering and injuring a foreign government’s property.

Her sentencing is set for 18 December 2023.

“Suitcase killer” Heather Mack is facing up to 28 years in US prison after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder her socialite mother at a luxury 5-star resort in Bali back in 2014.

Rachel Sharp reports.

“Suitcase killer” Heather Mack is facing up to 28 years in US prison after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder her socialite mother at a luxury 5-star resort in Bali back in 2014.

Mack, now 27, reached a plea deal with prosecutors in federal court in Illinois on Friday morning, pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to kill a US national and finally bringing some sort of conclusion to a horror case that has rumbled on for almost eight years.

“I plead guilty, your honor,” she told US District Judge Matthew Kelley.

Under the terms of the agreement, prosecutors recommend she faces a maximum sentence of 28 years in prison, with consideration given to the time she’s already served in Indonesian prison.

However, Judge Kelley warned that he could ignore the sentencing guidelines.

“I have to make up my own mind,” he said.

William Wiese and Debbi Curran, the siblings of murder victim Sheila von Wiese-Mack, have issued a statement on Heather Mack’s guilty plea:

After almost nine years, we are very relieved that the mastermind of Sheila’s murder admitted her guilt today. We will continue to be our sister Sheila’s voice throughout the sentencing process to ensure that real justice is achieved. It has been devastating to witness the corruption in Indonesia which prevented true justice from being obtained eight years ago. Thanks to the incredible efforts of the US Attorney’s Office and FBI, we are hopeful for a sentence that more appropriately reflects the heinous and premeditated nature of the crime.

Jon Seidel of The Sun-Times writes: “Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s siblings have also told reporters they are hopeful that Judge Kennelly accepts Mack’s plea deal. The support of the victim’s family tends to make it more likely that the judge will go along with it.”

On 12 August 2014, Mack, then 18, and her then-boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, bludgeoned von Wiese-Mack to death with the metal handle of a fruit stand at the luxury 5-star St. Regis resort in Bali.

They then stuffed her body into a suitcase, hailed down a taxi and loaded it into the trunk of the car.

When they were unable to check out of the luxury resort – using her mother’s credit card – the couple fled the scene, leaving the bloodstained suitcase behind.

They were soon tracked down to a budget motel and arrested on suspicion of murder.

At the time of the murder, Mack – the daughter of socialite von Wiese-Mack and famed musician James L Mack – was pregnant with Schaefer’s child.