US Couple Convicted, Sentenced in Indonesia Killing
Tommy Schaefer and Heather Mack were found guilty related to 2014 death.
— -- An Indonesian court convicted a U.S. couple in the killing of the woman's mother and sentenced each of them to more than a decade behind bars.
The Denpasar District Court ruled Tuesday that Tommy Schaefer, 21, was guilty of battering Sheila von Wiese-Mack to death in a hotel room on the resort island of Bali, and sentenced him to an 18-year term. Schaefer’s girlfriend, Heather Mack, 19, was sentenced to 10 years in connection with the Aug. 12 murder.
Schaefer and Mack, both from Chicago, were tried separately in the same court with the same judges and prosecutors.
They were arrested a day after the body of von Wiese-Mack, 62, was found in a suitcase inside the trunk of a taxi at the St. Regis Bali Resort.
At the time of their arrest, Heather Mack claimed an armed gang killed her mother, and that she and Schaefer managed to escape after being kidnapped by the same gang. But investigators alleged that surveillance video showed the mother and daughter arguing in the hours before von Wiese-Mack died.
An autopsy found that the victim died of asphyxiation after her nose was broken by a blunt blow. Other bones were broken in her head and face, and wounds on her hands indicate she tried to defend herself, Indonesian authorities say.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.