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'Suitcase Killer' Heather Mack Arrested Upon Return To Chicago After Serving Years In Bali Prison For Her Mom's Murder
Heather Mack was recently released early after serving seven years for the murder of her socialite mother, Sheila Wiese-Mack.
The American woman dubbed the "Suitcase Killer" over her involvement in her socialite mother's murder was arrested at a Chicago airport on obstruction and conspiracy to commit murder charges this week as she returned from Bali, where she was recently released early from prison.
Heather Mack, 26, was arrested at O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday morning, Chicago’s WLS reported. The FBI had changed her initial plans to fly into Los Angeles along with her 6-year-old daughter, Stella. Mack, who grew up in the Chicago-adjacent town of Oak Park, was instructed to fly directly into Chicago from Bali.
Mack was 18 years old in 2014 when she and her then-boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, bludgeoned her wealthy mother to death then stuffed her remains into a tiny suitcase, which was found in an abandoned taxi in an upscale Bali resort. Both Mack and Schaefer were found guilty of premeditated murder by an Indonesian court in 2015 for the murder of 62-year-old Sheila Wiese-Mack.
Mack was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Indonesia but was released early on Friday for good behavior — and so she can care for her and Schaefer’s young daughter. The child was born shortly after their convictions were handed down to her parents; she lived in a jail cell with Mack until she was about two years old, WLS reported. Mack has expressed that she wants to focus her life on Stella, who has been raised for most of her life in an Indonesian foster home.
Stella was reportedly also whisked off by FBI officials at O'Hare on Wednesday, according to WLS.
Mack and Schaefer face federal charges of conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice in the United States. Schaefer, who was sentenced to 18 years for his role in the murder, is still behind bars in Indonesia.
Weise-Mack, a former researcher for Senator Ted Kennedy, was reportedly unhappy with her daughter's relationship with Schaefer when the murder occurred. In fact, Mack claimed that her mother was trying to push her to undergo an abortion, the Chicago Tribune reported in 2015.
Mack is due in court on Wednesday. She faces life in prison if convicted of the murder conspiracy charges.
