US woman sentenced to 26 years in prison for role in mother’s ‘suitcase murder’ in Bali
Heather Mack
An American woman who pleaded guilty to helping kill her mother and stuffing her body in a suitcase during a vacation in Bali in 2014 has been sentenced to 26 years in prison after a hearing on Wednesday (Jan 17). The recent sentence comes years after the woman was first convicted in Indonesia.
About the recent sentencing
Heather Mack, 28, pleaded guilty to helping boyfriend kill Sheila Wiese-Mack in 2014. She was first convicted in Indonesia in 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, she was released six years later.
The 28-year-old was arrested again and has spent the last two years in custody in Chicago, Illinois awaiting trial since her return to the United States in 2021.
ALSO READ |US woman who assisted Bali 'suitcase' murder released from jail
On Wednesday (Jan 17), Judge Matthew Kennelly ruled that Mack will receive credit for the time she has served, bringing her formal sentence down to around 23 years.
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Federal prosecutors had recommended a 28-year prison sentence for Mack who pleaded guilty to conspiring with her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer to kill her mother, a wealthy academic, to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund.
The government also wanted her to receive five years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and restitution of $262,708.
Mack – who was 18 at the time of the murder and pregnant – covered her mother’s mouth while Schaefer bludgeoned Wiese-Mack with a fruit bowl in a hotel room, according to the prosecutors.
US agentsarrested Mack and her then-six-year-old daughter upon their arrival at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airportin 2021.
The 28-year-old pleaded guilty last June to one count of conspiring to kill Wiese-Mack.
‘If it were up to me…’
The sentencing hearing began on Wednesday morning with testimonies from Bill Wiese, Wiese-Mack’s brother and Mack’s uncle.Heather was present in the court wearing an orange jumpsuit, orange slip-on shoes and glasses.
He asked the judge presiding over the case to impose the maximum sentence possible given that the 28-year-old had never shown remorse. “If it were up to me, Heather would spend the rest of her life behind bars,” said Bill.
Schaefer was convicted of murder and he is serving an 18-year sentence in a prison in Indonesia.
(With inputs from agencies)