Crime & Safety

Heather Mack's Bali Prison Sentence Reduced by One Month

The Oak Park native, who gave birth in prison, benefitted from an annual Indonesian Christmas tradition.

Fernanda Zamudio-Suarez, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge
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Heather Mack’s 10-year sentence in a Bali prison was reduced by one month on Christmas as part of an annual Indonesian tradition, NBC Chicago reports. Other inmates at the prison weren’t so fortunate as the “body-in-a suitcase” killers from Oak Park.

Mack and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, who is serving 18 years for murder, were convicted in April in the murder of Mack’s mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack. She was bludgeoned to death and her body was later stuffed into a suitcase at Bali resort.

Mack and Schaefer, sweethearts at Oak Park-River Forest High School, each had their sentences reduced by one month.

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While Schaefer admitted to striking von Wiese-Mack and claimed self-defense, Mack, who was pregnant at the time, maintains she did not kill her mother. A three-judge panel gave Heather Mack a lesser sentence out of consideration for her pregnancy. She continues to raise her baby, born in March, from prison.

Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s family remains angry that Heather Mack’s sentence was reduced from 18 to 10 years upon her conviction. They are also trying to block Mack from accessing the $1.5 million trust fund she inherited upon her mother’s death.

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