Chicago woman charged in Bali "suitcase death" gives birth
CHICAGO -- Heather Mack, a woman accused of killing her mother and stuffing the body in a suitcase last August, has given birth to a baby girl, reports CBS Chicago.
Tony Scifo, a probate lawyer representing the Chicago resident in connection to her inheritance from her mother, told the station that Mack had given birth at 5 a.m. Chicago time on Tuesday at an Indonesian hospital. The newborn, named Stella, weighed in at 6.1 pounds.
Scifo said that Mack and her baby were happy and healthy, reports CBS Chicago.
Mack, 19, and her 21-year-old boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, are in custody, and on trial for allegedly killing Mack's mother,
, while vacationing in Bali.
Mack and Schaefer then allegedly stuffed the victim's body in a suitcase and placed it in a taxi.
The couple is being tried separately by Denpasar District Court, where they are charged with premeditated murder and could face death by firing squad if convicted.
Testifying at Mack's trial last week, Schaefer told the court their relationship was not endorsed by his girlfriend's mother. He had traveled to Bali last summer to meet with Mack, who was already there -- vacationing with her mother.
Telling the Indonesian court that he became angry after the victim threatened to kill his unborn baby and strangled him hard for about half a minute. Schaefer also claimed that von Wiese-Mack insulted him -- using a racial slur -- and described her daughter as a prostitute who liked a black man.
However, according to the indictment, prosecutors allege that Schaefer battered von Wiese-Mack with the metal bowl following an argument over the hotel bill. Mack helped stuff her mother's body into the suitcase by sitting on it to enable Schaefer to close it, prosecutors have said.