Heather Mack.Photo: Agung Parameswara/Getty
Heather Mackpleaded guilty on Friday in the U.S. to federal conspiracy charges in connection with the 2014 murder of her socialite mother, who was killed during a luxury family vacation in Bali and whose body was found stuffed into a suitcase, according toThe New York Times,Associated PressandBBC.
In 2021, after serving seven years of her 10-year prison sentence in Indonesia,Mack was released earlyfor good behavior, Mack’s U.S.-based attorney, Vanessa Favia,told PEOPLE at the time.
Here are four things to know about the woman who was dubbed the “Suitcase Killer.”
1. Mack Helped Kill Socialite Mom — Then Stuffed Body in Suitcase
Mack and Schaeferwere convicted of murderin the 2014 bludgeoning death of von Wiese-Mack, at an upscale hotel in Bali, Indonesia.
Mack had a tempestuous relationship with her mother, and the killing reportedly took place during a vicious early morning argument.
At the couple’s trial, Schaefer confessed to the killing and admitted to hitting von Wiese-Mack repeatedly with a metal fruit bowl.
Heather Mack and her daughter Stella.AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati
Mack has maintained she is innocent of the premeditated murder charge for which she was convicted. Her defense attorney argued at trial that when the fight between Mack’s mother and Schaefer turned violent, Mack hid in the hotel suite’s bathroom.
After the slaying, the couple stuffed von Wiese-Mack’s body in a suitcase and, hours later, they placed the suitcase in the trunk of a taxi before fleeing the hotel. The driver notified police after he spotted blood leaking from the luggage.
2. Mack Described Relationship with Mom as ‘Complicated’
According to exclusive interviews with Mack and a family friend with PEOPLE in 2015, she and her mother were entangled in a dysfunctional, co-dependent relationship from which neither could break free.
“She never wanted to be separated from me, and yet she also hated everything about me,” Mack told PEOPLE in ajailhouse interview. “It was complicated.”
A family friend added, “It was like they were locked in an inescapable pattern, a gridlock. It’s such a sad story. It was like a disaster waiting to happen.”
Heather Mack.Firdia Lisnawati/AP
Mack said her relationship with her mother rapidly deteriorated after the 2006 death of her father, the renowned musician and composer James Mack, who left behind a $1.5 million trust for his daughter.
Still, Mack said, “There was a lot of good in our relationship. I don’t know if I would describe us as friends, but we were close.”
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According to Mack and the family friend, the mother and daughter also bonded over shoplifting expensive French cosmetics that von Wiese-Mack liked but never wanted to pay for — despite having plenty of money.
“We’d take thousands and thousands of dollars worth of makeup,” Mack said. “She’d tell me that nobody would expect a kid to do that and have me steal it while she distracted the clerk. … I wanted to make her happy, so I’d just do it.”
3. Mack Gave Birth to a Daughter in Indonesian Prison, Who Lived With Her For 2 Years
Heather Mack.
“She is everything. She has taught me what love is,” Mack told PEOPLE during a jailhouse interview in 2015.
“She has given me a reason to want to live,” she said of Stella. “She’s given me a purpose each morning when I wake up. When Stella is awake, the days are good — I can’t have a breakdown. But at night when she’s asleep, it gets tough.”
In 2017, Mack was forced to give up Stella following her 2nd birthday. The girl was handed over to an Australian-Balinese caretaker — Oshar Putu Melody Suartama — who befriended Mack shortly after she was arrested.
4. Mack’s Cousin Was Granted Temporary Custody of Daughter, Pending Trial in U.S.
Stella returned with Mack to the U.S. in November 2021, but was immediately placed under the care of Mack’s attorney Favia, following Mack’s arrest at a Chicago airport, theChicago Sun-Timespreviously reported.
According to the outlet, Favia relinquished custody of the girl after seven months, and Suartama traveled from Indonesia to take back temporary custody of the girl, only to be forced to give her up again in November 2022.
source: people.com
