UPDATE
Feb 26, 2026 4:05 PM CST
A Chicago man convicted in Indonesia of beating his then-girlfriend's mother to death with a fruit bowl and hiding the body in a suitcase more than a decade ago pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges in the US. Tommy Schaefer was sentenced in Indonesia to 18 years in prison in connection with the 2014 murder of Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack while on vacation in Bali with the woman and her daughter, Heather Mack. Indonesian officials released Schaefer from prison on Tuesday after he served 11 years and received a number of commendations for good behavior. He was flown back to Chicago to face charges of conspiring to kill to someone in a foreign country, conspiring to commit murder, and tampering with a victim.
- Schaefer made his initial court appearance on those counts Thursday morning, the AP reports. Court records indicate he pleaded not guilty to all three charges. US District Judge Matthew Kennelly set his trial for January 2027 and ordered him to remain in custody.
Feb 25, 2026 8:46 AM CST
Indonesia freed and deported an American man Tuesday after he spent 11 years in prison for the premeditated murder of his then-girlfriend's mother on the tourist island of Bali. Tommy Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the 2014 murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, the mother of Heather Mack, during a luxury vacation in a case also known as the Bali "suitcase murder," per the AP. Schafer was deported back to the United States from Bali International Airport on Tuesday evening, after serving his sentence and receiving a number of remissions for good behavior, said Felucia Sengky Ratna, head of the Bali Regional Office of the Directorate General of Immigration.
The badly battered body of the 62-year-old von Wiese-Mack, a wealthy Chicago socialite, was found inside the trunk of a taxi parked at the upscale St. Regis Bali Resort in August 2014. Heather Mack, who was almost 19 and a few weeks pregnant at the time of the killing, and her then-21-year-old boyfriend, Schaefer, were arrested on the island a day after the body was found. 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 also 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 a suitcase during their vacation. Reporting at the time indicated Schafer would likewise be arrested and charged on his return to the US.
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