The American woman convicted abroad of killing her own mom and stuffing her body in a suitcase outside an upscale Indonesian hotel was denied bail at a hearing in Chicago.
Heather Mack, now 27, spent seven years in Indonesian prison for the 2014 “suitcase murder” of her mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack. She was released last year but immediately arrested when her flight landed at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
Mack’s attorneys claimed their client should be granted bond because “apart from the long-standing conflict that Ms. Mack had with her mother prior to her mother’s death, Ms. Mack had absolutely no record of presenting any danger to anyone,” the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.
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But Judge Matthew Kennelly was not moved.
“There are plenty of reasons to believe she would pose a danger to others,” he said before sending Mack behind bars without bail.
Prosecutors pointed out that police had been called to the Mack family home nearly 100 times between 2004 and 2014.
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Mack, her mother and her then-boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, traveled to Indonesia together in 2014 and stayed at the St. Regis Bali resort.
On Aug. 12, 2014, Mack and Schaefer teamed up to beat von Wiese-Mack to death and stuff her body in a suitcase, according to U.S. and Indonesian authorities. They ditched the suitcase in a cab and sprinted away from the scene.
Despite weeks of planning, according to cellphone records, Mack and Schaefer were arrested shortly afterward at a nearby hotel. Schaefer remains imprisoned in Indonesia, where he was sentenced to 18 years.
Investigators said Mack killed her mom to gain access to a $1.5-million trust fund and an anticipated multimillion dollar estate.
Von Wiese-Mack’s family spoke at Thursday’s hearing and argued for Mack to remain behind bars.
“I feel like I would be the first person she would come after,” Mack’s aunt Debbie Curran said, according to the Tribune.
With News Wire Services
