GUILTY Bali - Sheila von Wiese Mack, 62, found dead in suitcase, 12 Aug 2014 #1

[Jersey*Girl]

I'm wondering about that too, I read one fight was over HM doing/not doing chores, which to be honest is pretty common, so why it escalated to violence I can't understand. The first time the hitting started was when intervention was needed.

Probably whenever her mother said 'no' to any request, so basically any time her mother was being just that, a mother, HM would give her a beating. Absolutely shocking and disturbing behaviour.

I would have given up a long time ago, what's the point in trying to love/discipline a child who's then going to knock my teeth out, my lawd. :scared: jmo

I keep wondering now if its possible Heather may have had something like ADHD with ODD or some other type of behavioral issue on top of it that went undiagnosed and untreated. Paired with being overly spoiled and not made to serve consequences could have certainly added to Heather's mania bc she sees no repercussions except that police get called and nothing's ever significantly done.

 

[Jersey*Girl]

This doesn't really relate to what you were saying, but...
The father was 76 yrs. old when he died, IIRC. He was quite up there in years to have such a young child.
And Sheila was 43 when she had Heather. Having a snotty teenager when you're going through menopause can be especially trying.

I don't understand what Heather had to testify as a key witness that would have screwed her up or caused depression. I thought children are not usually put through the wringer in being a key witness. Why mention it as some excuse for her behavior later? It seems odd.

Seems very odd.

 

[PrimeSuspect]

This doesn't really relate to what you were saying, but...
The father was 76 yrs. old when he died, IIRC. He was quite up there in years to have such a young child.
And Sheila was 43 when she had Heather. Having a snotty teenager when you're going through menopause can be especially trying.

I don't understand what Heather had to testify as a key witness that would have screwed her up or caused depression. I thought children are not usually put through the wringer in being a key witness. Why mention it as some excuse for her behavior later? It seems odd.

Maybe HM had this over her mother, she did this for her and so her mother owed her? HM saw herself as equal or above her mother from an early age? Just throwing out some ideas. :thinking:

 

[SouthAussie]

Hmmm, now I have another question... James Mack ended up confined to a wheelchair. How long after the cut on his foot did he become restricted to a wheelchair for mobility? Just bc he couldn't use one foot doesn't mean he couldn't use the other, so I do wonder why he didn't use something to aid him in walking. I also wonder why they would feel he couldn't go anywhere just bc he was using a wheelchair.

Apparently James become partially paralysed .. and that confined him to the wheelchair. It states this in the lawsuit .. which is at this link.

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/il-court-of-appeals/1016047.html

Sheila testified that James is partially paralyzed and that he is unable to use the bathroom and must use a urine bottle when traveling.   James testified that he must switch to a smaller wheelchair when he boards airplanes and must carefully monitor what he eats and drinks.

 


However .. he had to admit that he had been on trips since he was injured.

James testified that both his wife and daughter would accompany him to Miami, Florida, to litigate the suit because he requires Sheila's help in traveling and his second-grade daughter would have nobody to take care of her in Chicago.   Nonetheless, plaintiffs admitted that since his injury, James had taken trips to New York, Denver and Cancun.

 

[ezywalker]

I've never heard of anyone being returned to their home land from Indonesia to stand trial ... I think it would be resisted heavily by the local police there, if the National Police tried to pull a stunt like that.

Boy, if that did happen, could you imagine the floodgate that would open? Australia would sure as heck start pushing hard to have our people brought home for trial (particularly as we do not have the death penalty here, and some of our people in jail there have death penalty sentences) ... after all, we have an extradition treaty and neighbouring/regional relationship with Indonesia ... the US don't even have that. It would be seen as quite outrageous, I think.

I'm May be different if the U.S could argue the crime planning originated in the U.S?

 

[nightwatch]

Thank you.

Speaking of that, I wonder if any weed showed up in their system... I also wonder how many outraged Americans sent screen captures of all of their weed & partying pictures to the Indonesian authorities in charge of this case. I mean, now knowing they murdered Sheila, and how she was murdered, I'm sure some are so outraged that they'd do that, especially considering Indonesian drug laws.

Jumping off your post. I don't think those two had drugs, alcohol perhaps. Heather had flown in two days before S arrived iirc. They had to get through security and searches so no smuggling of drugs there. Where was there time to go out in a strange city to ask about and buy drugs before they killed Mrs Mack?

Maybe they could have taken drugs before they left US, idk. Soaussie can you help? How easy is it to buy drugs around the area of the hotel? Just don't think drugs are the excuse here she had been beating on her mother for years. Jmo

ciao

 

[tristessa]

This is all just so crazy. The police reports show ALOT of discord but man when viewing Heather's videos she seems absolutely normal. Some enjoyable. The videos with her mom seem happy, not Heather giggling viciously, but instead as though it was funny bc her mom said the f word lol. The videos with her friends seem normal. Even the ones of Heather by herself cussing seem normal. Lots of kids do that. So why the night and day in Heather when it came to her mother? Why is it her mom that's the person she lashed out on whenever something didn't go right? Is it bc of it being such a vicious cycle?

did you see the one where she shows her mother with her 'trainer' (unsure what for)....for a few seconds you just see sheila being lifted strangely with her neck bent by the trainer person.....I just thought it was kind of a weird foreboding. Creepy how her daughter ended up breaking her neck.

She does seem a bit delinquent on some videos the ones where she's constantly saying the word '****' etc.... just sounds stupid.

IMO they probably both did the murdering, If u didn't know the details it would be easier to say it was Tommy since he obviously must be stronger being 6'3"...but seeing all the reports about Heather actually managing to break Sheila's arm just by pushing her - Heather must have way more brute force rage/anger in her than immediately comes across. I am guessing TS did most of the grabbing of suitcases just because he's presumably bigger and stronger & probably made him feel better......it must have been a lot of his effort actually managing to squash her body in it, it looked pretty tiny & Sheila was not obese, but did not seem as tiny as a 3ft baggage thing at 63 either.
I still think it could have easily been about the pregnancy too, at least that way Tommy would be totally angry if Sheila even suggested abortion...which probably most fairly well-offish parents would suggest to their irresponsible young adult kids first, even if they do come around later.

 

[nightwatch]

Not sure but I think those numbers for the Mack's were after taxes as well. So they got more but some went to taxes?

I may be wrong but I don't think settlements are taxed. Insurance co may demand some payment. Jmo

ciao

 

[Hiandmighty]

Settlements are taxed over the portion owed to reimburse the insurance company and what is above pain and suffering. I believe, could be wrong. My understanding is that at least a portion of a settlement can be taxed, especially large settlements. In other words, punitive damage settlements are taxable. So it depends on how the settlement was broken down.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Hmmm, now I have another question... James Mack ended up confined to a wheelchair. How long after the cut on his foot did he become restricted to a wheelchair for mobility? Just bc he couldn't use one foot doesn't mean he couldn't use the other, so I do wonder why he didn't use something to aid him in walking. I also wonder why they would feel he couldn't go anywhere just bc he was using a wheelchair.

Having said that, if he was confined to a wheelchair for multiple years, and he wasn't moving his legs around, an embolism could have formed. That's common in sedentary people. However, it's also common that someone sedentary may need some kind of medicine to either control or prevent a pulmonary embolism.

Sheila spoke of how their daughter was a key witness in the "wrongful death" suit. Was she a key witness bc her life was affected by her dad not being alongside them wherever they went, only movies and the like but not ventures or excursions when they went sightseeing? That's ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. People in wheelchairs raise children every single day year in and year out. Look at all the wonderful service people going back to their families with missing limbs for crying out loud. Or people losing limbs to cancer or other debilitating diseases.

Heather was a spoiled rotten brat and its such a shame that she was never really taught from a young age how to behave or control herself with respect.

Taking into account that he was 76 at the time of his death, mobility on one foot/leg may have been difficult or unsafe for him.

 

[Leomoon80]

Hmmm, now I have another question... James Mack ended up confined to a wheelchair. How long after the cut on his foot did he become restricted to a wheelchair for mobility? Just bc he couldn't use one foot doesn't mean he couldn't use the other, so I do wonder why he didn't use something to aid him in walking. I also wonder why they would feel he couldn't go anywhere just bc he was using a wheelchair.

Having said that, if he was confined to a wheelchair for multiple years, and he wasn't moving his legs around, an embolism could have formed. That's common in sedentary people. However, it's also common that someone sedentary may need some kind of medicine to either control or prevent a pulmonary embolism.

Sheila spoke of how their daughter was a key witness in the "wrongful death" suit. Was she a key witness bc her life was affected by her dad not being alongside them wherever they went, only movies and the like but not ventures or excursions when they went sightseeing? That's ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. People in wheelchairs raise children every single day year in and year out. Look at all the wonderful service people going back to their families with missing limbs for crying out loud. Or people losing limbs to cancer or other debilitating diseases.

Heather was a spoiled rotten brat and its such a shame that she was never really taught from a young age how to behave or control herself with respect.

REF:

Ok, now this is really starting to paint a picture, albeit a confusing one... From the link claudicci just supplied, it informs Sheila changed the lawsuit to be a wrongful death suit once James died. However, in her very own words with CaxtonClub, she informs he died of an unrelated condition. So I'm thinking she tried to change the lawsuit to a wrongful death suit but it wasn't proven to be the case, and that maybe only medical negligence or something like that was proven, heck maybe bc James cut his foot on the pool Royal Caribbean was liable for that but not for his death years later, leaving Sheila with a less than stellar payout than she was looking for. *****

Sounds to me after reading the document that is typed on 11/21/2010; that the lawsuit "change" to wrongful death and trying to pin his death on the cut incident, may have been only a "convenience for more $$$".

If so, then the daughter was raised to believe that $$$$ buys everything and is everything in life. just IMO of course!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/237232396/Oak-Park-Police-Reports-Sheila-Von-Wiese-Mack-Heather-Mack On 11/21/2010: Sheila told the police that Heather was a key suspect in the death of her father in Greece! (so which was it? The foot that led to the heart attack or his daughter?)

CORRECTION: I read it wrong, it says, "key witness not suspect" sorry folks!

 

[Hiandmighty]

According to this report, the American atty hasn't left yet for Bali:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/21/us-indonesia-crime-idUSKBN0GL19V20140821

"The couple's police-appointed lawyer, Haposan Sihombing, said he spoke with Elkin on Wednesday and the American lawyer had not yet confirmed he would be travelling to Indonesia.

Sihombing said Mack had refused to talk to him.

"I again tried to explain to Heather that under Indonesian law, if Michael Elkin does come, he could not act as her lawyer," Sihombing told Reuters.

"I told her this is being uncooperative. You must not be secretive and be open about this."

Asked if Mack was sure Elkin would come, Haposan said: "She is sure he will come and has said that Elkin advised her to give no statement until he arrives."

Mack and Schaefer have been placed on suicide watch and the two have not been allowed to see each other, despite repeated requests from Mack."

 

[nightwatch]

Here is another article about Kerobokan prison .. for other details about incarceration there. The article is only about a year old.

http://www.news.com.au/world/harsh-...to-death-in-bali/story-fndir2ev-1226559942582

I'm confused, this article says gloom the previous article says sorority house.. Which is it? Jmo

ciao

 

[Quester]

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

8/15/14: http://abc7chicago.com/news/chicago-attorney-heather-mack-did-not-kill-her-mother-in-bali/262464/

* * *

BBM - Revisiting and upon reread of the above statement, they don't really identify the donor of the "broken left-hand fingernail", do they?

Could that broken fingernail have been HM's???

 

[Quester]

... “The victim was last spotted on CCTV at 3:45 a.m. (Tuesday), and three hours later she called receptionists asking to wake her up at 10 a.m.,” Alit said. “However, she did not respond when awakened.” ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...9b51f8-254b-11e4-8b10-7db129976abb_story.html

* * *

Revisiting the above quote as well, "The victim", "she called" and "she did not respond" is somewhat vague.

Could Alit have been referring to HM since HM/TS' first cockamamie story included the three masked gang men who attacked them, or whatever, and therefore she/they could have been generously cloaked under the term of "victim"???

ETA: updating timeline to reflect the exact quote above.

 

[nightwatch]

Settlements are taxed over the portion owed to reimburse the insurance company and what is above pain and suffering. I believe, could be wrong. My understanding is that at least a portion of a settlement can be taxed, especially large settlements. In other words, punitive damage settlements are taxable. So it depends on how the settlement was broken down.

I see how confusing settlement and taxes can be. Wonder if heather thought there was a lot more money in her mother's estate. That could be another problem, if Heather knew all the financial details. Jmo can one inherit money from the person they killed? Jmt

http://thelawdictionary.org/article...nal-injury-settlement-under-the-u-s-tax-code/


ciao

 

[gitana1]

Wonder if Sheila took a sleeping pill. Some people wander around or wake up and eat while half asleep. Also wonder if she was drugged or encouraged to drink more than usual. I was hoping she didn't suffer knowing who was attacking her.

More I think about it, I'm afraid she was aware.
She tried to defend herself.

And she was apparently standing up when attacked.

 

[Curious Me]

"The body of a Chicago woman murdered and found stuffed in a suitcase on the island of Bali last week has been returned to the U.S., where a second autopsy will be conducted, her brother said Wednesday.

William Wiese told the Tribune the FBI accompanied his sister’s body back from Indonesia on a flight that arrived Wednesday at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. He said an autopsy will be performed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Wiese said he suspects Schaefer showed up in Bali without his sister’s prior knowledge. The brother said von Wiese-Mack was excited about the trip when they last spoke.

“I think she was hoping it would be a fresh start for her and Heather,” he said. “She was such an optimist. She was forever trying to help that girl.”

Wiese said the family is planning a September memorial service in Chicago."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-bali-suitcase-murder-20140820-story.html

BBM

Thanks. I'm relieved that Sheila has this brother and other family members seeking justice for her. It must be hard to accept that Heather probably had something to do with her mother's death.
Good article, and a comfort to know family members can provide some history.

Body of Chicago woman killed in Bali returned to U.S. for second autopsy http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-bali-suitcase-murder-20140820-story.html

"In the family’s first interview since Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s body was discovered at a luxury hotel, Wiese stopped short of blaming his sister’s pregnant daughter, who along with her boyfriend has been detained for their suspected role in a murder that has attracted international coverage."

“We’re really in a waiting pattern to see what develops in the investigation and the judicial process,” he said.

also

Sounds like Sheila didn't expect TS to show up on this trip. It's something I've brought up before. She might've just found out he was along for the ride, and that she even paid for his plane ticket,
and was upset. Then, the arguments about who pays for the room. Did she die within 7 or 8 hrs. of him arriving there, or do I have that wrong? Most interested in knowing what his idea of this trip was by showing up, and saying way prior that he might not come back.

"Wiese said he suspects Schaefer showed up in Bali without his sister’s prior knowledge. The brother said von Wiese-Mack was excited about the trip when they last spoke."

 

[Hiandmighty]

I'm guessing Sheila figured out when TS showed up that she (stolen) paid for his ticket.

Where have any of you found good comments (ESP. From locals) about the family? I mean, aside from here? I'm glad I found this web page... I love picking apart mysteries like this case.

 

[Curious Me]

I'm guessing Sheila figured out when TS showed up that she (stolen) paid for his ticket.

Where have any of you found good comments (ESP. From locals) about the family? I mean, aside from here? I'm glad I found this web page... I love picking apart mysteries like this case.

:Welcome1: Hiandmighty :greetings: