Daughter, boyfriend charged in Bali murder of Sheila von Weise-Mack

BALI, Indonesia (WLS) -- Heather Mack, 19, of Chicago, did not kill her mother and stuff her body in a suitcase in Bali, Indonesia, her defense attorney said.

Mack and her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, 21, are accused of killing Sheila von Weise-Mack, 62. Her beaten body was found stuffed into a bloody suitcase at a posh Indonesian resort on the island. All three are from Chicago.

Schaefer attended Columbia College in 2012.

"I just saw a lot of promise in him. He wasn't the most talented musician yet, but he had the dedication and the determination to be one of the greatest," Professor Zachary Jablow. Jablow also helped Schaefer produce a single at a Bucktown studio.

"He was kind of going back and forth between friends' houses or couches. He didn't really have a very good home life," Jablow said. "We had no idea that Tommy would have his name next to the word murder."

Indonesian police said Schaefer and Mack fought with von Weise-Mack over who would pay the hotel bill just hours before they placed the bag holding the body inside the trunk of a taxi and didn't return. The taxi driver noticed blood, and drove to a police station, where the body was discovered Tuesday.

Mack and Schaefer were arrested the day after the body was found in another area of the Indonesia. They were charged overnight.

"We found scars on both forearms and the broken left-hand fingernail," Head of Forensics Ida Bagus Putu Alit said following an external examination. "That indicated a resistance in a fight."

Indonesian police believe Mack and Schaefer planned the murder, and said the charges are based on crime scene evidence.

Michael Elkin, an attorney based in Chicago's Loop, will represent Mack, who says she is pregnant, in Indonesian courts.

"She is innocent and we're going to prove that. However, the logistics of what is occurring at this time I cannot talk about. But I will be speaking about that later," said Elkin said.

She and Schaefer could face death by firing squad if found guilty.

Mack and her mother were longtime Oak Park residents before moving to Chicago about a year ago. Police visited their home on Linden Avenue 86 times in a nine year span for allegations of physical abuse between the two.

Von Wiese-Mack was the widow of highly regarded jazz and classical composer James L. Mack of Oak Park, Illinois, who died in 2006 at age 76.