A Chicago man convicted in Indonesia of beating his then-girlfriend’s mom to dying with a fruit bowl and hiding the physique in a suitcase greater than a decade in the past pleaded not responsible Thursday to federal fees within the U.S.
Tommy Schaefer was sentenced in Indonesia to 18 years in jail in reference to the 2014 homicide of Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack whereas on trip in Bali with the lady and her daughter, Heather Mack.
In response to prosecutors, Mack lined her mom’s mouth whereas Schaefer pummeled her with a fruit bowl. The couple hoped to achieve entry to a $1.5 million belief fund. Police in Bali arrested Mack, who was 18 on the time and some weeks pregnant, and Schaefer, then 21, a day after the killing.
The case turned referred to as the Bali “suitcase homicide” as a result of von Wiese-Mack’s battered physique was found crammed in a suitcase within the trunk of a taxi at an upscale resort.
Indonesian officers launched Schaefer from jail on Tuesday after he served 11 years and acquired a lot of commendations for good conduct. He was flown again to Chicago to face fees of conspiring to kill to somebody in another country, conspiring to commit homicide and tampering with a sufferer.
Schaefer made his preliminary court docket look on these counts Thursday morning. Court docket data point out he pleaded not responsible to all three fees. U.S. District Decide Matthew Kennelly set his trial for January 2027 and ordered him to stay in custody. His lawyer, Matthew Madden, did not reply to an electronic mail from The Related Press in search of remark.
Mack served seven years of a 10-year jail sentence in Bali. She was sentenced to a different 26 years in jail in Chicago in January 2024 after pleading responsible to serving to kill her mom and stuffing the physique within the suitcase.
