CHICAGO – An Illinois woman who helped her boyfriend kill her mother in Indonesia was arrested by the FBI when she returned to the U.S. on Wednesday.
Heather Mack, 26, of Oak Park, was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after she arrived from Indonesia, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Mack, who served seven years and two months of a 10-year sentence in an Indonesian prison for killing Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, in 2014, was indicted on conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and obstruction of justice, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago. Her boyfriend at the time, Tommy Schaefer, was also charged, but he remains in prison in Bali, WGN-TV reported.
The indictment was filed under seal in July 2017, the Tribune reported.
Both Mack and Schaefer were convicted of killing von Wiese-Mack and stuffing her body into a suitcase she left in a taxi, earning Mack the nickname “Suitcase killer,” People reported. The pair killed the woman, allegedly to gain control of Mack’s $1.5 million trust fund, according to the Tribune.
Mack and Schaefer were found guilty in 2015 in Indonesia of killing von Wiese-Mack, People reported. At the couple’s trial, Schaefer confessed to the killing and admitted to hitting von Wiese-Mack with a metal fruit bowl, the magazine reported.
Mack was pregnant with Schaefer’s baby during the 2015 trial. Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison, according to The Associated Press.
Mack pleaded not guilty to the charges during her arraignment in Chicago on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Tribune. U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle ordered that Mack remain in custody until a detention hearing on Nov. 10, the Tribune reported.
Mack was ordered deported earlier this week after serving seven years and two months of a 10-year sentence for helping Schaefer kill her mother, allegedly to gain control of Mack’s $1.5 million trust fund.
In a written statement Wednesday, von Wiese-Mack’s siblings said they were “forever thankful” to investigators who found and preserved evidence.”
“We have been simultaneously mourning the loss of our beautiful sister Sheila, keeping her spirit alive, assisting in the quest for justice, and advocating for the well-being of Stella,” the statement from Bill Wiese and Debbi Curran read. “Sheila can no longer speak for herself, so we have become her voice.”
Brian Claypool, Mack’s attorney, said Wednesday that the federal charges are “clearly a witch hunt” in response to public pressure after Mack’s release from prison.
“We don’t believe that the U.S. attorney’s office has legal authority to arrest Heather in Chicago … for a crime that she was already prosecuted for, and convicted, and spent significant time in jail in Bali, Indonesia,” Claypool told WLS on Tuesday.
Mack’s 6-year-old daughter, Stella Schaefer, accompanied her mother to the U.S., WGN reported. Claypool declined to say who took custody of the child but said she was not released to child protective services.
Court records show a Cook County probate judge issued an emergency order Tuesday appointing one of Mack’s attorneys, Vanessa Favia, as the girl’s guardian, the television station reported. Favia could not be reached for comment.
Tommy Schaefer’s mother, Kia Walker, said she was angry that she was not given custody of her granddaughter, WGN reported.
“The lawyers don’t need custody,” Walker told reporters at the airport. “Stella has family here. She has me. I want my granddaughter. I want this craziness to stop.”
