Bali ‘Suitcase Murder’ Convict Apologises as He Is Deported to the US
American national Tommy Schaefer has been deported to the United States after his early release from prison in Indonesia, apologising to the victim’s family as he prepared to face fresh legal proceedings in Chicago.
Schaefer, 32, was convicted alongside his then-girlfriend Heather Mack for the 2014 murder of Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack in Denpasar, where her body was stuffed into a suitcase in a case that became widely known as the “Bali suitcase murder”.
Ahead of his deportation on Tuesday, Schaefer told AFP he wished peace for the victim’s family and expressed remorse for his actions, while maintaining he had been pushed into the situation.
“I am sorry. I have always been sorry. I have always been apologetic. I was pushed into the situation, but I do take full responsibility for everything that I’ve done and I wish Sheila’s family peace,” he said.
In 2015, an Indonesian court sentenced Schaefer to 18 years in prison and Mack to 10 years for assisting in the murder. Schaefer was released last week from Kerobokan prison on the island of Bali and transferred to an immigration detention facility before his deportation.
He boarded a late-night flight to the US and is expected to appear before a court in Chicago, where he will face additional charges. He is due to be arraigned at the Dirksen US Courthouse on Thursday.
The case marks a new chapter in a legal saga that began 12 years ago. Mack, who became known as the “suitcase killer,” pleaded guilty in June 2024 to conspiring to murder her mother in order to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund. She reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors in Illinois and was later sentenced to 28 years in prison in the US, with credit given for the seven years she had already served in an Indonesian jail.
At the time of the killing, Mack was 19 and Schaefer 21. The crime shocked both Indonesia and the US and remains one of the most high-profile criminal cases involving American citizens abroad in recent years.
The deportation of Schaefer now shifts the focus of the case back to the US justice system, where he is set to face further legal proceedings in connection with the high-profile murder.
