An American man who spent 11 years in a prison in Bali, Indonesia, for the premeditated murder of his then-girlfriend’s mother, whose body was then stuffed in a suitcase, faces murder conspiracy charges after being deported to the United States.
The man, Tommy Schaefer, 32, of Chicago, was arrested on the flight back and made his first appearance in a Chicago federal court this week.
Mr. Schaefer was charged with one count of conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, one count of conspiracy to commit foreign murder of a U.S. national, as well as one count of obstruction for his role in the 2014 slaying, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Illinois.
He pleaded not guilty at his court hearing on Thursday before Judge Matthew F. Kennelly. Mr. Schaefer faces life in prison if he is convicted.
Matthew J. Madden, a lawyer for Mr. Schaefer, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The case drew widespread international attention after Heather L. Mack was accused of plotting to kill her mother, Sheila A. Von Wiese, the wealthy widow of a Chicago composer.
She was 18 when she arranged for Mr. Schaefer, who was also 18 and her boyfriend at the time, to travel to Bali, where Ms. Von Wiese was staying. They had exchanged text messages about when and where to kill her, prosecutors said at the time.
Judge Kennelly previously sentenced Ms. Mack, who was also convicted in Indonesia of crimes related to her mother’s death, to 26 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to kill a U.S. national. An Indonesian court had sentenced Ms. Mack to 10 years in prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
In 2015, an Indonesian court sentenced Mr. Schaefer to 18 years in prison. However, he was released early for good behavior on Feb. 17, before being deported to the United States on Tuesday, said Felucia Sengky Ratna, head of the Bali Regional Office of the Directorate General of Immigration, in a statement.
According to federal prosecutors and court records, Mr. Schaefer went to a hotel room where Ms. Von Wiese was staying on Aug. 12, 2014, and beat her to death while Ms. Mack was present. After attempting to clean up the room, the couple stuffed Ms. Von Wiese’s body into a suitcase and fled the hotel in a taxicab, prosecutors said. The suitcase was placed into the vehicle’s trunk, prosecutors said.
In the days leading up to Ms. Von Wiese’s death, Ms. Mack told Mr. Schaefer that she intended to share part of her inheritance with him after her mother was dead, according to court documents.
Mr. Schaefer responded: “I can’t wait to be rich.”
An autopsy found that Ms. Von Wiese’s cause of death was from the blunt force of blows, which fractured her nasal bone and jawbone, according to court documents.
Aimee Ortiz covers breaking news and other topics.
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