CHICAGO (AP/WGN) — A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced an American woman to 26 years in prison for helping to kill her mother and stuffing the body in a suitcase during a luxury vacation in Bali nearly a decade ago
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly in Chicago sentenced Heather Mack, 28, for conspiring to kill Sheila von Wiese-Mack with her then-boyfriend in 2014 to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund.
Mack, who appeared in court wearing an orange jumpsuit and glasses, occasionally looked toward the audience. At one point, Mack smiled, seemingly apologizing to her uncle, Bill Wise, who gave a statement following the sentence.
"Yes, justice was served," Wise said. "We're very pleased with the judge’s decision. That's the first time I've ever heard Heather apologize and I did appreciate that. That's the first time I heard her admit her responsibility."
Prosecutors have said Mack covered her mother’s mouth while Tommy Schaefer bludgeoned Wiese-Mack to death with a fruit bowl in a hotel room. Mack was 18 and pregnant at the time. Prosecutors recommended a 28-year prison sentence.
Mack’s lawyers had sought a 15-year prison term but with credit for the seven years she spent in an Indonesian prison after her 2015 conviction for being an accessory to Wiese-Mack’s murder and her more than two years in custody in Chicago.
Mack pleaded guilty last June to one count of conspiring to kill Wiese-Mack with her then-boyfriend to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund.
"She did not want to do more time, but as you saw, she was genuinely, extremely remorseful about what happened," said Mack's attorney, Mike Leonard. "I thought she did a great job conveying that to the judge."
The case gained international attention in part because of photographs of the suitcase Wiese-Mack was placed in, which seemed too small to hold an adult woman’s body.
Prosecutors have said Mack and Schaefer had planned the killing for months. They also said they had video evidence that showed both Mack and Schaefer trying to get the suitcase with Wiese-Mack’s body inside it into an Indonesian taxicab.
Mack, who lived with her mother in suburban Oak Park, served seven years of her 10-year Indonesian sentence. She was deported in 2021 and U.S. agents arrested her immediately after her plane landed at O’Hare International Airport.
Mack's then-6-year-old daughter was with her when she was arrested. The girl was later placed with a relative after a custody fight.
Schaefer was convicted of murder and remains in Indonesia, where he is serving an 18-year sentence. He was charged in the same U.S. indictment.