American Convicted in Bali ‘Suitcase Murder’ Freed, Deported to U.S.

Indonesian authorities have freed and deported American Tommy Schaefer after he served 11 years of an 18‑year sentence for the 2014 premeditated murder of Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese‑Mack on the resort island of Bali. Schaefer, then 21, and his then‑girlfriend Heather Mack killed von Wiese‑Mack during a luxury vacation at the St. Regis Bali Resort and stuffed her body into a suitcase left in the trunk of a taxi, in a case that drew global attention as the "Bali suitcase murder." Bali immigration officials said Schaefer received multiple sentence remissions for good behavior and was put on a flight back to the United States from Bali International Airport on Tuesday. Mack, who was 18 and pregnant at the time of the killing, served seven of a 10‑year term in Indonesia before being deported in 2021, and in January 2024 she was sentenced in federal court in Chicago to 26 years in prison after pleading guilty to helping murder her mother and conceal the body. U.S. prosecutors have argued Mack tried to profit from the crime by marketing her story, and say any future media income should go to her mother’s estate rather than to her. Schaefer’s return to U.S. soil raises the question of whether American authorities will take any additional steps in his case beyond recognizing the Indonesian conviction and time served.