Indonesia has freed and deported an American man after he spent 11 years in jail for the premeditated murder of his then-girlfriend’s mother, in a case known as the Bali “suitcase murder”.
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 holiday on the island.
The battered body of the Chicago socialite was found in a suitcase in the boot of a taxi at a luxury resort.
The couple were trying to gain access to a $1.5m (£1.1m) trust fund, prosecutors have said.
Tommy Schaefer pictured in 2015. Pic: Reuters
Mack, who was a few weeks pregnant at the time of the attack, told the court in 2015 her mother objected to her relationship with Schaefer.
She covered her 62-year-old mother’s mouth while Schaefer used a fruit bowl for the assault.
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Police in Bali arrested Mack, nearly 19 at the time, and the then-21-year-old Schaefer a day later.
Schaefer was deported back to the US from Bali International Airport on Tuesday after serving his sentence and receiving a number of remissions for good behaviour, said Felucia Sengky Ratna, head of the Bali Regional Office of the directorate general of immigration.
Tommy Schaefer. Pic: Reuters
He was in custody and arrived in Illinois on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the US Marshals Service, which transports federal prisoners, confirmed.
Schaefer was scheduled to make an initial court appearance in Chicago on Thursday morning on federal charges of conspiracy to kill someone in a foreign country, conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with a victim.
Pic: Anta Kesuma/EPA/Shutterstock
Mack served seven years of a 10-year prison sentence in Bali for helping with the murder 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.
