{"id":30524,"date":"2026-02-26T06:24:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=30524"},"modified":"2026-02-26T06:24:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T11:24:03","slug":"us-suitcase-murderer-deported-from-bali-after-11-years-in-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2026\/02\/26\/us-suitcase-murderer-deported-from-bali-after-11-years-in-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"US ‘suitcase murderer’ deported from Bali after 11 years in jail"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n

Indonesia has deported a US man who spent 11 years in jail for the high-profile “suitcase murder” of his girlfriend’s mother on the resort island of Bali.<\/b><\/p>\n

In 2014, Tommy Schaefer was on holiday in Bali with his then-girlfriend Heather Mack and her mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack. The couple conspired to kill Wiese-Mack, reportedly to gain access to a $1.5m (\u00a31.17m) trust fund.<\/p>\n

Her body was later discovered stuffed inside a suitcase.<\/p>\n

Schaefer was released from a Bali jail on Tuesday morning after receiving a number of remissions for good behaviour. But the 33-year-old will still face federal charges in the US and is due to appear before the court in Chicago on Thursday, according to reports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Shortly before boarding his flight back to the US on Tuesday night, Schaefer apologised for his actions.<\/p>\n

“I’m sorry. I’m always sorry. I’m always sorry,” Schaefer told AFP news agency.<\/p>\n

“I was thrust into this situation, but I take full responsibility for everything I have done and I hope Sheila’s family finds peace.”<\/p>\n

In 2015, an Indonesia court sentenced Schaefer to 18 years in jail and Mack to 10 years, for what the presiding judge called\u00a0a “sadistic” killing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors had said that Mack – who was 18 at the time of the murder and pregnant – covered her mother’s mouth while Schaefer struck her in the head with a fruit bowl.<\/p>\n

The body was stuffed inside a suitcase and left it in the boot of a taxi, prosecutors said. The driver later alerted police.<\/p>\n

The couple was later discovered staying at another hotel in Bali.<\/p>\n

Schaefer, then 21, said on trial that he had been defending himself after Wiese-Mack became angry after learning that her daughter was pregnant.<\/p>\n

Mack was given a shorter sentence due to her lesser role and because she gave birth to a baby while on trial, the Bali court heard.<\/p>\n

She too was released early and\u00a0deported in 2021<\/a>. She was arrested immediately upon arriving in the US and charged with conspiracy to kill a US national and obstruction of justice – and eventually sentenced to 26 years in jail.<\/p>\n

Mack originally pleaded not guilty to the US charges on conspiring to kill a US national, but changed her plea after the prosecutors offered to ask for a shorter sentence.<\/p>\n

Mack has given media interviews over the years from prison, where she recounted the incident and her troubled relationship with her mother.<\/p>\n

Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indonesia has deported a US man who spent 11 years in jail for the high-profile “suitcase murder” of his girlfriend’s mother on the resort island of Bali. In 2014, Tommy Schaefer was on holiday in […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109,2,3],"tags":[4522,2505,12279,12281,2094,3648,12280],"class_list":{"0":"post-30524","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headline","8":"category-news","9":"category-usa","10":"tag-bali","11":"tag-chicago","12":"tag-conspiracy-to-kill-a-us-national","13":"tag-heather-mack","14":"tag-indonesia","15":"tag-obstruction-of-justice","16":"tag-tommy-schaefer","17":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30526,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30524\/revisions\/30526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}