Tommy Schaefer left Chicago on a flight to sunny Bali nearly 12 years ago.
He returned this week in FBI custody, charged with murder conspiracy in the bludgeoning death of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, the mother of his then-girlfriend, Heather Mack, a macabre crime that has made international headlines for more than a decade.
On Thursday, Schaefer was led into a Chicago federal courtroom dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackled at the ankles. He blew a kiss to his mother seated across the courtroom and sat swiveling in his chair for a moment. When the case was called, he stood and walked with a slight limp up to the lectern.
Schaefer, 32, initially said he wanted to represent himself in the case, asking U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly if “anything negative” could happen to him if he spoke on his own behalf.
“Where my life is on the line, I’d rather speak for myself,” he said, leaning over to reach the microphone while keeping his hands clasped behind his back.
When Kennelly asked him about that preference, however, Schaefer acknowledged: “I’m not really sure how everything goes.”
Kennelly told Schaefer he actually had just said out loud a really good reason “why you should not represent yourself,” adding the charges were serious and would take a good lawyer with knowledge of the legal system to sort through.
Schaefer then agreed to let appointed attorney Matthew Madden represent him at least temporarily and entered a plea of not guilty through the attorney.
Prosecutors are seeking to have Schaefer, who faces up to life in prison on the main charge of conspiracy to murder a U.S. citizen on foreign soil, held pending trial as a danger to the community and a flight risk.
Schaefer waived his right to a detention hearing for now but might ask for bond at a later date, Madden told the judge.
Kennelly set a tentative trial date for Jan. 11, 2027.
After the brief hearing, Schaefer’s mother, Kia Walker, left the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse without speaking to reporters.
A spokesperson for von Wiese-Mack’s family said they had no comment on Schaefer’s case.
Schaefer’s long-awaited appearance in a U.S. courtroom was the latest in a sensational legal saga that captured world attention as the sordid details of the crime — and the underlying family turmoil — were splashed on tabloid covers.
Authorities alleged Schaefer and Mack conspired to kill her mother in order to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund set up after her father’s death.
Mack was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Indonesia but released early for good behavior. The FBI arrested her when she landed at O’Hare International Airport in 2021 on a federal indictment against her and Schaefer that had been filed under seal while they were overseas.
In pleading guilty in 2023, Mack admitted to a horrific set of facts outlined in a lengthy plea agreement, including that she secretly flew Schaefer to Bali using her mother’s credit card and that they texted each other repeatedly about their plan, right up until Mack and her mother were alone in their hotel room.
“i need your help,” Mack texted Schaefer, according to the plea agreement. “you could just put your hand over her and i could grab her body.”
“must knock her out,” Schaefer replied. “I’m finding something right now … I’ll do it.”
Not long afterward, Schaefer entered the hotel room and beat von Wiese-Mack to death with the metal handle of a fruit bowl, according to the plea. An autopsy determined she suffered multiple facial and skull fractures and also had defensive injuries, the plea stated.
Together, Schaefer and Mack put the body in a suitcase and loaded it into the trunk of a taxi at the hotel. They tried to get away in the taxi, but the driver wouldn’t accept their fare; instead, they got out of the cab and abandoned the suitcase. Mack later tried to claim that armed men had broken into their room and kidnapped her mother.
While the couple were in custody together in Indonesia, Mack gave birth to their daughter, Stella, who by local custom was allowed to live with her mother behind bars until the age of 2. At that point, she gave the toddler to a foster parent.
After a lengthy custody battle in Cook County, Stella was placed with Mack’s cousin in Colorado.
In January 2024, Kennelly sentenced Mack to 26 years in federal prison. Records show she’s serving her time at a medium-security facility in West Virginia and is eligible for release in March 2044, when she’ll be 48.
Schaefer, meanwhile, admitted in Indonesia criminal court to fatally beating von Wiese-Mack and was sentenced to 18 years. He was released early for good behavior and ordered deported to the U.S. earlier this week, records show.
Federal prosecutors in Chicago also charged Schaefer’s cousin, Robert Bibbs, with helping in the murder plot. The FBI learned of Bibbs’ involvement after analyzing text messages found on Schaefer’s phone.
Bibbs served a nine-year prison sentence in Michigan for coaching the defendants on how to carry out the murder in return for a share of the anticipated multimillion-dollar estate.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
