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S murder suspects Heather Lois Mack, 19, and boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, have remained tight-lipped and have refused to talk to the police regarding the death of Mack'€™s mother, 62-year-old Sheila Von Weise Mack.

The police'€™s appointed lawyer, Haposan Sihombing, said he had failed to get any information from either suspect, but added that Mack posed a rhetorical question to him on Thursday. '€œ'€˜Are you sure that I am the perpetrator?'€™'€ Haposan quoted Mack as saying.

The lawyer said he was astonished to hear the question.

'€œI never expected that she would ask something like that,'€ he said after visiting Mack in the Denpasar Police'€™s detention area on Thursday.

Mack was arrested for allegedly killing her mother with the help of her boyfriend, who was also detained separately in the Bali Police detention center.

The police have alleged that the couple killed the victim before putting her body into a silver suitcase and leaving it in the trunk of a taxi at the St. Regis Bali Resort in Nusa Dua.

Since being arrested on Aug. 13, one day after the suspected murder, neither Mack nor Schaefer has given any statement to the police regarding the allegations. They said they were waiting for their US lawyer, Michael Elkin, to come to Bali.

Haposan said he had tried to persuade Mack to tell him or the police what had happened, but he had not yet gained her trust.

'€œI have told her to be cooperative. I told her that she could be charged with violating Article 338 on murder or Article 340 on premeditated murder. But she keeps on saying that she is waiting for her lawyer,'€ Haposan said.

During the visit, Haposan said the suspect, who is pregnant, also questioned the police'€™s decision to separate her from her boyfriend.

Separately, Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Albertus Julius Beny Mokalu said the legal process would continue, even without statements from the suspects.

'€œPeople should know that a suspect, based on the criminal procedural law, has the right to neither sign nor give any statement. But we can get evidence from witnesses, facts, CCTV, fingerprints, blood and the weapons used,'€ he said.

'€œAll of the evidence will talk in the trial,'€ he added.

Julius said the police had yet to find out the suspects'€™ motivation for allegedly murdering the victim.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also cooperating with the Bali Police to investigate the case.

The National Police say it is possible that the two suspects will be handed over to the FBI for further investigation into the homicide.