American woman in Bali “murder in a suitcase” to be released on October 29
Heather Mack, of Chicago, is mobbed by reporters as she arrives in the courtroom for her sentencing hearing in a district court in Denpasar, Bali, in a file photo.
Image Credit: AP
and putting the body in a suitcase on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in
JAKARTA (Reuters) – A Chicago woman convicted of aiding her boyfriend in the murder of her mother and stuffing the body into a suitcase on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in 2014 is early released from a 10-year sentence, a prison official confirmed on Wednesday.
Heather Mack, who was 18 when she was arrested a day after the body of Sheila von Wiese-Mack was found in the trunk of a taxi parked near the St. Regis Bali Resort, will be released and deported to the United States. United October 29. , said Lili, the head of Kerobokan Women’s Prison.
Lili, who has only one name, told The Associated Press that Mack had received a total of 34 months of sentence reductions, which are often given to prisoners on important holidays, including a six-month sentence reduction. month granted to him by the Indonesian government. during the country’s independence day in August.
“She showed that she was a good person, she was entitled to a reduced sentence,” said Lili. “She looked happy when she heard about this … and started packing enthusiastically.”
Mack and her then-boyfriend Tommy Schaefer were arrested in August 2014 and sentenced in April 2015. Schafer was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Before Mack was sentenced, she gave birth to her and Schaefer’s daughter, Stella Schaefer. There have also been reports of a troubled relationship between Mack and his mother, with officials confirming that police have been called to the family home in Oak Park, Ill., Dozens of times.
In 2016, Robert Bibbs, a cousin of Schaefer, pleaded guilty to helping plan the murder in exchange for $ 50,000 Mack was to inherit, and was sentenced the following year to nine years in prison.
Upon his release, Mack can, under Indonesian law, be reunited with his daughter, who is now 6 years old.
But her Indonesian lawyer, Yulius Benyamin Seran, said earlier that Mack, who has not seen the little girl for about 20 months because authorities halted prison visits during the coronavirus pandemic, asked Indonesian authorities to let the girl stay with her foster family to avoid media attention.
Under Indonesian law, a deported foreigner will be refused entry to Indonesia for a maximum of six months.