CHICAGO—The American woman accused of helping to kill her mother and stuffing her body in a suitcase during a luxury vacation to Bali nine years ago changed her plea to guilty in Chicago federal court on Friday.
Heather Mack, 27, was convicted in Indonesia in 2015 of being an accessory to Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s murder with her then-boyfriend in a bid to gain access to a $1.5 million trust fund. Mack, then 18 and pregnant, covered her mother’s mouth in a hotel room while Tommy Schaefer bludgeoned Wiese-Mack with a fruit bowl, prosecutors say.
Mack stood before U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly in orange jail garb and orange slippers as he asked her questions. She spoke confidently and calmly as the judge asked whether she was giving up her right to remain silent at the motion hearing. “Yes, your honor,” Mack responded from a podium….