Charged With Killing Mom In Bali, Chicago Woman Gives Birth
CHICAGO (CBS) -- On trial in Indonesia for allegedly killing her mother, Chicago resident Heather Mack gave birth to a baby girl on Tuesday.
Tony Scifo, a probate lawyer representing Mack in connection to her inheritance from her mother, said Mack gave birth via Cesarean section at 5 a.m. Chicago time on Tuesday at an Indonesian hospital. Her daughter, Stella, weighed in at 6.1 pounds, and Scifo said Mack and her baby were "happy and healthy."
Mack, 19, and her boyfriend, 21-year-old Tommy Schaefer, are in custody, and on trial for allegedly killing Mack's mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, while vacationing in Bali.
The couple is being tried separately by Denpasar District Court, where they are charged with premeditated murder for allegedly beating von Wiese-Mack to death last August. They could face a firing squad if convicted. Mack and Schafer allegedly stuffed von Wiese-Mack's body in a suitcase after killing her, then placed it in a taxi, and fled the hotel where they had been staying.
Testifying at Mack's trial last week, Schaefer said von Wiese-Mack did not approve of the couple's relationship. He said he traveled to Bali last summer to meet with Mack, who was already vacationing with her mother.
He claimed von Wiese-Mack began choking him after the three got into a heated argument about Mack's pregnancy. Schaefer testified von Wiese Mack insulted him using a racial slur, called her daughter a prostitute, and asked Mack to get an abortion or kill the unborn baby. He claimed that led to heated quarrel, and von Wiese-Mack began chocking him for about 30 seconds, so he hit her with a metal fruit bowl.
Prosecutors have said Schaefer hit von Wiese-Mack several times in after arguing over the hotel bill, and then Schaefer and Mack stuffed von Wiese-Mack's body in a suitcase, placed it in the trunk of a taxi, told the driver they were going to check out of the hotel and would return, but never did.
