An American man, Tommy Schaefer, has been freed and deported from Indonesia after serving 11 years of an 18-year sentence for the murder of his then girlfriend’s mother in Bali. The case, known as the ‘Bali suitcase murder’, involved the killing of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, a 62-year-old Chicago socialite, whose body was found in a taxi boot at the St Regis Bali resort in August 2014.
Schaefer, now 32, was sentenced for premeditated murder alongside Heather Mack, then 19 and pregnant, who served seven years of a 10-year sentence before being deported in October 2021. Prosecutors alleged the couple sought access to a $1.5m trust fund. Mack later pleaded guilty in Chicago and received a 26-year sentence in January 2024.
Schaefer was deported on Tuesday evening after receiving remissions for good behaviour, according to the Bali immigration office. He now faces US federal charges including conspiracy to kill someone in a foreign country, conspiracy to commit murder, and tampering with a victim. He is due to appear in court in Chicago on Thursday.
