New Twist in ‘Suitcase Murder’ Leaves Girl Without Mom—Again

When 6-year-old Stella Schaefer and her mother landed in Chicago at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday on a connecting flight via Seoul from Bali, FBI agents were waiting.

The mother, 26-year-old Heather Mack, had been released 36 months early for good behavior from a 10-year sentence for her part in what became known as the “Suitcase Murder.”

Stella had not been born when her pregnant 18-year-old mother joined her 21-year-old father, Timmy Schaefer, in an Aug. 12, 2014, killing at a luxury resort in Bali. The victim was Stella’s maternal grandmother, 62-year-old Sheila von Wiese-Mack.

The girl was born during the 2015 trial, which received worldwide publicity. The defense said that von Wiese-Mack, had been pressing Heather Mack to get an abortion. The prosecution contended that it had been all about money.

Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years for actually killing von Wiese-Mack. He had then joined Heather in stuffing the body into a suitcase. Heather is said to have helped close the suitcase by sitting on it. The pair’s idea of a getaway was to leave the suitcase in the back of a taxi and check into a less fancy hotel six miles away.

The authorities had permitted baby Stella to live with her mother in Kerobokan Female Prison for her first two years. Photos taken of mother and daughter behind bars show that Stella bears a strong resemblance to her paternal grandfather, the versatile jazz composer James Mack, who died in 2006. A photo taken years ago shows Stella’s grandparents smiling with her mother as a child, all in matching Christmas sweaters.

When Stella turned 2 she was placed in foster care with a Balinese friend of her mother named Oshar Suartama. Stella was allowed periodic visits to the prison, but she had not been there in 20 months when her mother was released. The mother knew she was being deported, but hoped to leave Stella with her foster parent and return to Bali when she was able.

That ceased to be a possibility when Indonesian authorities announced that the mother was barred for life and had to take Stella with her. The situation was further complicated by word that American authorities were likely to file new charges against her related to the murder for which she had already been tried, convicted and sentenced.

Stella’s mother initially planned to fly with her to California, where attorney Brian Claypool is based. Claypool told The Daily Beast that the FBI insisted she fly to Chicago. He arranged for Stella’s foster parents to accompany them.

But the American authorities said that Stella would have to be placed with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, an agency that was overburdened and stressed even before the pandemic.

“That would have been the end of her,” Claypool told The Daily Beast.

With Stella and her mother already in transit, Claypool arranged for a hearing via Zoom with a Cook County probate judge. Claypool argued that Stella would be better off being placed with a respected Illinois attorney named Vanessa Favia.

“It was a Hail Mary pass,” Claypool later told The Daily Beast..

The judge agreed, and it was all arranged when Stella and her mother landed at O’Hare along with Suartama. Stella’s paternal grandmother, Kia Walker, was at the airport, and expressed to reporters her displeasure with the custody arrangement.

“The lawyers don’t need custody,” Walker said. “Stella has family here. She has me. I want my granddaughter. I want this craziness to stop.”

At least for time being, Stella was placed in Favia’s care, as the probate judge instructed. Her mother was taken away by the FBI agents through the airport. People with suitcases were all around her.

In announcing the new charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois said Heather Mack and Schaefer had engaged in “a conspiracy in Chicago and Indonesia to carry out the murder of Mack’s mother.” The office had had already prosecuted a Schaefer cousin named Robert Ryan Bibbs for participating in the alleged plot on the promise of receiving $50,000.

“Bibbs pleaded guilty in 2016 to a murder conspiracy charge, stating in a plea agreement that he was aware of the couple’s plot to carry out von Wiese-Mack’s murder and that he counseled Schaefer on how to get away with it,” the accompanying statement read.

Bibbs is serving nine years and will likely be called to testify against Mack unless she makes a plea agreement of her own. The evidence against her includes numerous incriminating and cold-blooded messages retrieved from Bibbs’ cellphone as well as the phones Mack and Schaefer had with them in Bali.

Daughter Who Stuffed Mom in Suitcase Is Arrested Again MORE DRAMA

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Heather Mack was arraigned on Wednesday afternoon in Chicago federal court before Judge Charles Norgle. She was wearing the same jeans and sweater she had on when she landed. She pleaded not guilty and was remanded pending a detention hearing on Nov. 10.

Claypool vowed to fight the new case, which he called “a witch hunt.” He suggested to The Daily Beast that dissatisfaction with the sentence in Bali does not justify Americans engaging in what he viewed as international double jeopardy.

Thanks to Claypool’s Hail Mary Zoom, Stella was placed in Favia’s care in accordance with the probate court’s decision. Favia reported to Claypool that the girl is nothing if not resilient.

“She is smiling,” Claypool said. “She is happy to be in the United States. She can’t wait to go for pizza.”