The Murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack

The death of Sheila von Wiese-Mack

Sheila von Wiese-Mack, a 62-year-old American woman, was vacationing in Bali with her daughter, Heather Mack, in August 2014. Tommy Schaefer, Mack's boyfriend, had also traveled to Bali. On August 12, von Wiese-Mack was killed at the St. Regis Bali Resort.

Hotel and taxi staff discovered that something was wrong after Schaefer and Mack left luggage with a taxi and did not return. Indonesian police arrested the pair the following day at another hotel. The investigation relied on hotel surveillance, witness accounts, forensic evidence and the defendants' own statements. This page does not reproduce the graphic details of the injuries or concealment.

Separate Indonesian trials

Schaefer and Mack were tried separately before the Denpasar District Court. In April 2015, the court found Schaefer guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced him to 18 years in prison. Mack received a 10-year sentence for her role in the planned killing; contemporary reporting described her liability as deliberately assisting or participating in the premeditated murder.

The distinction matters. Schaefer and Mack did not receive identical convictions or sentences, and later legal proceedings should not be retroactively substituted for the Indonesian judgments. The Indonesian cases nevertheless established criminal responsibility for both defendants in connection with von Wiese-Mack's death.

Heather Mack's release and U.S. prosecution

Mack served about seven years of her Indonesian sentence and was released in 2021. When she returned to the United States, federal authorities arrested her on charges tied to the killing of a U.S. national abroad.

In June 2023, Mack pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to kill a U.S. national. In January 2024, a U.S. federal judge sentenced her to 26 years in prison. The U.S. Department of Justice said the plea agreement admitted that Mack and Schaefer had planned the killing before it occurred. The U.S. sentence was legally separate from the Indonesian sentence she had already served.

Tommy Schaefer's later U.S. case

For years after the Indonesian conviction, Schaefer remained imprisoned in Indonesia. In February 2026, after serving approximately 11 years, he was released from Indonesian custody and deported to the United States. U.S. authorities then took him into federal custody.

On February 26, 2026, Schaefer pleaded not guilty to the pending U.S. federal charges. Those charges include allegations connected to conspiracy and the killing abroad. His Indonesian murder conviction is a completed adjudication; the newer U.S. charges are separate and, as of the latest reliable reporting reviewed for this page, remain allegations that must be proven in court. His U.S. trial was scheduled for January 2027.

What is established and what remains pending

There is no unresolved question about whether Indonesian courts reached judgments. Schaefer was convicted of premeditated murder and Mack was convicted for her role in the killing. Mack later entered a federal guilty plea to conspiracy and received a 26-year U.S. sentence.

The only material open legal issue in the current record concerns Schaefer's newer U.S. federal prosecution. Because he pleaded not guilty in that proceeding, this file distinguishes those pending allegations from his already-established Indonesian conviction.

Timeline

Current status

The Indonesian murder case is solved and adjudicated. Tommy Schaefer and Heather Mack were both convicted in Indonesia in 2015. Mack also has a later U.S. federal conspiracy conviction and 26-year sentence. Schaefer's separate U.S. prosecution remains pending, so this page does not treat those newer allegations as another conviction.