An American man convicted in the infamous 2014 Bali “suitcase murder” case has been released from prison in Indonesia and deported to the United States after completing more than a decade behind bars. Tommy Schaefer, who had been serving an 18-year sentence for the premeditated killing of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, was freed following sentence reductions granted for good behaviour, Indonesian immigration authorities confirmed.
Schaefer was deported from Bali’s international airport on Tuesday evening after spending 11 years in custody. Officials from the Bali Regional Office of the Directorate General of Immigration stated that his release followed standard remission policies applied to prisoners who demonstrate good conduct during incarceration.
The case drew worldwide attention in August 2014 when the severely beaten body of 62-year-old Sheila von Wiese-Mack, a wealthy Chicago socialite, was discovered inside a suitcase placed in the trunk of a taxi parked at the luxury St. Regis Bali Resort. The murder occurred while she was vacationing with her teenage daughter, Heather Mack, on the Indonesian island.
Authorities arrested Heather Mack, then nearly 19 years old and pregnant, along with her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, one day after the body was found. Investigators concluded that the killing had been planned, leading to Schaefer receiving an 18-year prison sentence, while Mack was convicted for assisting in the crime and initially sentenced to 10 years in an Indonesian prison.
Mack was released after serving seven years and deported to the United States in October 2021. She later faced prosecution in Chicago, where in January 2024 she pleaded guilty to conspiracy related to her mother’s killing and was sentenced to 26 years in prison under US law.
The Bali murder case remains one of the most widely reported international criminal incidents involving American citizens abroad, remembered for the shocking method used to conceal the victim’s body and the involvement of close family members in the crime.
