In August 2014, a luxury vacation in Bali became the setting for a murder that would attract international attention.
At the center of the case was Heather Mack, a young American woman traveling with her mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack. What happened inside their hotel room would eventually lead to arrests in two countries, a murder conviction in Indonesia, and a second federal prosecution in the United States years later.
The case became especially notorious because Sheila’s body was placed inside a suitcase and left in the trunk of a taxi outside the luxury hotel where the family had been staying.
But the events leading up to that night were complicated by years of conflict between mother and daughter, Heather’s relationship with Tommy Schaefer, and disagreements surrounding Heather’s pregnancy.
A Difficult Relationship
Heather Lois Mack was born in 1995 to jazz musician and composer James L. Mack and Sheila Ann von Wiese.
Heather and her mother reportedly had a deeply troubled relationship. According to police records, officers were called to the family home dozens of times over a period of years in connection with allegations involving theft and domestic disputes between the two.
The relationship became increasingly strained as Heather grew older.
Her father, meanwhile, had died in 2006 while the family was vacationing in Greece. His death followed years of complications surrounding a serious injury he had suffered during an earlier cruise.
A legal settlement related to that injury was eventually reached in 2011, leaving Sheila with a substantial amount of money and also affecting the family’s financial circumstances.
Heather and Tommy Schaefer
While attending Oak Park and River Forest High School in Illinois, Heather became involved with Tommy Schaefer, an aspiring rapper who was unemployed at the time.
Her mother reportedly disapproved of the relationship.
The conflict became even more serious when Heather became pregnant.
According to information presented by Heather’s lawyer, her mother had previously pressured her regarding abortions and was attempting to control decisions surrounding another pregnancy.
In 2014, Sheila arranged a trip to Bali with Heather.
Heather was still waiting for medical confirmation of her pregnancy when the family traveled.
Tommy would soon join them.
The Trip to Bali
Sheila and Heather arrived at the St. Regis Hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali, in August 2014.
Heather used her mother’s credit card to arrange a business-class ticket for Tommy so that he could travel to Bali.
Tommy later claimed that his reason for making the trip was to tell Sheila about Heather’s pregnancy.
Investigators would eventually discover that this explanation was not consistent with communications that had been recovered.
On August 7, security cameras at the hotel captured Sheila arguing with Tommy in the lobby.
What happened afterward would turn the luxury hotel into a crime scene.
The Murder
According to the case record, Tommy Schaefer attacked Sheila inside the hotel room with a blunt metal object.
Heather was also involved afterward.
Together, they placed Sheila’s body inside a suitcase.
The suitcase was then taken outside and loaded into the trunk of a taxi.
But the plan began falling apart almost immediately.
The couple did not return to the taxi, and a hotel security guard noticed blood coming from the suitcase.
The guard alerted the driver, who was instructed to take the suitcase to police.
When officers opened it, they discovered Sheila’s body.
Heather and Tommy were soon located at a nearby motel and arrested.
Initially, the couple claimed that Sheila had been murdered by robbers.
That story would not survive the investigation.
Confessions and Convictions
Both Heather and Tommy were eventually charged with premeditated murder in Indonesia.
Tommy admitted that he had killed Sheila.
Heather acknowledged helping him conceal her mother’s body.
There was also a significant development in Heather’s case: she was found to be pregnant.
In April 2015, an Indonesian court sentenced Heather to 10 years in prison, while Tommy received an 18-year sentence.
The court considered Heather’s circumstances, including the fact that she had given birth to a child, when determining her punishment.
But the case did not end there.
Another Person Drawn Into the Investigation
The investigation eventually reached beyond Bali.
Tommy’s cousin, Robert Bibbs, was arrested in Chicago in 2015 on federal conspiracy charges.
According to the plea agreement, Bibbs had knowledge of the plan and had provided advice concerning the murder.
The case against him alleged that Heather had offered Tommy money to kill her mother and that Bibbs encouraged and advised Tommy.
Bibbs was eventually sentenced to nine years in federal prison.
The Money Behind the Case
The murder also became entangled with Sheila’s estate.
Heather was the beneficiary of a trust valued at approximately $1.6 million.
The trust was structured to provide smaller payments during her younger years before the remaining balance became available later.
While Heather was imprisoned in Indonesia, questions arose about how money from the trust was being used.
Her legal expenses were partly covered by funds from the trust, and Sheila’s brother, Bill Wiese, who administered the estate, expressed concerns about requests for additional money.
The eventual legal settlement concerning the trust was resolved in 2018 in favor of Heather’s daughter, Estelle Schaefer, who had been born in 2015.
Seven Years Behind Bars
Heather did not serve the entire 10-year Indonesian sentence.
She received multiple sentence reductions totaling 34 months.
In August 2021, she received an additional six-month reduction connected with Indonesia’s Independence Day remission.
She was released on October 29, 2021, after serving roughly seven years.
Heather reportedly wanted to remain in Indonesia with her daughter, saying she believed the country was safer than returning to Chicago.
Indonesian immigration authorities, however, indicated that Heather and her daughter would be deported.
Heather’s daughter was an American citizen.
Soon, mother and daughter were on their way back to the United States.
Arrested Again
Heather’s return to America did not mean the legal consequences were over.
When she arrived in the United States in 2021, federal authorities arrested her on charges related to conspiracy and obstruction.
The American investigation focused on the killing of a U.S. citizen overseas and the alleged efforts surrounding the murder.
Heather initially faced a federal trial scheduled for 2023.
Instead, she reached a plea agreement.
In June 2023, Heather Mack pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to kill a U.S. national.
Under the agreement, she faced a substantial additional prison sentence.
A Second Prison Sentence
On January 17, 2024, a federal judge sentenced Heather Mack to 26 years in prison.
The sentence was imposed more than nine years after her original conviction in Indonesia and followed her return to the United States.
She is serving the federal sentence at Federal Correctional Institution Hazelton in West Virginia.
The case therefore became unusual in another way: a murder that had already resulted in an Indonesian conviction continued to produce legal consequences after the defendant returned to her home country.
A Case That Crossed Continents
The murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack began as a family tragedy during a vacation in Bali.
It developed into an international criminal investigation involving Indonesia and the United States.
There were years of conflict between mother and daughter, a relationship that Sheila opposed, a pregnancy, an alleged murder-for-hire arrangement, the shocking discovery of a body inside a suitcase, and eventually two separate criminal proceedings.
For investigators, the suitcase left outside the hotel became the clue that exposed the crime.
For the courts, the case continued long after the Bali conviction.
And for Heather Mack, the original 10-year Indonesian sentence was ultimately followed by another 26-year federal sentence in the United States.
What began as a trip thousands of miles from home ended with a murder investigation that crossed international borders—and a legal story that continued for a decade after Sheila’s death.
This story is based on publicly available information and reported facts. It has been independently written and presented for informational purposes. Images, if any, belong to their respective owners.
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