Heather Mack: accomplice to Bali “case murder” released early

An American woman convicted of helping kill her mother in Bali was released early.

Heather Mack was found guilty of witnessing the 2014 high-profile murder that saw her mother’s body stuffed into a suitcase.

Mack was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released early Friday morning.

Dubbed “suitcase murder”, the case shook the Indonesian island, which is not known for violent crime.

Mack, then 19, had traveled to Bali for a vacation with her then 21-year-old boyfriend Tommy Schaefer and his mother, wealthy socialite and academic Sheila von Wiese-Mack.

After a heated argument with Mrs. von Wiese-Mack, Schaefer beat her to death with a fruit basket in their hotel room at a five-star resort.

He claimed he defended himself after Ms. von Wiese-Mack got angry after learning her daughter was pregnant.

Mack and Schaefer then stuffed his body into a suitcase, dumped it in the trunk of a taxi, and escaped.

They were found by the Bali police days later, hiding in another hotel.

Schaefer was eventually sentenced to 18 years for the murder. Mack received a shorter prison sentence as it turned out he had played a minor role.

Prison officials said Friday that Mack’s sentence was reduced due to good behavior. He is now awaiting deportation to the United States.

Reduction of the sentence is common in Indonesia.

Mack, who was pregnant at the time of the murder, later gave birth in prison.

It is unclear whether her six-year-old daughter, who lived in a foster family, will join her. But Mack’s lawyer told AFP that he wants his daughter to stay in Bali to avoid being “persecuted by the (US) media.”

Mack has given media interviews over the years from prison, where he talked about the incident and his troubled relationship with his mother.