Heather Mack May Give Baby Stella to Australian Couple in Bali

Heather Mack wants to do what’s best for her daughter, which might mean giving her up to an Australian couple in Bali while Mack serves up to 10 years in an Indonesian prison for premeditated murder in the beating death of her mother.

Mack, of Oak Park, had planned to keep 3-month-old Stella with her behind bars for two years, as Indonesian law allows. But in light of Mack’s conviction on April 21, Mack believes Stella might be better off leaving the prison sooner, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The Australian couple in Bali has helped Mack get supplies for Stella and food.

Plans haven’t been finalized, but Stella could go to live with the family in about four months, according to the Daily Mail. The transition process would be done gradually to ease the baby into a new environment, one of Mack’s Chicago lawyers told the Tribune.

Mack has already designated much of a $1.3 million trust fund set up by her mother toward Stella’s care. She’s thinking about giving whatever is left of it to Stella, the Daily Mail reported.

Mack and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer were both found guilty in April of premeditated murder of Mack’s mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack of Oak Park, at a Bali hotel resort in August.

Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in an Indonesian prison. The justices who judged the case said they were lenient on Mack because of Stella.

“Her newborn baby badly needs a mother’s love and breastfeeding,” the verdict said.

MORE ON THE BALI MURDER of SHEILA VON WIESE-MACK

• Young Illinois Lovers Found Guilty of Murder but Indonesian Judges Spare Their Lives

• Tommy Schaefer Tells How He Killed von Wiese-Mack After She Demanded Her Daughter Get an Abortion

• Confessions Made in Bali Resort Murder of Oak Park Woman: Police

• Racial Slur Said to be Motive in Oak Park Woman’s Murder

• Von Wiese-Mack’s Will Filed; Daughter Kept in Solitary Confinement

• Teen Jailed in Bali is Pregnant, Claims She’s Being Sexually Assaulted and Fed KFC

• Teen Accused of Mom’s Murder in Bali Not a ‘Crazy, Cold-Blooded Killer,’ Says Lawyer

• Slain Mother’s Relationship with Daughter Said to be Volatile

• Illinois Woman Killed at Posh Bali Resort and Stuffed into a Suitcase