Thread: Woman’s body found in suitcase at St Regis hotel in Bali

A US tourist’s battered body has been found in a suitcase at an exclusive Bali hotel and her daughter and daughter’s boyfriend have been arrested over the killing.


Sheila von Wiese Mack’s body was found on Tuesday stuffed into a suitcase in the boot of a taxi in front of the five-star St Regis hotel in the upscale Nusa Dua resort area of Bali.
The 62-year-old victim was half naked, had several wounds to her head, and appeared to have put up a struggle, a doctor said. She had been staying in the hotel with her daughter, Heather, 19, and her daughter’s boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, 21, local police chief Djoko Hari Utomo told reporters.



Mack and her daughter stayed in the hotel together for several days before the boyfriend joined them on Monday, Utomo said. Mack was recorded on CCTV arguing with Schaefer in the hotel lobby the same night, he said.
The next day, the couple were checking out and sent several suitcases down to a taxi, allegedly including the one that contained the victim.
The body was discovered when the couple failed to show up at the waiting taxi, Utomo said. They were seen on CCTV leaving the hotel via a stretch of beach at the back of the property, instead of the main entrance.
Police launched a hunt and the pair were found sleeping at a hotel in the tourist area of Legian, north of Nusa Dua, early Wednesday.
The victim’s body was sent to the main hospital in the Balinese capital Denpasar for an autopsy.

Woman’s body found in suitcase at St Regis hotel in Bali | News.com.au

Doesn't look good for the young lovers.....Do you get the chop for murder in Indo?

Police test mental health of daughter of American tourist killed in Bali

DENPASAR Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesian police on Thursday ran psychiatric tests on the teenage daughter of an American woman found dead inside a suitcase on the resort island of Bali.

Police arrested the daughter, Heather Mack, 19, and her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, 21, on Wednesday after a taxi driver found a battered body in a suitcase outside the St. Regis luxury hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali.

The body was identified by hospital officials as Chicago-based Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62.

Neither Mack nor Schaefer has been charged but police have detained them as suspects.

"We have done blood and psychiatric tests to try to find out their motive in the case, maybe they are mentally unstable," Djoko Hariutomo, police chief for Bali's provincial capital Denpasar, told reporters.

"So far we haven't gotten any information on what is behind the murder. Is it financial or something else? We don't know."

Television broadcast images of Mack, dressed in a pale grey hoodie and denim shorts, laughing and telling a group of reporters following her, "You are crazy," as she walked between rooms in the police station.

Police said the young couple on Tuesday left a bloodied suitcase and other luggage in the taxi, and went to check out of the five-star hotel, where a single room can cost as much as $1,340 a night.

Police test mental health of daughter of American tourist killed in Bali | World | Reuters

Are they pointing the finger at each other then? I've only ever seen that work in the movies.

Neighbors in Chicago describe darling Heather as a "vicious little monster". That won't help her case. Not that she has a case - other than to say the rapper did it.

Sucks to be a Mack of late.

Mack and Schaefer have told police that they, along with Sheila von Wiese Mack, had been held hostage by an armed gang who were trying to rob them. The young couple said that they had been able to escape.

Don't think that's going to work out for them somehow.

Mack the Knife?

At least they won't have the (relative) comfort of a U.S. prison and the bleeding hearts defending them.

Report: Daughter, boyfriend held in killing wanted mom’s hotel safe opened

Just before Heather Mack and her boyfriend checked out of the Bali hotel where her mother’s body would later be found in a suitcase, the young couple demanded hotel staff open her mother’s safety deposit box, Bali authorities have told media there.

Staff at the posh St. Regis Bali Resort refused the request, according to a Sydney Morning Herald online report. Sheila von Wiese-Mack had left clear instructions that only she could have access to the safe; staff believed it contained jewelry, police told reporters in Bali.

Report: Daughter, boyfriend held in killing wanted mom

They where fighting at their home back in the U.S.A
and then took holidays together abroad.
They where all nuts.

US couple in Indonesian resort charged with murder
August 15, 2014

BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police charged an American couple with murder Friday after the body of the woman's 62-year-old mother was found stuffed in a suitcase on the resort island of Bali.

Heather Mack, 19, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, both from Chicago, were arrested Wednesday in Bali's Kuta area, a day after the body of Sheila von Wiese-Mack was found inside the trunk of a taxi parked in front of the St. Regis Bali Resort.

The charges are based on witnesses and crime scene evidence, said Bali deputy police chief Brig. Gen. Gusti Ngurah Raharja Subyakta.

Full article: US couple in Indonesian resort charged with murder

Claims, US Teen Held in Bali Suitcase Killing 'Assaulted' in Custody

Denapasar, Indonesia: An American teenager suspected of killing her mother, whose body was found in a suitcase in Bali, has revealed she is pregnant and claims she has been assaulted in custody, her lawyer said.

Heather Mack, 19, who denies any involvement in her mother's death, also alleges police on the Indonesian resort island have threatened to deprive her of food and water if she does not speak to them, her US-based lawyer Michael Elkin said in a statement.

He added that she was around two months pregnant.

However Bali police rejected the claims, insisting that all detainees were treated well.

The half-naked, battered body of Sheila von Wiese Mack, 62, was discovered on Tuesday last week stuffed in a blood-stained suitcase in the boot of a taxi outside the exclusive St. Regis hotel in the upscale Nusa Dua resort area.

Her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, 21, who had been on holiday with the victim, were arrested a day later after fleeing the hotel.

Police say they have strong evidence against the pair, and are leaning towards charging them with premeditated murder, which carries a maximum penalty of death in Indonesia.

However, Elkin has insisted claims that Heather Mack was involved in her mother's death are false.

"Said allegations and reports are not true and will be disproven as the investigation continues or at the conclusion of trial, if formal charges are indeed filed," he said in a statement.

The daughter and her boyfriend have been named suspects in the case, but under the Indonesian legal system would only be formally charged in court at the start of a trial.

In a statement sent to AFP late Saturday, Elkin said his client "has been seriously physically assaulted while in custody", without giving further details, adding that she has been "pregnant for approximately two months".

"Heather was told that if she does not speak to the police she will be deprived of food and water," the statement went on.

"Heather was told that unless her attorney arrives within days she will be deprived of food and water and that he will be denied access to meet with her," it added.

The suspected killers have refused to talk to Indonesian investigators and insisted on having American legal representation. Elkin said he plans to head to Bali soon. He said that he was not representing Schaefer.

But Djoko Hari Utomo, police chief in the Balinese capital Denpasar, insisted: "All those detained here are well treated."

"I do not want to comment on something which doesn't even exist."

An FBI agent has travelled to Bali to help in the investigation, police on the resort island said Saturday. A doctor also revealed new details of the killing, including that the victim's neck had been broken.





US Teen Held in Bali Suitcase Killing 'Assaulted' in Custody



Don't know what help she thinks a US lawyer will be able to give her in Indonesia.

Agree totally with Necron. By insisting on a US-based lawyer, she has already pissed off the Indo authorities. And his accusatory comments regarding her treatment won't help.

The girl sounds like she has mental problems.

Being pregnant might spare her a death sentence, however.

Given that her lawyer has already said he's not representing the boyfriend, I think Tommy's about to get thrown under the bus.

Yep, seems like the two of them have got mental issues big time. Aside from the brutal murder itself, thinking it was a good idea to put a blood stained suitcase stuffed with a body in the boot of a taxi while trying to get away is either complete brainlessness or insanity.

I understand that nothing has been proven yet, but what has been presented in the news thus far does not look good for them.

I can't see it being turned into a tale of mystery and suspense....

Not looking good for the adopted daughter....or Tommy...

^Don't think the daughter is adopted.......natural child.

Natural daughter, born when mother was 43 years old, according to an interview with the mother. I think the music composer dad was black. I did find the one blog report that said she was adopted, but I think they just surmised that from her color, and mom's.

Spoiled brat indeed. Vacation in Greece at 18, Bali at 19. My folks arranged for me to vacation in Asia when I was 19 too.....in Vietnam.

Pretty grisly stuff, chopping up your mom and stuffing her into two suitcases. Guess the daughter didn't accept "No," for an answer.

Seems they had set themselves up in a good position to get away with this if they had just got in the taxi and then gone to some remote gaff in a hire car with the body, disposed of the body, then flown on to another country.

Might have had plenty of time before the alarm was raised.

Actually getting the body in the suitcase and down to the taxi would have been the hard part.

Very strange.

Thanks DK...adopted/natural was a mystery to me.

They would have been better off poisoning the food.

^Yeah. They fucked this up big time. And will serve big time.