* All photos and video posted by Mack on Instagram were deleted from her account within 24-hours of Wednesday Journal publishing a story.
She was sentenced to serve 10 years in an Indonesian prison in April after being found guilty of the premeditated murder of her mother, but former Oak Park resident Heather Mack still has a presence online through social network sites.
Mack, along with her boyfriend and Oak Park and River Forest High School classmate Tommy Schaefer, is currently serving time in Kerobokan Prison for the 2014 murder of Sheila Von Wiese-Mack. Schaefer was given an 18-year prison sentence.
But photos and video of both have popped up over the last two months on the popular photography social networking site Instagram under the username @missheathermack. In the comments section of some of the photos, Mack also has made reference to use of other social networking apps such as WhatsApp and Snapchat.
On Instagram, Mack can be seen hanging out with cellmates, Tommy and their newborn girl Stella, who is currently being raised by Mack in prison. In all of her photos she is dressed in civilian clothes, prompting some users to ask whether she already was released from prison.
Mack, who was 19 years old at the time of the murder, interfaces on the site with friends from Chicago and detractors alike. In one exchange, an Instagram user with handle @dmacandernie states: “OMG how was your trip to Bali?! I bet it was killer. …” Mack responds, saying: “LMAO pretty bad at first but its better now thanks for askin”. Mack later uses a pejorative word to describe the user, saying “the world is full of em.”
In another photo, Mack posts a screenshot of a Daily Mail news article with the headline: “‘Body in suitcase’ teenager is SELLING her three-month-old baby daughter for $150,000 from Bali prison, infant’s grandmother says.”
“Most untrue and ridiculous article to ever come out. Stella is priceless. Fools,” Mack said in response to the news article. She also states: “its so sad its pathetic and all these people reading it believe it cause its on the news.”
As of Aug. 5, Mack had posted 38 photos and videos combined and had 896 followers on Instagram.
Mack’s account is listed as private, meaning that only friends are allowed to view her posts. Attempts to contact Mack through Instagram direct messages were unsuccessful.
Mack and her boyfriend were arrested in Bali last August. Schaefer confessed to bludgeoning Von Wiese-Mack to death with a metal fruit bowl during an argument about Mack’s pregnancy. The story made international headlines due in part to the couple’s effort to abscond with the body from a luxury hotel where the crime was committed by stuffing Von Wiese-Mack’s body in a suitcase, which was later discovered in a taxi outside the hotel.
Prosecutors successfully argued that the murder was planned, and both Mack and Schaefer faced a possible death penalty by firing squad. But the three-judge panel gave Mack a lenient sentence, according to the Associated Press, because, “Her newborn baby badly needs a mother’s love and breastfeeding.” The AP reported that Schaefer’s sentence also was lightened because of “his politeness and expression of remorse during the trial.”
