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View all search resultsEvidence and witnesses show US couple's involvement: Police
The Denpasar Police investigator declared Thursday there was sufficient strong evidence to tie a US couple to a suitcase murder and that the legal team was completing the dossiers
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T
he Denpasar Police investigator declared Thursday there was sufficient strong evidence to tie a US couple to a suitcase murder and that the legal team was completing the dossiers.
Police investigator I Nengah Sadiarta told journalists that the team had sent the case dossier to the Denpasar Prosecutor's Office on Monday.
'We are in the process of completing the dossier,' he said.
The couple, Tommy Schaefer, 21, and Heather Lois Mack, 19, both US nationals, have been declared suspects in the murder of Mack's 62-year-old mother, Sheila von Weise-Mack. The victim's body was found in a suitcase that was allegedly left by the young couple in a taxi trunk at the St. Regis Bali Resort in Nusa Dua on Aug. 12, where the three had been vacationing.
Sadiarta said that both suspects were yet to confess their involvement in the murder. He said that Schaefer continued to deny murder, while Mack stated that Schaefer had murdered the victim and she was only witness to it.
Sadiarta said that the police could complete the dossiers even if the suspects did not make a confession. 'We have enough evidence that they were involved in the murder,' Sadiarta said, adding the evidence was supported by witness statements.
One of the strongest pieces of evidence was CCTV footage, which showed no other people entering room 317, where the victim was staying, other than the victim and the two suspects.
The police had also found broken glass and pieces of iron in both the victim's room and Schaefer's room. 'From the crime scene, we found broken glass and pieces of iron from the same item in both the victim's and Schaefer's rooms,' he said.
Sadiarta said that police has found Schaefer's fingerprints on the broken glass.
Sadiarta also said that the suitcase used for the victim's body had belonged to the victim.
The hotel CCTV footage, Sadiarta stated, showed Mack had fetched a luggage trolley from the lobby and brought it herself to her mother's room.
Schaefer and Mack then took the suitcase (allegedly with the victim's body in it) by trolley from the victim's room to Schaefer's room. Minutes later, the CCTV footage showed them bringing the suitcase from Schaefer's room to the lobby, when they then placed it in the taxi trunk.
'Some staff were suspicious when they saw blood on the suitcase, but when the staff wanted to help them, they refused,' Sadiarta said.
