Couple arrested after U.S. woman's body found in suitcase in Bali

DENPASAR, Indonesia, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- An 18-year-old American woman and her 21-year-old boyfriend have been arrested in Bali in connection with the murder of the woman's mother, who was found beaten and stuffed into a suitcase.

The body of Sheila von Weise Mack, 62, was discovered in a suitcase at the luxury St. Regis Bali Resort in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, Tuesday morning by a taxi driver, Indonesian police said.

Police said the driver was hailed at the St. Regis by Heather Mack, the victim's daughter, and her boyfriend, Peter Shaefer, who loaded a suitcase into his trunk and two into the back seat, then disappeared back into the hotel.

When they still hadn't returned after two hours, the driver went into the hotel and spoke with employees, who found the family's rooms empty. Upon spotting blood on the suitcase in the trunk, they opened the suitcase and discovered von Weise Mack's body inside.

Mack and Shaefer were found asleep at a hotel in Kuta, about 6 miles away. They told police they had been held captive by an armed gang who had killed von Weise Mack, and that they had managed to escape.

Djoko Hari Utomo, chief of police in Denpasar, the capital of Bali, said the victim had suffered a severe head wound and had been wrapped in a hotel bedsheet and tied up with duct tape.

Djoko said hotel CCTV footage showed von Weise Mack and Shaefer arguing in the hotel lobby Monday night, and Tuesday, Mack and Shaefer had refused to allow hotel staff to take the suitcase down to the lobby.

CCTV footage also captured Mack and Shaefer escaping the hotel by way of the beach.