US man admits killing girlfriend's mother in grisly Bali suitcase murder

[webfact]

US man testifies victim strangled him, threatened baby

BALI, Indonesia (AP) — An American man charged with murdering his girlfriend's mother told an Indonesian court Thursday he was angry after the victim threatened to kill his unborn baby and strangled him hard for about half a minute.

Tommy Schaefer, 21, and Heather Mack, 19, are being tried separately by Denpasar District Court, where they are charged with premeditated murder for the death of Sheila von Wiese-Mack last August in Bali. They could face a firing squad if found guilty. The victim's badly beaten body was found in a suitcase on a taxi.

Testifying at the trial of Mack, Schaefer told the court their relationship was not endorsed by his girlfriend's mother.

Schaefer said he visited Bali to meet with Mack who was already in Bali.

After meeting with Mack at the hotel, they discussed how to inform von Wiese-Mack that Mack was pregnant and agreed to meet in the hotel room where Mack and her mother were staying.

Speaking through an interpreter, Schaefer said Mack asked him to bring a metal fruit bowl, which he hid under his shirt as a "precaution."

Asked by a judge why it was hidden, Schaefer answered that he was not sure whether he would use it or not to protect himself.

According to Schaefer, he arrived in the room and found Mack weeping. He did not know why, but also saw that Mack's mother was screaming.

"She (von Wiese-Mack) was angry at me when she knew that Heather was pregnant," Schaefer said, while trying to hold back tears. Mack, who was sitting beside her lawyer, sobbed at the testimony.

He said that the victim insulted him using a racial slur and described her daughter as a prostitute who liked a black man.

He said the situation got heated when von Wiese-Mack asked her daughter for an abortion or to kill the unborn baby. Schaefer said that led to a quarrel in which von Wiese-Mack strangled him hard for about 30 seconds.

"I was angry, I took the fruit bowl and hit her," Schaefer said, in tears.

He added that he did not remember how many times he hit the victim. After acknowledging she wasn't breathing, he tried to give her artificial respiration, while Mack, who had run in panic into the bathroom for about three minutes, came back and tried to revive her mother.

He said he was trembling and scared and called 911 on his mobile phone before realizing that he was not in the United States.

According to the indictment, Schaefer battered von Wiese-Mack with the metal bowl following an argument over the hotel bill.

It says Mack helped stuff her mother's body into the suitcase by sitting on it to enable Schaefer to close it. They then placed the suitcase in the trunk of a taxi and told the driver they were going to check out of the hotel and would return, but never did, it says.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-03-13

[Prbkk]

Yeah. right....always go to meet the MIL with a metal fruit bowl hidden under you shirt for protection. The best they could come up with? Being THAT stupid must be a challenge.

[Manbing]

This defense was concocted by a retard.

When in doubt confuse the judiciary with far fetched idiocy.

It works every time.

Ask Those Aussies who are sitting in a death cell.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Manbing

[Steely Dan]

You have to be a retard to choose a fruit bowl as a murder weapon.

[Nuddy]

I took particular interest in this story ages ago

I found it a bit baffling that these alleged murderers had the concierge handle the baggage which later proved to have MiL inside. In fact it was when the baggage was on the front area of the hotel that suspicions arose. Must have been the blood oozing from the suitcase.The whole thing is a bit bizarre and I thought that after reading the initial news item these guys must be into drugs.

[IslandLover]

Nuddy, on 13 Mar 2015 - 15:53, said:Nuddy, on 13 Mar 2015 - 15:53, said:Nuddy, on 13 Mar 2015 - 15:53, said:

I took particular interest in this story ages ago

I found it a bit baffling that these alleged murderers had the concierge handle the baggage which later proved to have MiL inside. In fact it was when the baggage was on the front area of the hotel that suspicions arose. Must have been the blood oozing from the suitcase.The whole thing is a bit bizarre and I thought that after reading the initial news item these guys must be into drugs.

I've been following this case very closely too. They weren't on drugs. They killed the MIL purely for money (she was a millionairess). By all accounts Heather Mack was the daughter from hell and the police had been called to their Chicago home no less than 87 times for various domestic disputes involving Heather. After reading the back story, it is highly likely that Heather instigated the murder of her mother and mobile phone evidence yet to be produced in court will show that she tried to hire a hit man to kill her mother even before they went to Bali (thanks to the FBI's involvement in the case). The two accused of the murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack are compulsive liars. No doubt Heather will get off scot free because she has managed to persuade a U.S. court to release money from a trust fund to pay for her defence. No so sure about Tommy though.

Edited March 13, 2015 by IslandLover

[cookee68]

Oh by the way, you are not in the USA, so no good trying to pull the racist card, because in Bali that just wont hold water. and I think that you are screwed

[rotary]

Give them both a firing squad with poor aim for a birthday present. That way they suffer as much as possible.

[rooinekrsa]

If you got no ammo, use your helmet to beat your enemy to death, standard military training

[bendejo]

What a bunch of dumb excuses. Are you sure this guy isn't a Thai?

Metal fruit bowl as a defensive weapon -- need a permit for that?