Indonesia has deported American Tommy Schaefer after he served 11 years in prison for the 2014 premeditated murder of his then-girlfriend’s mother on Bali.
Details of the crime
Schafer, 21 at the time, was convicted of killing Sheila von Wiese-Mack, a 62-year-old Chicago socialite, during a luxury vacation on the tourist island. Her battered body was discovered in the trunk of a taxi parked outside the St. Regis Bali Resort in August 2014.
Heather Mack, Schaefer’s girlfriend who was nearly 19 and pregnant at the time, was also arrested alongside him the day after the murder.
Prison sentence and deportation
Schafer was sentenced to 18 years in prison but received remissions for good behaviour, allowing him to serve 11 years. He was deported from Bali International Airport on Tuesday evening, according to Felucia Sengky Ratna, head of the Bali Regional Office of the Directorate General of Immigration.
Heather Mack served seven years of a 10-year sentence in Bali before being deported in October 2021. Separately, in January 2024, she was sentenced to 26 years in a Chicago prison after pleading guilty to helping kill her mother and conceal the body in a suitcase.
Legacy of the case
The Bali “suitcase murder” shocked international audiences due to the gruesome nature of the crime and the involvement of a teenage daughter. The case highlighted issues around international crime, cross-border law enforcement, and prison sentencing for foreign nationals.
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