Man Denies Police Claim That He Confessed To Killing Girlfriend’s Mother, Attorney Says

Man Denies Police Claim That He Confessed To Killing Girlfriend’s Mother, Attorney Says

AP
Posted: Updated: 
Indonesia US Woman Dead

A U.S. attorney for a Chicago man accused of killing his girlfriend’s mother on the Indonesian resort island of Bali said Wednesday that his client is denying a police claim that he confessed.

The police chief in Bali’s capital, Denpasar, said last week that Tommy Schaefer, 21, confessed to the killing during a police interrogation.

Chicago attorney Thomas Durkin said he spoke with Schaefer by phone and that his client told him he did not confess.

Authorities in Indonesia have accused Schaefer of killing Sheila von Wiese-Mack, whose badly beaten body was found stuffed in a suitcase inside the trunk of a taxi at the St. Regis Bali Resort in August. The victim’s 19-year-old daughter, Heather Mack, is also a suspect. Neither has been formally charged.

“Schaefer confessed to killing von Wiese-Mack during police interrogation,” police chief Col. Djoko Hari Utomo told The Associated Press on Friday. “He was hurt and offended by the victim’s words in an argument with him. That is the motive for the murder.”

Utomo also said Mack, who is three months’ pregnant, admitted in a separate interrogation she helped Schaefer stuff her mother’s body into a suitcase. Utomo said Schaefer and Mack were accompanied by their Indonesian and U.S. lawyers during the interrogations, but Durkin said he has not gone to Indonesia.

Attempts last week to reach the Indonesian lawyers were not successful. Mack’s U.S. attorney, Michael Elkin, has maintained she is innocent and released a statement Monday saying he would not comment while the investigation continues.

Attempts to reach police in Denpasar were not successful Wednesday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/24/tommy-schaefer_n_5875276.html?utm_hp_ref=crime

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About the Author:

Douglas P. Earl, Esquire brings over 24 years of experience to every family and criminal law case. He is a 1982 graduate of Villanova University. Upon graduation from Villanova University Mr. Earl worked as a tax auditor from 1983-1987 for the Multi-state Unit of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue where he audited Corporations in the New York area. This has given Mr. Earl invaluable experience in looking for records. He is a 1988 graduate of New York Law School. While attending law school, Mr. Earl continued working for the Massachusetts Department of Revenue until 1987. He then was an intern with the Kings (Brooklyn) County, New York District Attorney’s Office until his graduation from law school in 1988. He has handled family court matters is many difference counties across the state. Mr. Earl practices primarily in the area of Philadelphia, Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery Counties. He has handled matters as far away as Erie.