Caretaker for Heather Mack’s daughter says she signed deal for her life story, tried to take it back

The woman who cared for Heather Mack’s daughter overseas testified Tuesday she signed part of her life story over to a TV production company in the United States for $2,800 last year but then tried to take it back, claiming she signed the deal under duress.

Oshar Suartama also acknowledged that she let P&L Media film Mack’s daughter, Estelle Schaefer, at her home in Indonesia shortly before Mack, now 26, returned to Chicago in November 2021. The girl would have been 6 years old at the time.

Now, Mack’s daughter is at the center of an ongoing bench trial before Cook County Judge Stephanie Miller. It is meant to resolve the bitter custody dispute that has swirled around the girl ever since she arrived here with her mother last fall.

For nearly a year, Mack has been in federal custody in Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, under indictment for allegedly plotting the gruesome 2014 murder of her mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack of Oak Park, in Indonesia.

Von Wiese-Mack’s body was discovered inside a suitcase outside the St. Regis Bali Resort on Aug. 12, 2014. The murder generated sensational headlines around the globe, and it has often been referred to as the “Bali Suitcase Murder.”

Miller earlier this year temporarily placed Mack’s daughter, known as Stella and now 7, with Suartama, who came to Illinois to continue caring for the girl as she did when Mack was locked up in Indonesia. Suartama is now among four people vying for custody of Stella.

Also seeking custody are Kia Walker, the girl’s paternal grandmother; Lisa Hellmann, a cousin of Mack’s from Colorado; and Diana Roque Ellis, a California woman and onetime friend of von Wiese-Mack’s.

Hellmann’s attorney, Clarke Mac Gillespie, told the judge last month she’d hear evidence that Suartama and Ellis struck deals that would lead to Stella’s exploitation. He first asked Suartama on Tuesday about her deal with P&L Media. Also at issue in the case is her relationship with an overseas journalist who has promised to write a book about the case.

Suartama testified that she met Mack in 2014. She said the pair developed a “very close” relationship and referred to each other as sisters. Suartama said she helped P&L Media producer Lisa Lew funnel money to Mack. Then, in July 2021, Suartama said she asked Lew for a $2,100 loan to help with housing expenses.

Early in August 2021, Suartama said she signed a deal with P&L Media concerning the rights to her “life story” including her “story surrounding the Bali Suitcase Murder and relationship to Heather Mack.” In exchange, Suartama said she was paid $2,800.

Neither Lew nor representatives of P&L Media could immediately be reached for comment following Suartama’s testimony Tuesday.

Later during Suartama’s testimony, the judge was shown a draft of a “letter to rescind” from Suartama to P&L Media. The letter acknowledged the August 2021 contract “allowing P&L Media to buy the rights to my life story, as it pertains to Heather Mack.” It also noted that the contract followed her request for a $2,100 loan from Lew.

“Lisa Lew agreed to make the loan only if I signed the contract and thus exerted undue influence,” the letter said.

The document also said Suartama intended to repay the $2,800 and said “please stop using any materials that I have shared with P&L Media over the past 5 years, as they remain my intellectual property.”

Suartama said a crew filmed Suartama, her family and Stella in October 2021, while Suartama was under contract with P&L Media. Suartama said she didn’t know the extent of the filming of the girl, but she said Lew asked her to bring a hard drive to the United States.

“I never gave it to her,” Suartama said.

Later in her testimony, Suartama said she signed the deal with P&L Media as a “desperate parent.” She said her attempt to rescind the contract was made in November 2021.

Mack and her onetime boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, were first arrested and prosecuted for von Wiese-Mack’s murder in Indonesia. Mack gave birth to Stella during the couple’s 2015 trial there. Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for beating Mack’s mother to death, and Mack was given 10 years for helping. Mack was then released in October 2021 and deported with Stella to the United States.

The U.S. indictment against the couple was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Chicago as Mack’s flight neared O’Hare Airport, where she was arrested. Her U.S. trial has been set for July 2023. Tommy Schaefer remains behind bars overseas.