FBI assisting Bali police in murder investigation

DENPASAR. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is helping the Bali Police investigation into the murder of Sheila von Weise Mack, a US woman whose body was found in a suitcase at The St. Regis Bali Resort in Nusa Dua on Tuesday.

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 after a meeting about the results of an autopsy conducted on the victim’s body at Sanglah General Hospital.

Police have named the victim’s daughter, Heather Lois Mack, 19, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, as suspects in the case.

The couple allegedly killed the 62-year-old woman and placed her body in a silver-colored suitcase, which they put in the trunk of a taxi at The St. Regis on Tuesday afternoon. They then left the hotel, where they had been vacationing, via the beach

“We’ve just had a meeting to discuss the situation, particularly related to the autopsy,” Djoko said. One FBI representative was also present at the meeting.

Djoko said that the FBI representative had arrived in Bali on Friday. However, Djoko refused to elaborate on the assistance provided by the FBI. “Everything that we need,” Djoko said when asked what assistance the FBI was providing.

Meanwhile, the head of the forensics team at Sanglah hospital, Ida Bagus Putu Alit, said the meeting discussed the autopsy results.

The autopsy found that the victim died due to an obstruction of the respiratory tract, which was caused by a broken nose. “The broken nose caused bleeding. The blood blocked the respiratory tract resulting in death,” Alit said.

The autopsy also found a broken bone in the victim’s neck, and several wounds to the left arm, an indication that the victim appeared to have tried to defend herself.

The autopsy also found that the victim was hit while she was upright. “She died rapidly after her nose was hit causing bleeding. We estimate that she died between 6.45 am and 10 a.m. in the morning. She had not had breakfast when the incident happened,” he said.

Alit confirmed that the meeting was also attended by an FBI representative.

“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,” Alit said.

Alit said the victim’s body would be taken to the US by the FBI, to be examined there. “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.

The body is expected to be sent to the US on Monday.

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.”

Djoko added that the suspects had not confessed that they had killed the victim. “We are not pursuing a confession. If every criminal confessed, that would be amazing,” Djoko said.

The suspects are currently refusing to be interrogated as they are waiting for their lawyer from the US. Although the police have appointed a lawyer for the couple, they have insisted that they will wait for their lawyer. (Ni Komang Erviani)