Heather Mack is currently on trial, accused of murdering her mother in Bali, but a person claiming to be Mack reportedly called a Cook County judge’s office Wednesday morning and asked how she could find a new Chicago-based attorney.
Mack and her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, have been charged with killing Mack’s mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, and stuffing her body in a suitcase last August. The two face a possible firing squad if convicted.
Mack, 19, is currently seven months pregnant.
Cook County Judge Neil Cohen called an emergency court session after his office received three phone calls from the woman claiming to be Mack.
The caller said she was in Indonesia, had no money and that she had fired her Chicago attorneys. She added that her attorneys would not answer her calls.
Each conversation ended with the clerk explaining how the office could not give advice or speak about pending cases.
Mack’s attorney Anthony Scifo and Vanessa Favio, the attorney who represents Mack’s unborn child, both declined to comment on the developments.
Scifo filed a motion Wednesday morning asking to withdraw from the case after a “substantial breakdown in communication” with Mack on or about Feb. 3. The motion to withdraw was continued to Feb. 27.
Last month Cohen ordered the release of three weekly payments from Mack’s trust fund to pay for her defense in Indonesia. Mack told the Chicago Tribune her attorney in Indonesia has only received the first payment.
As a result of the developments, the Cook County Court said it does not know how to send Mack the money until she gets a new lawyer.
Meantime, Favio told the judge she was willing to continue to represent Mack’s unborn child for free.
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Mack spoke exclusively to the Tribune and maintained her innocence. She told the newspaper she loved her mom and that she misses her every day.
According to Cook County Recorder of Deeds records, the Gold Coast condo Mack shared with her mother was recently sold for $610,000 by her uncle, William Wiese, who oversees the trust.
