Heather Mack case: Latest updates on legal proceedings for 2014 murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack

Close up shot of Heather Mack as she raises her hand to her face while behind cell bars.

Heather Mack gets 26 years for murder of mom in Bali after stark testimony from family

Before she was sentenced, Mack took the stand and said she was responsible for her own decisions, adding that she still missed and loved her mother.

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Feds want Heather Mack to get 28 years behind bars for mom’s ‘vicious’ murder in Bali

“The objective evidence is that despite enduring years of abuse, [Sheila von Wiese-Mack] loved her daughter and did everything she could to provide the best for her,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Heather Mack asks U.S. judge for prison sentence that could set her free in her early 30s

Heather Mack, 28, has already served 7 years in prison in Indonesia for her mother’s murder. Prosecutors are due to make their own sentencing recommendation Wednesday.

By Jon Seidel

Crime

Heather Mack could plead guilty to role in mom’s murder later this month

A guilty plea from Mack would scuttle her summer trial and lead to a sentencing hearing. Prosecutors have said Mack covered her mother’s mouth with her hand during the killing.

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Heather Mack’s cousin named guardian of daughter Stella as Mack awaits 2nd murder trial

Custody was decided by a bench trial that began in September and ended Tuesday.

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Heather Mack was ‘directly involved’ in mother’s murder, should stay in jail: feds

A judge is expected to consider a request to release Heather Mack during a hearing Thursday in Chicago. Mack’s attorneys insist she poses no danger to the community and is not a flight risk.

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Heather Mack says she wants Stella back if judge lets her out of jail while awaiting trial

The future of Heather Mack’s daughter has been uncertain since her arrival with Mack in the United States a little more than a year ago. Mack spent seven years in Indonesian custody for helping murder her own mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack.

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Heather Mack seeks release from custody pending summer murder trial

Heather Mack, accused of conspiring to kill her mother, has been in federal custody since November 2021.

By David Struett

Heather Mack

Heather Mack’s cousin gets temporary custody of Mack’s daughter

Lisa Hellmann will become the third person to care for Estelle Schaefer, known as Stella, since the child’s November 2021 arrival in the United States with her mother from Indonesia.

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

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

Mack’s daughter is at the center of an ongoing bench trial. A bitter custody dispute has swirled around the girl ever since she arrived here with her mother last fall.

By Jon Seidel

The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, Monday, June 27, 2022.

Crime

Chicago judge named counselor to Chief Justice Roberts, creating new uncertainty in Burke case

New duties at high court for U.S. District Judge Robert Dow Jr. could further delay racketeering case of Ald. Edward M. Burke, which Dow has presided over since 2019.

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Heather Mack set for trial all over again, this time on U.S. charges in Chicago

The body of Mack’s mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, was discovered inside a suitcase outside the St. Regis Bali Resort in 2014. Mack and her boyfriend were arrested the next day, and they stood trial in Indonesia.

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Trial kicks off in custody battle over Heather Mack’s daughter

Four people are seeking custody of 7-year-old Estelle Schaefer, known as Stella, in the trial before Cook County Judge Stephanie Miller. Mack and her onetime boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, are charged in federal court with plotting the overseas murder of Mack’s mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack.

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Heather Mack’s daughter back in care of woman who raised her in Indonesia

Oshar Suartama confirmed for a judge Friday that she had arrived in Illinois and had reunited with 7-year-old Estelle Schaefer, known as Stella. The child’s therapist has told the judge “there’s no question” Stella sees that woman “as her mother and the primary caretaker in her life.”

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Woman who raised Heather Mack’s child in Indonesia could care for her here — if she makes it in time

It wasn’t clear Friday whether Oshar Suartama could get to Chicago before Stella’s current caretaker, Vanessa Favia, has to relinquish custody. If she can’t, the child could wind up with Diana Roque Ellis of Beverly Hills, a friend of Mack’s murdered mother.

By Jon Seidel

Columnists

Heather Mack wants daughter to stay in U.S., live with California friend of her murdered mother, new court filing claims

SNEED SCOOP: In a hand-written statement filed in court Wednesday, Mack says she no longer wants her 7-year-old daughter to go to Indonesia while Mack faces new charges in the Bali murder of Oak Parker Sheila von Wiese-Mack.

By Michael Sneed

Heather Mack

Custody of Heather Mack’s daughter back up in the air: Could she spend the summer in Bali?

Mack, who is being held in Chicago’s downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center, has been at the center of an international legal saga ever since the gruesome discovery of her mother’s body inside a suitcase outside the St. Regis Bali Resort on Aug. 12, 2014.

By Jon Seidel

Diana___Heather_Through_The_Years___Diana__Sheila__Heather_in_LA_2905390.1_.jpeg

Columnists

Heather Mack’s daughter should live with me, murdered mom’s friend says in revealing new court filing

SNEED EXCLUSIVE: Diana Ellis has made a move in Cook County court for Stella, 6, to come live with her in California. But the filing opens a window into the fraught relationship between Sheila von Wiese-Mack and her daughter before she was killed in Bali.

By Michael Sneed

Heather Mack

Heather Mack comes face-to-face with mother’s siblings, will remain in federal custody

Despite having just been released after serving seven years in an Indonesian prison, Mack should be prepared for another long stay behind bars. A prosecutor said evidence in the case is “truly, truly voluminous.”

By Jon Seidel

Heather Mack

Could judge order Heather Mack released? Experts say odds are slim

Mack’s lawyers would have to convince the judge that arrangements can be made to protect the community from Mack and ensure her appearance at court hearings.

By Jon Seidel