Diana Roque Ellis states she should have custody of daughter of Heather Mack, while her paternal grandmother Kia Walker, said late last year she would sue to get visitation and permanent guardianship of her granddaughter.
Chicago woman, Heather Mack served more than seven years in an Indonesian prison for killing her mother at a luxury resort on the island of Bali has been indicted on murder conspiracy charges in the United States and taken into federal custody.
FBI agents took Heather Mack, 26, into custody on her arrival at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago
Mack has been charged with conspiring to kill her mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack in a U.S.
She was deported from Indonesia in 2021 after serving prison time for her role in her mother’s 2014 “suitcase” murder.
Mack’s lawyer, Yulius Benyamin Seran, said she was accompanied on the plane to Chicago by her daughter, to whom she had given birth before her sentencing. Her daughter is now 6 years old.
Mack and Schaefer now face federal charges of conspiracy to commit murder and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors allege Mack and Schaefer planned the murder while still in the U.S. before carrying out the plot in Bali, which included stuffing the body in a suitcase.
With Mack back in the United States and once again behind bars, and Schaefer still serving out his sentence in Indonesia, a judge has given temporary care of the little girl to a third party.
Mack’s lawyer has vowed to fight any attempt to place the 6-year-old with her grandmother, the attorney for Kia Walker said she’s well within her rights to do so.
“We’re not asking for any money from the trust. We’re just wanting to have guardianship and/or visitation with Stella,” attorney Michael Goldberg said.
“Here’s my opportunity, being on U.S. soil, you know. I am a grandmother. I am the next of kin. I do have some rights now. I can at least ask,” Walker said.
Diana Roque Ellis said she was Mack’s mother’s best friend, and considered an “aunt” by Mack.
