Tommy Schaefer and then-girlfriend Heather Mack were found guilty of murdering Mack’s mother Sheila Von Wiese-Mack
A notorious killer who murdered his girlfriend’s millionaire mum and stuffed her body in a suitcase before trying to escape has been freed.
Tommy Schaefer made headlines around the world in 2014 when he killed his girlfriend’s mother while holidaying in Bali. The convicted murderer has now been released from prison.
US citizen Schaefer was locked up in Bali’s infamous Kerobokan Prison for bludgeoning Sheila Von Wiese-Mack to death, the mother of his girlfriend Heather Mack.
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A court heard how Schaefer killed Sheila with a heavy fruit bowl while the trio were staying at the ultra-luxury St Regis hotel in a botched plan to get his hands on an early inheritance worth $2.2 million.
Now aged 32, Schaefer was released for good behaviour after serving only 12 years of his 18-year sentence. Meanwhile, Heather Mack was charged with planning the murder and served seven years of a 10-year sentence before she was released in 2021.
However, it is unlikely that Schaefer will get to enjoy his freedom. He was transferred directly to an immigration holding cell near Bali’s airport ahead of being deported to the US in coming days where he will likely be re-arrested and charged with conspiracy to kill a US national – which can carry a life sentence.
That is what awaited Mack when she was released in 2021 and she is now serving a 26-year sentence after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in a 2024 hearing.
Schaefer has reportedly told reporters from news.com.au that he was emotionally blackmailed into committing the gruesome murder and that he is “not guilty of conspiracy in America”.
He claims to have become a born-again Christian while in jail, committing himself to prayer and helping other prisoners find peace through religion.
In a 2023 interview while still in Kerobokan Prison, Schaefer told reporters he would plead not guilty after he was deported back to the US and will reveal text messages he claims show he actually tried to save Sheila Von Wiese-Mack.
