Crime & Law
Tommy Schaefer, Accused With Heather Mack in Bali Suitcase Murder, Seeks Release From Custody
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 more than a decade ago, is asking a federal judge to release him from custody pending trial.
Schaefer on Friday filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly to grant his conditional release as he awaits his 2027 trial on charges including conspiracy to kill someone in a foreign country, conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice.
Schaefer’s attorney argued his client has been detained in “extremely difficult conditions” at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago as he’s suffering from “serious and ongoing health problems.”
“The conditions of Mr. Schaefer’s pretrial detention are not adequate to properly monitor, manage, or treat his condition, and his continued incarceration delays the very evaluation his providers have ordered,” Schaefer’s attorney Michael Baker wrote in a four-page motion.
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.”
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 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.
Schaefer served 11 years of that sentence before being released and deported back to the U.S. from Bali International Airport in February. He was then taken into federal custody in Chicago, where he remains held.
Baker claimed his client contracted COVID-19 during his previous incarceration and has since suffered from and he has since suffered from a post-infectious condition, which requires further cardiac evaluation.
Baker also argued that Schaefer is only accused of “inchoate,” or conspiracy offenses, rather than an actual crime of violence, which should weigh in his favor for release. He claimed his client poses no flight risk nor any threat to the community.
Schaefer’s trial is currently scheduled to begin in January 2027.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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