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

With his life on the line for the murder of his girlfriend’s wealthy socialite mom, Tommy Schaefer had his say in an Indonesian court Thursday where he described how he hid a heavy metal bowl under his shirt before he met with Heather Mack’s mother.

Why hide the bowl, the item used to bludgeon Sheila von Wiese-Mack to death?

Schaefer, 21, explained through tears to the trio of justices sitting in judgment how his 19-year-old girlfriend, who’s feuded with her mom for years, told him to bring the bowl for protection because they were about to tell her 62-year-old mom Heather Mack was pregnant.

» keep up with ‘The Patch’ via an email subscription

Schaefer and Mack had met as students at Oak Park-River Forest High School. Von Wiese-Mack objected to their love, Schaefer said. But he said he flew to Bali to meet Mack while she and her mom were vacationing at the five-star St. Regis Hotel in August so they could confront her mother with the pregnancy together.

Prosecutors allege that Mack and Schaefer had previously plotted to kill von Wiese-Mack, going so far as to talk about hiring a hitman for $50,000.

When Schaefer entered the hotel room, he found Heather Mack crying and her mother screaming, he said. After hearing about the pregnancy, von Wiese-Mack erupted in anger, threatened to kill the unborn baby and strangled the young man for half a minute.

So he struck her with the bowl, he said.

“She was angry at me when she knew that Heather was pregnant,” Schaefer said, tearfully, as Mack watched and sobbed. He described how von Wiese-Mack said the baby should be aborted.

She also called him the “n-word” and said her daughter was a prostitute who liked black men. Police say Schaefer replied: “Your husband was a (n-word) too.” Sheila then said, “Yes, but a rich one.”

“I was angry, I took the fruit bowl and hit her,” Schaefer testified, but he can’t remember how many times he struck her.

On Wednesday, during her own testimony, Heather Mack said, “The blow was not so hard ... and my mother was still resisting. I asked Tommy to stop and then I ran into the bathroom.”

Schaefer said they tried to revive her mother.

Then he and Mack stuffed her mom into a suitcase, wrapped in a bloody sheet, and carried the bag to a taxi.

A hotel bellboy earlier testified that Mack wouldn’t let him carry the bag.

“They asked me to call them a taxi, but refused when I offered to help put the bag into the taxi,” the bellboy said, according to an Associated Press report. “They argued that the contents were fragile and refused to be assisted.”

Then the couple checked out of the hotel and disappeared. Hotel staff grew suspicious, saw blood on the suitcase and police were summoned. A day later, they were tracked down at another hotel.

Mack is due to give birth to her child in April 1, and she says she will keep the baby with her in prison.

Before leaving the United States for Bali, Schaefer posted a message to social media saying he “might never come back.”

Mack and Schaefer face death by firing squad if convicted.

MORE ON THE BALI MURDER of SHEILA VON WIESE-MACK

• 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