U.S. Couple Sentenced to Prison in Bali Suitcase Murder
BALI, Indonesia, April 21 (UPI) — A Chicago couple were found guilty of murdering the woman’s mother and stuffing her body in a suitcase. They were sentenced to serve time in a Bali prison early Tuesday.Tommy Schaefer, 21, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the Aug. 12 death of his girlfriend’s mother. The girlfriend, Heather Mack, 19, who gave birth to a daughter weeks ago, was sentenced to 10 years.
The court found that Schaefer beat to death socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack with Mack’s help. They stuffed her body into a suitcase and left it outside the St. Regis Hotel in Bali. All three are from Chicago.
Judge Made Suweda described Schaefer’s deeds as sadistic, but said he did not get a harsher sentence because he seemed remorseful and was polite. The court was lenient on Mack because she recently gave birth.
Mack has been raising the baby, Stella, in her jail cell and recently filed court papers to give a significant percentage of her $1.3 million trust fund to the girl.
