Indonesian police say a Chicago teen and her boyfriend are refusing to cooperate with investigators after they were arrested in connection with the death of the girl's mother.
Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, formerly of the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, was discovered Tuesday in a suitcase in the back of a taxi at the upscale St. Regis Hotel in Denpasar.
Wiese-Mack's daughter, Heather Lois, 19, and 21-year-old Tommy Schaefer were arrested on Wednesday in connection with her death.
The suspects are being held at South Kuta police station at Nusa Dua where investigators say they are refusing to talk.
NBC 5 has learned that Oak Park police made 86 calls to Wiese-Mack's former home between January 2004 and June 2013 for a combination of domestic violence, theft and a missing person.
The domestic incidents involved the daughter and mother, according to authorities.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports Lois used her mother's credit card to charge for a room at the Conrad Chicago Hotel on Rush Street last month. NBC 5 has learned that Schaefer and a female were arrested following an incident at the hotel. The female was released and Schaefer was charged with disorderly conduct.
Brittany Strangmann lived on the same dorm floor as Schaefer at Northern Illinois University before he dropped out last year. She describes him as a "nice guy."
"He was so focused on his music. That was his life," Strangmann said. "He would show me videos of stuff that inspired him."
"A few days ago on Facebook he said he was going to Indonesia and wasn't sure when he was coming back, and then going to China. I thought that was odd."
Denpasar police chief Djoko Hari Utomo told local media that Wiese-Mack and her daughter had been staying at the hotel for several days before Schaefer joined them. Surveillance cameras later recorded Wiese-Mack and Schaefer arguing in the hotel lobby, The Daily Mail reported.
The morning after that argument, Lois and Schaefer checked out of the hotel and took a large suitcase out to a taxi stand. The pair then went back into the hotel and snuck out through the back of the resort.
After a two-hour wait, the taxi driver was instructed by hotel personnel to drive to the police station. Authorities there opened the suitcase and found Wiese-Mack's body.
Utomo said Lois and Schaefer were tracked down and arrested while they slept at a hotel in the Legian tourist area.
A doctor who performed an examination on Wiese-Mack's body said there were defensive wounds.
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Wiese-Mack and her husband, composer/producer James Mack, lived in Oak Park for a number of years, a neighbor said. James Mack died in August 2006. His widow remained in the home before moving to a downtown Chicago condo after taking a big hit in the 2008 real estate market crash.
Music producer Willie Nance is a long time family friend who said when he spoke with Lois last week, it was clear she was "hurting inside."
"I never thought it would go this far. I never dreamed it would go this far," Nance said.
Neighbors said the Oak Park home masked a volatile relationship between the mother and daughter, but none expected it would end in such tragedy.
"I heard they had some domestic issues especially after Heather's dad died but I didn't know it was this bad," said Lois' former classmate Alex Bailey.
"[Sheila] had a hard time of it since her husband died," said neighbor Barbara Watkins. "She didn't deserve this."
