Tommy Schaefer seeks release from jail ahead of conspiracy trial in Bali suitcase murder of girlfriend Heather Mack's mother
A Chicago man convicted in Indonesia of helping his girlfriend kill her mother and hide her body in a suitcase at a resort in Bali is asking a judge to release him from jail while he awaits trial on federal charges in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Tommy Schaefer, 33, is charged with one count of conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, one count of conspiracy to commit foreign murder of a U.S. national, and one count of obstruction.
Schaefer spent more than 11 years in prison in Indonesia for the murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, the mother of his girlfriend, Heather Mack, during a luxury vacation in 2014 in a case also known as the Bali "suitcase murder."
He was deported back to the U.S. in February after completing his sentence in Indonesia, and was arrested on federal charges accusing him of conspiring with Heather Mack to kill her mother.
In a motion filed in federal court in Chicago on Friday, Schaefer's attorney asked for U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly to grant him release from custody while he awaits trial.
Defense attorney Michael Baker argued that Schaefer is not charged with a violent crime, but only conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Baker also argued that Schaefer is not a danger to the public and not a risk of flight, arguing he suffers from "serious and ongoing health problems."
The motion claims Schaefer contracted COVID-19 while imprisoned in Indonesia, and that he has since been diagnosed with a "post-infectious condition" that causes fatigue. Further cardiac evaluations are pending.
Kennelly has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 27 to consider Schaefer's bid for release.
Heather Mack, 30, was sentenced to 26 years in prison in 2024, after she pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges. Before that, she spent seven years in prison in Indonesia for her mother's murder.
Federal prosecutors have said Mack convinced Schaefer to travel to Bali to help her kill her mother while they were vacationing in Bali, spent more than $12,000 to fly him to Indonesia, and booked him a hotel room at the resort where she was staying with her mother.
She then provided Schaefer with instructions about where and when to kill her mother. According to Mack's plea agreement, Schafer entered Mack's hotel room and used the metal handle of a fruit bowl to "repeatedly beat Von Wiese in the head and face" until she died.
After killing von Wiese-Mack, prosecutors said Mack and Schaefer concealed the murder by hiding bloody linens and then stuffing von Wiese-Mack's bod in a suitcase, placing it on a luggage cart, and placing it in the trunk of a taxi outside the hotel.
When the driver refused to accept their fare, they abandoned the suitcase containing von Wiese-Mack's body in the taxi and fled the scene.
In pleading guilty to the federal charges against her, Mack apologized for killing her mother, saying there was "No excuse for trying to harm her."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, she is expected to be released from custody in March of 2044.
