Episode 79 | A MACABRE MURDER IN BALI | Family Vacation Turns Deadly

This is the macbre story of a weathly mother, Sheila von Wiese, her spoiled and deeply troubled daughter, Heather Mack, and what was meant to be a peaceful mother/daughter vacation in paradise that ended in a grizly murder in Bali. Heather Mack was a problem child, and despite all her misgivings, her mother still loved her death. Or maybe it's the other way around!? Let's dig in to this epically tragic true crime story. ★Enjoy!

★PLEASE RATE THE PODCAST:
I’d like to as a quick favor - please rate/ review the Homicide Inc podcast if you haven’t already. Click the stars (all 5 if you fancy) and leave a review if you would.
https://podcasts.apple.com/jp/podcast/homicide-inc-classic/id1548239093?l=en

★NEED MORE HOMICIDE INC.? Check out our PATREON campaign for exclusive Homicide Inc. podcasts available only to Patrons!
https://www.patreon.com/petervongomm

★THE HOMICIDE INC. WEBSITE is here! All podcasts are available on the website.
https://www.homicide-inc.com

★DISCORD CHAT! Want to chat about the Homicide Inc. podcasts and crime in general? Join us on our Discord server here.  https://discord.gg/peBqDfT6

★ WHO AM I ?
My name is Peter von Gomm and I'm a professional Voice actor and Narrator and in this podcast I'll be bringing you high quality True Crime that passes the test of time. You've come to the right place for a great story!

★PODCAST SUPPORT
If you like these Podcasts and would like to help support their production, please consider buying me a cup of coffee! This will help keep me wired for writing and recording these weekly podcasts, and contribute towards web and podcast hosting. Thanks very much indeed! :0)  buymeacoffee.com/petervongomm

★STORY SUBMISSION
If you have an INTRIGUING TRUE STORY to share and would like me to consider reading it in a podcast, please submit it to petervongomm.reads@gmail.com
*It must be well-written please. ;0)

★Homicide Inc. theme song by Christopher J. Orton
https://www.fiverr.com/meandamic
*Guitars played by Joao Corceiro
https://www.fiverr.com/joaocorceiro

#murder #truecrime #bali #heathermack #podcast #truestory #homicide #homicideinc #crime #investigative #killer #horror #truecrimepodcast #truecrimecommunity 

Transcript

The suitcase murder

 “I’m Heather Mack … I made it up in my mind, in my soul, and in the oxygen running through my body that I wanted to kill my mother… I don’t regret killing my mother.” The voice and face of the killer go viral on YouTube. In 2015, she was found guilty of killing her mother during a holiday in Indonesia. How did this upper-class American rich kid with a $1.6 million inheritance to her name end up in one of the most notorious prisons in Indonesia?

INTRODUCTION

James L. Mack was a household name in Chicago. A lot of internationally famous south-side musicians passed under his tutelage and he was a producer for many popular labels. With two marriages under his belt, already father to four daughters and a son, in the twilight of his career, and with failing health; the last thing anyone expected was James Mack to stand at the altar for bride number three - Sheila von Wiese-Mack. But, he did and in 1995, the couple had a daughter- Heather Mack.

 In 2006, on a family vacation to Greece, James Mack had a pulmonary embolism and died. His body was left in the morgue cooler while von Wiese whisked her 10-year old daughter Heather off to the picturesque island of Santorini, to continue their vacation. After all the flight from Chicago was a doozy-why cut the trip short. And trust me I’ve spent time on Santorini- they made the right choice. It’s gorgeous and the sunset on the tip of the island in the picturesque village of Oia is smashing! The white stucco homes clustered along the cliffs overlooking the deep blue Aegean Sea… oh lord they definitely made the right choice. Mack Daddy wasn’t going anywhere. Leaving pops on ice while the girls continued to vacation would, you’d think show a special mother/daughter bond.. but you would be mistaken.

Following James Mack’s death, all hell broke loose at their home in the Oak Park’s historic district. It was an upscale suburb west of Chicago, popular with tourists, and on this particular day, a different type of crowd - cops.

Between January 2004 and June 2013, the Oak Park police received 86 calls from the Mack residence - reports that ranged from theft, missing persons, domestic violence, and 911 prank calls. Add to that, from the age of 9, Heather Mack was physically violent with her mother. 

Incidents such as the following: January 2010, Mack punched her mother’s broken ankle. November 2010, von Wiese walked in on Mack taking nude photos of herself. Well, who doesn’t do that!? Not the walking in on folks taking the shots, but taking the shots. February 2011, Mack pushed her mother to the ground so hard that von Wiese broke her arm. Then she cut the phone lines so Mom couldn’t call 911.  Damn! Should’ve named her Chuckie! In April 2011, Mack bit her mother. A few months later when Mom complained about the biting incident, Mack threatened that she would beat her over the head next time.. 

It’s December 2011, and the troubled 16 year old really lost her cool and was arrested on domestic battery charges, after von Weise called the police. She was found guilty and ordered to attend mandatory counseling with a focus on anger management. Helpful? Not really. The violence continued unabated. Mack locked her mother in a closet and stole $1000 from her. Another time, Mack had an outburst at a parent-teacher conference that ended with her tearing her mom and the teacher a new one before bolting from the school. And in November 2012, again the police were called because Mack had bitten her mother again. So much for the adage one bitten twice shy! This pattern of abuse was endless. 

Yet Von Wiese was resolute in not pressing any charges on her daughter. That’s love. She even refused to allow police officers to photograph her daughter’s bite mark. She admitted that while she knew Mack needed help, she didn’t think jail would help.

So where is all this going? Well just wait. Things had been just simmering. It was about to come to a rolling boil.

Heather Mack started dating an older guy, Tommy Schaefer; an unemployed rapper who went by the name Tommy EXX. Planned parenthood evidently was not in the family discussions at the Mack residence as Heather became pregnant Twice! von Wiese intervened both times and made Mack abort the pregnancies. 

To keep the two lovers apart, Von Wiese sold the home and moved them to Gold Coast, Chicago. 

Even so, by August 2014, von Wiese was again at the end of her ropes. Her 18-year old drop-out daughter had come to the house, stolen several items, before disappearing as she often did. Von Wiese had also just found out that Heather was 8 weeks pregnant. 

Again. 

What they both needed was a break, a change of scenery, distance from Chicago and Schafer. 

What they needed was Bali, Indonesia. Another awesome choice of destinations I might add. What they lacked in harmony they made up for in very good vacation spots. Now could they just get along? How could they not? The Kecak dances, fabulous beaches, forever-smiling locals, plates of some of the tastiest dishes in SE Asia… 

Mother and daughter arrived in Bali on a first-class flight on the 4th of August. They went white water rafting, late-night safaris, guided tours of the elephant parks, scenic forests, temples, and rice terraces. And they took many smiling pictures together - Maybe they were on the mend finally. 

Or perhaps it just seemed that way. 

Well one evening, Von Wiese got a bit tipsy and fell. Having trouble sleeping from pain she took some sedatives and was out.  Now, this next bit is outrageous and unforgivable as a parent. This chick was such a pain in the ass. A week into their Bali getaway, and missing her skuzzy boyfriend that Mom tried so desperately to distance her from, Mack snatched her credit card from her sleeping Mom and booked a $12, 000 business class flight for Schaefer. Man, the nerve. I can’t even fathom the balls needed to pull something like this. She had to know her Mom would absolutely flip, and perhaps that was the rush she was looking for. 

At 3 am on 12th August, a frantic von Wiese appears in the lobby of the hotel. She’d woken up and couldn’t find her daughter. Just as hotel security began searching for Mack, the ‘missing’ teen turns up. 

As Von Wiese demanded to know where Mack had been, the manager informed von Wiese of a second room that had been reserved with her credit card.

“What second room?” Von Wiese demanded.

The manager showed her who had checked in three hours earlier - a photocopy of Schaefer’s passport photograph. 

Tommy Exx was back. Von Wiese was rightfully livid. Now she knew where the ‘missing’ Mack had been. 

“What in the hell is he doing here?” Von Wiese barked. “Who is paying for his hotel bill? Who paid for his flight?”

As the two women walked off, von Wiese was heard telling Mack she planned to pursue credit card charges once they were back home in Chicago. All this, captured on the hotel lobby’s camera, records the last time von Wiese would be seen alive.

If the walls of Room 616 saw what happened in the early hours of August the 13th, they aren’t talking. But at 11.26 am, Mack and Schaefer asked for a luggage cart and wheeled out three pieces of luggage, including one wrapped in a bedsheet and duct tape. Very subtle. They wheeled their baggage across the lobby of the 5-star resort refusing staff assistance, much to the bewilderment of hotel personnel. What 5-star hotel guests caddy their own luggage? 

Staff at the front desk stopped them to remind them of their hotel bill, she noticed that the biggest box wrapped in the sheets had red spots on it. When she asked about it, Mack assured her that it was just lipstick. 

They went out to the taxi stand with their cart and bundled the suitcases into the cab. The couple told the driver they were going back into the hotel to check out and he should not touch their luggage while they were gone.  

For one long hour, the taxi driver waited for them to return. Eventually, he called on hotel security to leave the luggage with them. As he began to unload the suitcases, the hotel security immediately noticed the large red stain on the sheet covering the suitcase. Hotel security searched for the couple. But, the duo was long gone. The cab driver went to the police station with his cab and its gruesome contents.

Officers fearing the worst opened the silver suitcase and found the brutalized body of half-naked Sheila von Wiese. Police stormed the St. Regis hotel. There, the hotel CCTV showed Mack and Schaefer had scaled the resort’s back wall, crossed the road, hailed another taxi, and disappeared. 

Police put all taxis and hotels in the area on alert for the couple. 

By 8.30 am the next day, both Mack and Schaefer were tracked to a hotel barely a mile away from St. Regis. Criminals, if you’re going to go on the run, make it worth the chase.

They were immediately arrested and taken into custody.

Mack and Schaefer told the police that they had been attacked by an armed gang of 6 who had broken into their room at the hotel, killed von Wiese and, kidnapped them. They had only just managed to escape! How terrifying!

But, their testimony contradicted that of the taxi driver, hotel staff, and the hotel CCTVs. The hotel staff said that after Mack and Schaeffer had dropped their luggage in the taxi, they had come to the hotel desk and said Von Wiese had insisted she would pay when she checked out later. Unbeknownst to them she had already checked out, folded up dead inside a suitcase. 1/2 naked. And we still don’t know which 1/2. Mack had also demanded that they empty the safety deposit box her mother had with them. The staff refused both requests. Von Wiese had left specific instructions to keep her things away from Mack. She was learning but a little too late. The couple then disappeared back into the hotel, saying they needed to get their remaining bags. But they never returned. Guess the armed gang forced them to scale that wall out back?

Police also discovered that the couple had gone to the airport where they hoped to secure new passports to exit the country. At the immigration counter, they were informed they would need to first make a report at the US consulate. After this disappointing newsflash, they took a cab to the hotel where they were apprehended.

Under interrogation the two love birds turned jailbirds got a stiff dose of reality when they learned that in Indonesia the authorities don’t play around when it comes to crimes of drugs and murder. Peeing their pants with the threat of death by firing squad, Mack and Schaffer who had been uncooperative decided to tell the truth, which it really wasn’t. These kids were playing with fire.

Schaefer said he had been in von Wiese’s hotel room to tell her that Mack was pregnant. Again!?Jeez! What was this the 4th or 5th time!? He’s an out of work rapper but he could certainly make a living selling his stuff to a fertility clinic. Guy’s a stud! According to Mr. condom what’s that?, von Wiese had been irate, calling him racial slurs and threatening to cut the unborn baby from Mack. I don’T believe that for a second. No Grandmother to be would dream of such a thing. The heated argument then devolved into a physical altercation when von Wiese started to choke him out. Good for her. Schafer reached for a glass fruit bowl and proceeded to beat von Wiese to death in self-defense. Mack said Schaefer had wanted them to leave von Wiese’s body and go on the run. But Mack didn’t want to leave her mother in Bali. 

So, they wrapped von Wiese’s body in a bedsheet and stuffed her into a suitcase, snapping her neck in the process.

Now, this new story was at odds with what police found on the phones they had left behind; From the moment Schaefer landed in Indonesia till he went into von Wiese’s room, the two lovers had been plotting how to kill von Wiese.

Originally, Mack was supposed to kill her mother herself but couldn’t go through with it. She had asked Schaefer to come with something they could use to hit von Wiese on the head. Then, Mack could just say her mother had gotten drunk and fallen.

CCTV captured Schaefer going to von Wiese’s room, a glass fruit bowl hidden under his shirt. 

In the hotel gardens, three suitcases belonging to Mack were found. Inside were several blood-soaked hotel towels from von Wiese’s room.

Mack and Schaefer were found guilty and sentenced to ten and eighteen years respectively. Mack was seen as an accomplice and Schaefer the main perpetrator. 

The years in prison have not been kind to Tommy Schaefer. However, The same can’t be said for Heather Mack who basked in her newfound fame.

Mack gave birth to a girl, Stella Schaefer in 2015- we already know who the dad is. Indonesian prisons allow female prisoners to have their babies with them up until the age of two. Mack used this to her advantage, smiling for the paparazzi every time she went to doctor appointments outside the prison for check-ups. She also had access to a phone and would share pictures and videos of her and her daughter on social media. When Stella turned two, she was taken to be fostered by an Indonesian woman.

Mack’s social media content soon changed from doting mother to party girl - videos of herself smoking, dancing, partying, and caressing her prison-girlfriend, a fellow in-mate.

After serving just 7 years of her sentence, Mack was released; Indonesia is known for early releases. Mack talked about her hopes to stay in Indonesia with her daughter, who was now 6. Indonesian Immigration was not having it. Mother and child were deported to the USA.

Still, Mack dreamed of starting a new life in Los Angeles. "Adjusting to life outside of prison is my next step.” she said “Little things like going to the grocery store, and the swimming pool with Stella will be wonderful."

Her dreams were cut short as she was arrested by the FBI at the airport.

Back in 2015, a few months after she had started her sentence, Ryan Bibbs, a cousin of Schaefer’s had been arrested on charges of conspiracy to kill von Wiese. Six months before von Wiese’s murder, Bibbs had been enlisted to help find someone who could kill von Wiese. He was promised $50, 000 by none other than Heather Mack. 

The How to Get away with Murder character Annalise Keating had nothing on Bibbs, he became their mentor on all things murder. Communicating directly with Schaefer and Mack on ways to kill her mother von Wiese. He suggested smothering her with a pillow. And even asked if she could swim so they could consider drowning her in the ocean. Lovely.

Bibbs pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit foreign murder of a US national. He was sentenced to 9 years in prison

Further investigation also uncovered e-mails and texts between Mack and Schaefer. Because she and her cohorts had conspired to commit the crimes in the United States, the Justice Department has charged her with two counts of murder conspiracy and another for obstruction. They carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Perhaps the Von Wiese family will see justice served?

Her defense hopes the new charges are thrown out arguing that conspiracy was included in the trial in Bali. Mack remains in prison, awaiting trial. Her daughter is under the care of a court-appointed guardian. Meanwhile, Walker Schaeffer, Tommy Schaeffer’s mother, is seeking custody of the child. Tommy Exx still faces another 10 years in prison in Indonesia. 

In the end, von Wiese was killed because Mack wanted to gain control of the 1.6-million-dollar trust her mother set up for her. If you watched Knives Out (2019), you’ll know about the slayer statute. According to the statute, a person cannot receive an inheritance from someone they murdered. Well, that came to play and, though Mack fought tooth and nail against it, the trust has been transferred to her daughter, Stella Schaefer.