Categories: U.S.

Heather Mack gets 26 years for conspiracy to kill her mother at luxury island resort and dump body in suitacse

close Video

‘The new American dream is to leave America’ says woman after moving from US to Bali

Andrea Elliott is one of many people on TikTok who believe "the new American dream is to leave America." The 37-year-old fled the American "rat-race" and moved to Bali.

Chicago native Heather Mack, who along with her boyfriend killed her mother during a vacation to a five-star resort in Indonesia’s luxurious island of Bali and then left her dead body in a suitcase stuffed in the trunk of a taxi, received a 26-year federal prison sentence Wednesday for plotting the crime.

She was already convicted of murder in Indonesia and served seven years there before being deported to the U.S.

Mack, 28, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges and her lawyers had asked for a sentence of no more than 15 years, with credit deducted for her time in the overseas prison. Prosecutors wanted 28 years.

The federal judge handed down a sentence of 26 years during her sentencing hearing Wednesday afternoon, FOX 32 Chicago reported. Mack and her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, plotted the murder in text messages before they ambushed Sheila von Wiese during a Bali vacation in 2014 in her room at the St. Regis hotel. 

CHICAGO SUITCASE KILLER WHO MURDERED MOM ON 5-STAR VACATION TO PARADISE WANTS CREDIT FOR TIME SERVED OVERSEAS

Heather Mack of Chicago is mobbed by reporters as she arrives in court for her sentencing hearing at a district court in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, April 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati, File)

Mack flew to the island getaway with her mother. Schaefer came later, on a different flight, without the victim’s knowledge.

Then Mack held her mother’s mouth shut to muffle the screams as Schaefer beat her to death with the metal handle of a fruit bowl.

They tried to clean up the crime scene and even changed the hotel linens before stuffing von Wiese into a suitcase that was later discovered in the trunk of a taxi outside that had refused to give the couple a ride.

The body of Sheila von Wiese Mack was found Aug. 12, 2014, stuffed into a bloody suitcase in the trunk of a taxi in front of the five-star St. Regis hotel. (Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP via Getty Images)

“The murder of von Wiese at the hands of the defendant and Schaefer was vicious,” federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo last wee. “The evidence indicates von Wiese struggled to stay alive, meaning that, in the last moments of her life, she realized that her daughter, and only child, was responsible for her death.”

Prosecutors recovered text messages between Mack and Schaefer in which they coordinated the murder and fantasized about how to spend the money they thought she would inherit after her mother’s death.

AMERICAN WOMAN ACCUSED OF KILLING MOTHER ON BALI VACATION, HIDING BODY IN SUITCASE PLEADS GUILTY

A police officer escorts suspect Heather Mack, 19, center, during an investigation at a police office in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali Aug. 13, 2014, after an American tourist’s battered body was found in a suitcase at an exclusive hotel on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali.  (Sonny Tumbelaka /AFP via Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Mack was released after serving seven years of her 10-year Indonesian sentence and deported to the U.S., where police arrested her as soon as she arrived. Schaefer is still in prison overseas.

Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to michael.ruiz@fox.com and on Twitter: @mikerreports

Share

Recent Posts

Hackers found a way to turn off Windows Defender remotely

Most modern Windows PCs rely on Microsoft Defender as their first line of defense against…

46 minutes ago

Cybersecurity expert reveals simple trick to stop companies from tracking your online shopping

We're conditioned to think our email address is harmless. Most of us think it's just…

16 hours ago

Israel confirms strike on Houthis in Yemen, marks second time this week

close Video Fox News Flash top headlines for August 28 Fox News Flash top headlines…

18 hours ago

Jobs that are most at risk from AI, according to Microsoft

Right now, many people are worried that artificial intelligence (AI) is coming for their jobs.…

20 hours ago

Is Trump considering bold Africa play to push back on China, Russia and Islamic terrorists?

close Video Trump asked about Somaliland recognition at Oval Office At an Oval Office signing…

1 day ago

Russian attack kills 10, injures 38 others in Kyiv, Ukrainian officials say

close Video Vladimir Putin making 'maximalist' demands to end Ukraine war, NATO ambassador says U.S.…

1 day ago