GUILTY Bali - Sheila von Wiese Mack, 62, found dead in suitcase, 12 Aug 2014 #3

[Kamille]

Well what I don't understand is that it was the body in the suitcase that set the investigation into motion. And when that happened they found the other evidence like bloody sheets and linens. So why do they have the bloody sheets and linens (see garbage bag in doorway) if they are just discovering SWM in the photos? The only way those pictures make sense is for those to be all the suitcases that were in the cab and for those pics to be happening while other investigators have headed back to the hotel. Still doesn't explain what is in the garbage bag.

Or did the police get called to the hotel and the story of the cab driver going to them is incorrect? Would they leave someone wrapped up like that for hours while they investigate so they can take all the evidence photos at once? And would they remove her from the bag at the police station and leave the bag behind to sit out in the sun?

I can see TS having the one small suitcase since he missed most of the trip, but does that mean HM and SWM packed all their stuff into one suitcase and each had a carry on as well? For 10 days? That's really travelling light.

MOO

 

[FormerOakParker]

There's nothing I've seen to indicate SWM and or HM had three matching pieces of luggage on their trip. They may have but I haven't seen anything to make me believe that to be true ... yet. :wave:

I very, very cautiously suggest a Google search of "body in suitcase", view images.
WARNING: not for the faint of heart; not at all pretty; extremely disturbing! uke:

Quester,
We see from photographs at least two of of three matching pieces in #396, and the suitcase containing SvWM looked just like these two, right?

Oh dear God. Saw the Examiner thumbnail of the video that has now been taken down of rear view photo of SvWM (if this is indeed her) in the suitcase, and can't un-see it. If this is SvWM, she's wearing a white/beige top and black pants. Any "half nakedness" might be if the top was open in the front. Quester is right. Sleuth this one with caution.

 

[Kamille]

And then there's this article...

Meanwhile, after about an hour, the taxi driver, tired of waiting, tried to unload the suitcase from his car. He saw the blood soaking the sheet wrapping the suitcase, so he and the hotel staff went looking for the couple. Only after they could not find them did they go to police station, arriving at about 1.45pm.
Police opened the suitcase and found the body of Mrs Mack stuffed inside. The blood was coming from a number of wounds to her head, which Mr Djoko says were caused by blunt force trauma. They do not yet have a murder weapon, but suspect that broken glass in Mrs Mack’s room, number 616, suggests it was a heavy glass object.
Mr Djoko says CCTV footage shows no people other than Mrs Mack, her daughter and Mr Schaeffer, entering the room.
Mr Djoko said hotel gardeners also found three suitcases full of the family’s belongings hidden in the garden. When they opened the suitcases they found a number of blood-soaked hotel towels that had apparently been used to try to clean up the blood in the room.*


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-po...ed-in-bali-20140814-103xzv.html#ixzz3FtVwrrzX

So how was the suitcase seeping blood if the body was wrapped up like that? From any article in the early days regarding finding the body in the suitcase, it is never mentioned that it was wrapped up.

MOO

 

[Quester]

Well what I don't understand is that it was the body in the suitcase that set the investigation into motion. And when that happened they found the other evidence like bloody sheets and linens. So why do they have the bloody sheets and linens (see garbage bag in doorway) if they are just discovering SWM in the photos? The only way those pictures make sense is for those to be all the suitcases that were in the cab and for those pics to be happening while other investigators have headed back to the hotel. Still doesn't explain what is in the garbage bag.

Or did the police get called to the hotel and the story of the cab driver going to them is incorrect? Would they leave someone wrapped up like that for hours while they investigate so they can take all the evidence photos at once? And would they remove her from the bag at the police station and leave the bag behind to sit out in the sun?

I can see TS having the one small suitcase since he missed most of the trip, but does that mean HM and SWM packed all their stuff into one suitcase and each had a carry on as well? For 10 days? That's really travelling light.

MOO

LE must have found lots of bloodied linens, more than just those used to wrap the body and the suitcase, is my only guess.

All good questions! Not many answers to those yet.

I can only guess the coroner drove to the police station where all the suitcases were then located and LE/coroner unwrapped the body, then coroner took only the body, not the suitcase, to be examined. All guesses.

 

[Quester]

Quester,
We see from photographs at least two of of three matching pieces in #396, and the suitcase containing SvWM looked just like these two, right?

Oh dear God. Saw the Examiner thumbnail of the video that has now been taken down of rear view photo of SvWM (if this is indeed her) in the suitcase, and can't un-see it. If this is SvWM, she's wearing a white/beige top and black pants. Any "half nakedness" might be if the top was open in the front. Quester is right. Sleuth this one with caution.

From #396, I assume you're referring to the following photo. The two left-most suitcases are from a matching set. I suggest the one on the left is the largest of the set and was the one which contained the body, note empty yellow plastic bag/material and the blue name tag:

Yes, I saw that photo of the body in the suitcase but I'm not sure it's her either. By the time I discovered that article, the video had already been removed as well.

 

[Quester]

And then there's this article...

Meanwhile, after about an hour, the taxi driver, tired of waiting, tried to unload the suitcase from his car. He saw the blood soaking the sheet wrapping the suitcase, so he and the hotel staff went looking for the couple. Only after they could not find them did they go to police station, arriving at about 1.45pm.
Police opened the suitcase and found the body of Mrs Mack stuffed inside. The blood was coming from a number of wounds to her head, which Mr Djoko says were caused by blunt force trauma. They do not yet have a murder weapon, but suspect that broken glass in Mrs Mack’s room, number 616, suggests it was a heavy glass object.
Mr Djoko says CCTV footage shows no people other than Mrs Mack, her daughter and Mr Schaeffer, entering the room.
Mr Djoko said hotel gardeners also found three suitcases full of the family’s belongings hidden in the garden. When they opened the suitcases they found a number of blood-soaked hotel towels that had apparently been used to try to clean up the blood in the room.*


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-po...ed-in-bali-20140814-103xzv.html#ixzz3FtVwrrzX

So how was the suitcase seeping blood if the body was wrapped up like that? From any article in the early days regarding finding the body in the suitcase, it is never mentioned that it was wrapped up.

MOO

IDK and I could be wrong about that being the body but at this point I do think it is it.

I can only imagine, based on the injuries inflicted, that there was quite a bit of blood.

Early mentions of the the wrapping included LE saying something like (paraphrased): premeditated? We can see how the body was wrapped. And, from various articles:

The 62-year-old's half-naked body ... was wrapped in a hotel bedsheet and tied up with duct tape,' said Inspector Djoko. 'There were blood stains all over the sheet.' ... the 5' 5" victim, was folded into the 3ft-long silver-coloured case ... but the lid would not close completely ... her alleged killers wrapped the suitcase in a sheet and pulled the cloth tight around ...
​

 

[Kamille]

I can't see any reason why that suitcase wouldn't be able to close with that yellow bundle in it so I'm choosing to believe that is not Sheila at this time. I hope this gets clarified. I have a feeling we're going to be sorely lacking for information when this goes to trial.

Anyone planning a trip to Bali? Hahaha

MOO

 

[Quester]

I can't see any reason why that suitcase wouldn't be able to close with that yellow bundle in it so I'm choosing to believe that is not Sheila at this time. I hope this gets clarified. I have a feeling we're going to be sorely lacking for information when this goes to trial.

Anyone planning a trip to Bali? Hahaha

MOO

I can't see why that suitcase wouldn't have closed completely either. I wonder if that detail somehow was a result of poor translation or a strange LE temporary explanation for why the suitcase was wrapped in a sheet, if it was indeed. ???

Haha, great suggestion! We need someone who speaks the language to go, sit in (if possible) on the proceedings and report back on WS!

 

[Mountain Misst]

Here's another pic of 'the' suitcase from another angle. We can see that it doesn't close anymore by the gape at the top.

 

[Orange Tabby]

The Blunt!

File this under Completely Pointless, but I believe I have found the blunt. This was entirely by accident, and happened as I was re-reading the many interesting and stimulating posts since the remarkable find by RK77 of the photo depicting the “Romantic wedding dinner on strand villa beach” at the St. Regis, and Tommy’s comment.

http://ink361.com/app/users/ig-1842...mmyexx/photos/ig-783510102234091598_184236523

You can see the blunt in the extreme northeast part of the photo, in the tree, immediately to the left of the last leaf in front of the tree trunk. The blunt is pointing more or less downwards (but at an angle matching the tree’s trunk), with its drawing end cut off by the top of the photo.

Because the cigar part of this illicit smoke is almost the same color as the tree, it is disguised quite well.

I’m glad we’ve finally settled that …

 

[Orange Tabby]

Has anyone listened to any of Tommy’s recordings? I did this afternoon.

I listened to what I assume is titled “Smyle.” It is the sound file with the legend “Tommy Exx w/Liv – Smyle prod. by Nate Fox” which I listened to directly from his Twitter page. It is the song about Rachel Smylie, the girlfriend who died in April in an auto accident in South Africa. There were a few things which struck me:

1. The music is rather nice, the organ (or synth set to an organ-like sound) is played well. The woman who sings (I assume “Liv&#8221 has a pleasing voice.

2. But Tommy, oh my! I don’t listen to this kind of music by choice, but merely living in this century means that anyone with working ears has heard a lot of it. Tommy completely lacks a sense of rhythm (and is always either ahead of or behind the beat as he speaks/raps). He is grabbing big breaths all the time, which distracts considerably from his message, and he sounds terribly rushed and uncomfortable. To me, it is an awful amateur performance.

3. The only reason I even bring up this song is that there is a line near the end where he mentions “diamonds in the sky” as part of his homage to Rachel. Do we actually know what diamonds represent to Tommy and his cohorts? This song would suggest that they are not a materialistic symbol at all but something quite different, perhaps a kind of happiness or even love, or maybe just some positive feeling or an attribute of a worthy soul.

 

[Orange Tabby]

I also listened to Tommy's “Oh Yes (freestyle)” which is remarkably trivial, but his breathing is much better and his voice actually comes off rather well. His poetry or text or rhymes (or whatever the correct term in hip hop is) fare less well, particularly because he insists on sometimes putting far too many syllables in lines, thus arbitrarily changing the metrical foot of his verse while the underlying meter of the music remains unchanged. I’ve certainly heard other hip hop artists using this technique, but a good performer makes the extra syllables work, with well executed rubato, for example. With Tommy, they sound awkward and unattractive, and I think this criticism may be true even by hip hop standards, not merely my own rather fussy ones. It’s a dud, without any doubt about it.

 

[SouthAussie]

Big day in Bali for Aussies, and others, today. It is the 12th anniversary of the Bali bombings, where we lost 88 people in a terror attack on the tourist precinct. Many Aussies in Kuta, Bali, to commemorate the day - as well as Aussies around Australia taking time out to remember.

Sorry for the O/T. Just thought you might like to know, as you are all so very familiar with Bali now.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/10/12/aust-marks-bali-bombings-12th-anniversary

 

[Orange Tabby]

Remember how, early on in this case, there was talk that it might be prosecuted in the United States, and that's why the FBI was there?

Michael Bachelard wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald on Aug. 16:

Head of Denpasar police Djoko Hari Utomo said the FBI were in Bali to “expedite the police investigation”. He said the involvement of Mack and Schaefer in any criminal activity in the United State was still “subject to ongoing investigation”.

“We are making no connection to anything in America. We’re just dealing with what happened here … We don't know what happened there,” Mr Djoko said.​

See: http://www.smh.com.au/world/autopsy...phyxiation-20140816-104y3z.html#ixzz3FutPiZGU

The assumption on this board, as I recall it, was that this was a reference to prior planning of the murder in the U.S. (Correct me if I've misremembered.)

But I’ve just re-read a piece in the Jakarta Post dated Aug 18 by Ni Komang Erviani which first says:

Denpasar Police chief Sr. Comr. Djoko Hari Utomo told journalists on Saturday that the FBI were assisting the police as the victim and suspects in the case were US citizens.
“The FBI have come to help us speed up the police investigation, because the suspects are American and the victim is also American,” Djoko said …​

But he goes on to write (I’ve made some cuts and the bolding is mine):

“The FBI came to coordinate, to find connections between this case and a case that they are investigating in the US. But they haven’t explained what that case is,” [head of forensics at Sanglah hospital, Ida Bagus Putu] Alit said. 



“The body will be handed over to the [US] consulate, to be taken to the US by the FBI. They’ve said they will conduct further examinations of the body in the US, to find connections to the criminal case in the US,” he added. 



When asked, Djoko declined to explain about the investigation by the FBI into a crime in the US that is allegedly related to the Bali case.

“We’re only looking at what happened here in Bali. We don’t know what happened there,” he said.
 When asked whether it was possible that the suspects would be processed in the US under that country’s legal system, Djoko said “It is not our authority to convey that.”​

This potentially puts the FBI involvement in a new light, to me at least. The statement “…a case they are investigating in the U.S.” suggests an investigation initiated before Sheila’s murder. And the fact that Alit says that the FBI didn’t tell them what the case was, implies it isn’t the pre-planning of Sheila’s murder.

See: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/18/fbi-assisting-bali-police-murder-investigation.html

Of course we’ve never heard again of this “other case.” What could it possibly have been? Until the murder, Heather's and Tommy's misdeeds were not of a kind to interest the FBI. Were these statements by Indonesian authorities yet again unreliable? I tend to think that, since Bali LE might have imagined threats of G-men breathing down their necks would put pressure on the duo to talk about something other than nonexistent dangerous pregnancies, needle people, and racially-insensitive dinners.

 

[Curious Me]

I'll have to catch up tomorrow. At least, I can go to bed relieved that the blunt has been found.

Great job and Orange Tabby wins the prize! No, it's not a blunt, it's a crown!

Here it is, the royal blunt finder crown. :goldcrown:

:giggle: I get silly late at night after 3 a.m........................................fftobed:

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Here's another pic of 'the' suitcase from another angle. We can see that it doesn't close anymore by the gape at the top.

http://www.thesoutheastasiaweekly.c...-found-in-suitcase-on-indonesias-bali-island/

Another close up pic of suitcase, seems like same photographer as MMisst pic.

 

[gracehatter]

This potentially puts the FBI involvement in a new light, to me at least. The statement “…a case they are investigating in the U.S.” suggests an investigation initiated before Sheila’s murder. And the fact that Alit says that the FBI didn’t tell them what the case was, implies it isn’t the pre-planning of Sheila’s murder.

See: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/18/fbi-assisting-bali-police-murder-investigation.html

Of course we’ve never heard again of this “other case.” What could it possibly have been? Until the murder, Heather's and Tommy's misdeeds were not of a kind to interest the FBI. Were these statements by Indonesian authorities yet again unreliable? I tend to think that, since Bali LE might have imagined threats of G-men breathing down their necks would put pressure on the duo to talk about something other than nonexistent dangerous pregnancies, needle people, and racially-insensitive dinners.

I noticed that too the first time I read it but had forgotten about it, so thanks for bringing it up Tabby. Well, we know it would have to be a Federal violation of some kind and simple pre-planning of homicide within the state of Illinois won't cut it. I can come up with only two possibilities:

1) Something to do with SWM's money...which involved some form of fraud. HM stealing in the past that we are aware of involved theft of things she could lay her hands on easily in the house. CC's, cash, jewels. Could she have upped her game to finance an extended overseas trip and it involves that in an amount over 10k? Maybe HM got her hands on a bunch of checks and had TS and or friends involved in cashing them?? Did Shelia have some kind of bonds or stocks whereby HM got access to her accounts? Hence Tommy saying "I may not come back". I've always been on the fence about that statement. Is it evidence of intent or foreboding? Personally, neither of these two strike me as bright enough to pull off anything very sophisticated.

2) Drug trafficking. We know at least TM and his buddies are smokers, are they dealing on a larger scale and crossing state lines? I don't know if the pictures of dope we saw were real or just stock pics. The one with the medical marijuana looked legit but that's not generally dealt in quantity because of the limits that can be grown. Likewise the photo of the $100 bills, is it actually Tommy holding the cash?

Lastly, I suppose if TS and TM were stupid enough to have discussions about actually planning the murder of SWM over the internet, that gets you there but doesn't fit because the FBI legate in Jakarta could and generally would share that information with local police to bolster their case.

 

[gracehatter]

Yes, I saw that photo of the body in the suitcase but I'm not sure it's her either. By the time I discovered that article, the video had already been removed as well.

For once I'm glad I wasn't on the computer, the temptation to look would have been too great. LE has never identified what clothing SWM had on but the description 'half naked body" has been consistent. If a body had on a pair of pants and a top as you guys are describing would some one call that half naked if the clothing had just ridden up or down? If she was wearing that does that mean she had not dressed for bed yet? I keep thinking a nightgown worn sans underwear that was all bunched up once they had actually managed to get the body in the suitcase would easily account for the half naked statement.

 

[Kamille]

Here's another pic of 'the' suitcase from another angle. We can see that it doesn't close anymore by the gape at the top.

I don't know how to explain it but these hard shell suitcases have expandable canvas where they zip up. The suitcase in that picture is fully zipped up. What you are seeing is the expandable canvas. That suitcase can actually get about 4 inches wider while still zipped up. Those suitcases also will not stand up unless they are zipped on two sides at least as the weight of the hard shell against the wheels causes it to automatically open and fall over.

MOO

ETA: Link to a picture of a Heys sidewinder suitcase when it's expanded... http://www.discountgolfworld.com/content/heys-luggage/sidewinder-tsa-luggage-set-side.jpg

 

[Kamille]

The Blunt!

File this under Completely Pointless, but I believe I have found the blunt. This was entirely by accident, and happened as I was re-reading the many interesting and stimulating posts since the remarkable find by RK77 of the photo depicting the “Romantic wedding dinner on strand villa beach” at the St. Regis, and Tommy’s comment.



You can see the blunt in the extreme northeast part of the photo, in the tree, immediately to the left of the last leaf in front of the tree trunk. The blunt is pointing more or less downwards (but at an angle matching the tree’s trunk), with its drawing end cut off by the top of the photo.

Because the cigar part of this illicit smoke is almost the same color as the tree, it is disguised quite well.

I’m glad we’ve finally settled that …

I still just see tree bark. Lol. I think they smoked it and you can see the blunt in their eyes. Hahaha

MOO