‘Suitcase Killer’ Heather Mack Admits Killing Her Mom

After eight years and a stint in an Indonesian jail, Heather Mack on Friday pleaded guilty to conspiring to fatally bludgeon her socialite mother and then stuffing her body in a suitcase in Bali.

Mack, 27, pleaded guilty in Illinois Federal Court to “conspiracy to kill a national of the United States.” The change of plea came about a month before Mack was set to stand trial for the August 2014 murder of her 62-year-old mother, Sheila von Weise-Mack. The sentencing will be on December 18.

Prosecutors alleged that then-18 and pregnant Mack murdered von Weise-Mack with the metal handle of a fruit stand inside a five-star hotel room in Bali with the help of her boyfriend. To cover up a crime driven by a desire to tap into Mack’s $1.5 million inheritance, the couple, who referred to themselves as “Bonnie and Clyde,” stuffed von Weise-Mack’s body in a suitcase and left the luggage in the trunk of a taxi outside of the luxury hotel.

Mack, the daughter of acclaimed jazz composer James Mack, who died in 2006, already served a seven-year prison sentence in Indonesia after she was convicted in that country of murder in 2014. While in Kerobokan Female Prison, Mack gave birth to her daughter, Estelle “Stella” Schaefer.

After being sprung from her prison sentence early, Mack was extradited to the U.S. in November 2021 on charges of conspiracy to murder. Schaefer, who authorities say admitted to the killing, is still serving his 18-year sentence in a squalid prison in Indonesia, and still faces conspiracy charges in the United States.

In an interview with the New York Post this week, Mack said that when she initially arrived in the U.S. she was “gung-ho” about going to trial to avoid another prison sentence. But two years later, she said, she decided to admit to her crimes at home.

“I’m going to be a felon in America, and that is fine. I understand from [the government’s] perspective that if I don’t plead guilty and they didn’t indict me, I wouldn’t be a felon,” Mack said last week. Mack’s lawyers declined to comment prior to Friday’s hearing.

Prosecutors allege that Mack and her mother, who lived in Oak Park in Chicago, had a rocky relationship after 2006. But in the summer of 2014, von Weise-Mack decided to take her daughter on a luxury vacation.

Days later, prosecutors say, Mack used her mom’s credit card to buy a business-class ticket for Schaefer to join them. The day after Schaefer boarded the flight at O’Hare International Airport, prosecutors allege, he exchanged messages with his cousin, Robert Ryan Bibbs, regarding “different ways to kill von Weise-Mack.” (Prosecutors say that Bibbs, who pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy in 2016, acted as a “consultant” for the murder in exchange for $50,000. In addition to being aware of the planned plot, Bibbs told prosecutors he also “counseled Schaeffer on how to get away with it,” prosecutors said.)

Mack and Schaefer also allegedly texted about ways to kill von Weise-Mack. In the messages, which prosecutors revealed in court documents earlier this year, the couple compared themselves to the murderous duo “Bonnie and Clyde” and boasted about how “rich” they would be after Mack inherited her mom’s wealth.

“I can’t wait to be rich… It’s crazy af Like Money Nothing rules the world,” Schaefer allegedly texted Mack the morning she and her mother set off to Bali. Mack also sent several chilling texts, including that she had been “watching” her “witch” mother, and urged Schaefer not to “underestimate” her.

After their arrest in Indonesia, Schaefer and Mack changed their story about the slaying several times, including initially saying that von Weise-Mack was killed by burglars. Eventually, Schaefer confessed to the murder, saying at trial that he killed von Weise-Mack because she attacked him and had previously hurt her daughter.

In February, a judge ruled that the couple’s daughter, Stella, will live with Mack’s maternal cousin in Colorado.