April 21--On the eve of an anticipated verdict for a Chicago teen charged with killing her mother on the resort island of Bali, the slain woman's sister pleaded with Indonesian officials to hold her niece and the girl's boyfriend accountable.
In a three-page letter to the Tribune, Debbi Curran was critical of the prosecution's request for leniency for the young couple despite describing the crime as premeditated and sadistic. She complained that Indonesian authorities never contacted family or local police, who could document her sister's tumultuous relationship with her daughter.
The three-judge panel in Denpasar District Court may announce its verdict as early as Tuesday. Heather Mack and Tommy Schaefer face a possible firing squad if convicted.
But, in seeking a guilty verdict, Indonesian prosecutors last month recommended a 15-year sentence for Mack and 18 years for Schaefer. Prosecutors said the defendants are remorseful. They also cited the fact that Mack recently gave birth to a daughter, Stella.
Curran, of St. Louis, questioned whether the $120,000 her niece so far has received from her nearly $1.6 million trust fund has influenced the criminal trial. Lawyers in the trust case have raised repeated bribery concerns but, without proof, a Cook County judge allowed Mack limited access to the trust fund.
"There are no words to describe how horrific this crime was," said Curran, 60, in a letter to the Tribune. "It does not matter how much money a person has nor does it matter if they are new parents. What matters are their actions before and after the murder."
She continued: "The punishment should fit the crime. We can only hope that the $120,000 has not and will not affect the outcome of this case and that the Indonesian judges will reach a fair verdict based on the evidence and impose punishment to the fullest extent of the law. The eyes of the world are watching what Indonesia will do."
The beaten body of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, was found inside a suitcase in the trunk of a taxi outside a posh hotel in August. Police said the young couple told the taxi driver they would return after checking out of the hotel, but they instead slipped out a back door after staff refused access to the mother's security box holding their passports.
Officers found Mack and Schaefer sleeping in a budget hotel about 6 miles away the next day. Police have said Mack, 19, and Schaefer, 21, of Oak Park, initially told them that gang members committed the slaying but they managed to escape.
However, in recent courtroom testimony, Schaefer admitted inflicting the fatal blows with the metal handle of a heavy fruit bowl. He said it was in self-defense after von Wiese-Mack learned of her daughter's pregnancy and began choking him. Schaefer said she insulted him with a racial slur and threatened to harm the unborn baby.
Mack testified that she hid in the hotel bathroom and that they both tried to revive her mother afterward.
Lawyers for Mack said the young mother wants to ensure her daughter is cared for in the future. They are filing paperwork to dedicate one-third of the trust fund to Mack's child.
Curran isn't convinced of her niece's remorse. Besides the defendants' conflicting statements to police, Curran said, the fact that Mack never reached out to family since the slaying indicates a guilty conscience.
"Wouldn't a truly remorseful teenager (who has a cellphone in prison) have called me as her aunt and her second mother to grieve?" Curran said in the letter. "Wouldn't she call her cousins or friends and cry? ... Any reasonable person would be concerned with the turn of events since this large sum of money has been delivered to Heather's lawyer in Indonesia."
She also questioned why Mack never called police or the U.S. Consulate. In an earlier interview with the Tribune, Mack said she and her boyfriend repeatedly called police afterward, but they received an answering machine each time. Mack said she loved her mother and thinks of her every day.
cmgutowski@tribpub.com
