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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
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Wayan Sukarda & Sultan Anshori & Milo Boyd

Teen killer who stuffed mum's body into suitcase released early for good behaviour

An American woman dubbed the "suitcase killer" who stuffed her mum's body into a suitcase has been released from prison after six years inside.

Heather Mack was jailed along with her boyfriend in 2015 for helping to kill her mother and put the remains in a suitcase on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Swarmed by reporters, Mack left Bali's Kerobokan prison early on Friday.

The grisly case captured global attention in 2014 after Mack, just 18 at the time, went on holiday with her mum, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, and then boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer.

Schaefer killed Sheila by beating her to death with a fruit bowl and then they both stuffed her blood-stained body into a suitcase and dumped it in the back of a taxi.

They were found by Bali police days later, hiding out at another hotel, having gone on the run.

Mack was locked up at the age of 19 (AFP via Getty Images)

Schaefer carried out the murder in a rage following an argument - but it had been something Mack says the couple had been planning for some time.

The daughter, who was pregnant when she carried out the sickening crime, was jailed for 10 years and gave birth in prison.

She was allowed to raise her daughter in jail until she was two, when the little girl was taken to live with a local woman, who brought her for weekly visits to see her mum behind bars.

She has been released early for good behaviour (AFP via Getty Images)

Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years for premeditated murder.

Kerobokan prison chief for women inmates, Lili, said on Friday that Mack was given a 34-month remission for good behaviour.

She said Mack was religious and participated in fashion and dance activities in prison.

Lawyer Yulius told AFP in August that Mack would be deported back to the U.S. upon her release.

Whether she wants to go is a different matter.

Mack with her mom Chicago socialite Sheila von Weise Mack (© NBC)

During her time inside she told the Daily Mail : "The people are nicer and it's better and safer than back home. Back there I was getting in with a bad crowd.

"It sounds horrendous and it is cramped. But everyone looks after each other, no one goes hungry."

It is not clear whether Mack will be immediately reunited with her daughter.

Mack and Schaefer's case was investigated by Indonesian authorities for four months, along with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Mack raised her child in prison for two years (Getty Images)

Von Wiese-Mack's body was found at the hotel with bruises on her arms and broken fingers.

Evidence submitted to court included CCTV footage showing Schaefer and Mack speaking to a taxi driver after dropping the bloodied suitcase.

Mack and her mother had a troubled relationship and von Wiese-Mack had frequently reported that her daughter punched and bit her, according to police reports cited by Chicago media.

She had been forced to share her cell with 21 other women and befriended Brit drug smuggling gran, Lindsay Sandiford, who is awaiting execution by firing squad for trying to bring £2million of cocaine into Indonesia.

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