Woman Accused of Killing Mother on Bali Trip Pleads Guilty
A Chicago woman accused of conspiring to kill her mother and putting her body in a suitcase while on vacation in Bali nearly a decade ago pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday.
Heather L. Mack, 27, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Illinois to one count of conspiring to kill a U.S. national in the 2014 death of her mother, Sheila A. Von Wiese, according to court documents. The two other charges brought against her in 2017 —conspiracy to kill in a foreign country and obstruction of justice — were dropped as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to Michael Leonard, one of her lawyers.
Ms. Mack and her then-boyfriend Tommy E. Schaefer, were both convicted in Indonesia of crimes related to the death. Ms. Mack was released after seven years and returned to Chicago in 2021, where she remains in custody. Mr. Schaefer, who was sentenced in 2015 to 18 years, remains in prison there.
The maximum sentence for conspiring to kill a U.S. national is life in prison. Ms. Mack’s lawyers, however, are hoping that the plea agreement they reached with federal prosecutors will result in a term of no more than 28 years in prison, and possibly less. The judge, who will sentence Ms. Mack on Dec. 18, is not bound by the agreement.
Source: The New York Times
