Crime & Law
Man Accused With Heather Mack in Bali Suitcase Murder Pleads Not Guilty, Intends to Represent Himself
In this March 12, 2015 file photo, Heather Mack, left, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, both from Chicago, Ill., who are accused of of murdering Mack's mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack whose body was later found in a suitcase, enter the court room prior to the start of their trial hearing at the district court in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, File)
Tommy Schaefer, the man who allegedly conspired with his then-girlfriend Heather Mack to kill her mother at a luxury resort in Bali, said he intends to represent himself and pleaded not guilty to the crime in a Chicago courtroom Thursday, more than 11 years after the brutal murder.
Schaefer, 32, entered the plea on charges of conspiracy to kill someone in a foreign country, conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice during a Thursday morning hearing before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago.
During that hearing, Kennelly set a trial date for January 2027. If convicted, Schaefer faces a possible life sentence.
Schaefer appeared in court wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and blew a kiss to supporters inside the 21st-floor courtroom.
Schaefer on Thursday told Kennelly that because his “life is on the line” in this case, he intends to represent himself at trial. While it is his right to do so, Kennelly informed him that it’s “a really bad idea.”
Schaefer agreed to have a public defender represent him for Thursday’s hearing, but Kennelly said he would need to have a lengthier conversation with Schaefer at a later date about the risks that decision entails.
Schaefer was previously convicted in Bali and sentenced to 18 years in prison for the 2014 murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, a wealthy Chicago socialite, during a luxury vacation in what became known as the Bali “suitcase murder.”
He served 11 years of that sentence before being released and deported back to the U.S. from Bali International Airport on Tuesday. He was then taken into federal custody in Chicago, where he is currently being held pending trial.
Schaefer and Heather Mack, who were dating at the time, were allegedly trying to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund when they plotted the murder, prosecutors have said.
The battered body of 62-year-old von Wiese-Mack was found in a suitcase in the trunk of a taxi parked at the upscale St. Regis Bali Resort in August 2014.
Mack, nearly 19 at the time and a few weeks pregnant, and Schaefer, then 21, were arrested on the island a day later. Prosecutors said Mack covered her mother’s mouth while Schaefer bludgeoned her with a fruit bowl.
Mack, 30, served seven years of a 10-year prison sentence in Bali for helping to kill her mother and was deported in October 2021.
She was then sentenced to 26 years in prison in Chicago in January 2024, after she pleaded guilty to helping kill her mother and stuffing the body in the suitcase. Kennelly — the same judge who handed Mack that 26-year sentence — said at that time von Wiese-Mack’s murder was a “brutal, premeditated crime.”
Mack is currently serving her sentence at a medium-security facility in West Virginia. Federal records show she has a projected release date in March 2044.
“The FBI is the long arm of the law and we remain committed to bringing violent criminals to justice, no matter where in the world their crimes are committed,” Douglas DePodesta. special agent in charge of Chicago’s FBI office, said in a statement, adding that Mack and Schaefer will now face “full accountability” for von Wiese-Mack’s murder. “We remain hopeful that healing and closure may finally begin for all those that loved her.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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