A federal judge in Chicago has sentenced Heather Mack, who admitted conspiring with her then-boyfriend to kill her mother in Bali in 2014, to 26 years in prison.
Mack, 28, was convicted in the beating death of Sheila von Wiese-Mack in Indonesia and served seven years in prison there, but US District Judge Matthew Kennelly declined to give her credit for time served in Indonesia, although she will get credit for more than 2 years she has spent behind bars since she was arrested in the United States, WBBM reported.
“This was a brutal and premeditated crime,” Kennelly said in court.
Von Wiese-Mack’s family was pleased with the sentence.
“The world knew that justice was not served in Indonesia nine years ago. We are relieved that the court today gave Sheila the justice she so rightly deserves,” her brother, Bill Wiese, said after the hearing.
She was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to kill a U.S. national after she was released from an Indonesian prison in 2021 and returned to the United States, as CrimeOnline reported. She pleaded guilty last June to conspiring with Tommy Schaefer to kill her mother while they were in Bali in 2014.
She used her mother’s credit card to fly Schaefer to Bali and then let him into her hotel room. He beat her to death with a fruit bowl while she slept.
Mack and Schaefer stuffed von Wiese-Mack’s body into a suitcase and put it in the trunk of a taxi, then ran off when the cab driver refused their fare.
Kennelly also ordered Mack to bay $262,708 restitution to her mother’s estate and a $50,000 fine.
At the hearing, Mack apologized, saying there was “no excuse for trying to harm her.”
Mack’s attorneys had argued that her mother had been abusive toward her for years prior to the murder, but Mack said that “it does not matter what my relationship was with my mother.”
While her own defense attorneys had argued Mack suffered emotional and physical abuse from her mother for years before the murder, she said, “It does not matter what my relationship was with my mother.”
Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison in Indonesia for the murder and is still behind bars there. He has been indicted in the United States on conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges and will likely be arrested when he is deported after his release from prison.
Mack’s attorneys argued for a lesser sentence, in part to not strain the relationship between her and her now-8-year-old daughter, who was born while she was in prison in Indonesia.
The girl’s court-appointed legal guardian, Lisa Hellman, testified at the hearing that the 8-year-old is “an empathetic, kind, and brave young girl” who doesn’t want to speak with her mother after learning what Mack and Schaefer did to her grandmother.
At Mack’s sentencing hearing, Lisa Hellman, Stella’s court-appointed legal guardian, described the 8-year-old as “an empathetic, kind, and brave young girl.”
Hellman said Stella doesn’t want to speak to her mother after a therapist shared the truth about what Mack and Schaefer did to her grandmother.
Kennelly said he would recommend that the federal Bureau of Prisons send Mack to serve her sentence at a facility where she can receive mental health support. Her attorneys said they have not decided to ask for the term to be served in Illinois or in Colorado, where her daughter lives.
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[Featured image: FILE-Heather Mack cries as she listens to her verdict through an Indonesian interpreter during her trial in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati/File)]
