The man who allegedly bludgeoned his girlfriend's mother to death with a fruit bowl in a Bali hotel and then stuffed her body into a suitcase has been indicted for premeditated murder.
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The trial of the grisly case, which has become known as the "Bali body in the suitcase murder", began in Denpasar District Court on Wednesday.
The dead woman's daughter, who is seven months pregnant, has also been indicted for assisting premeditated murder.
The pair could face the firing squad if found guilty and the maximum penalty is invoked.
The court heard Chicago woman Sheila Von Wiese Mack, 62, opposed the relationship between her teenage daughter, Heather Mack, and her lover Tommy Schaefer.
Prosecutor Eddy Arta Wijaya said Heather Mack had asked Schaefer while still in the United States to find someone willing to kill her mother for $US50,000 ($61,528).
However, things didn't come to a head until a holiday at the St Regis luxury resort in Nusa Dua, Bali last year.
The court heard that at 3:40 am on August 12, Ms Von Wiese Mack asked the manager on duty if he had seen her daughter.
The manager explained that Ms Von Wiese Mack was in fact paying for two rooms and her daughter may be in the second room with Schaefer.
Ms Von Wiese Mack angrily confronted her daughter in the lobby and said: "So Tommy Schaefer the thief is here?", prompting a bitter fight.
The court heard Heather Mack returned to her room with her mother but continued to communicate with Schaeffer via text message.
The couple allegedly schemed to kill Ms Von Wiese Mack, with one plot involving suffocating her with a pillow and another making the death appear like a suicide by the beach.
At 8.30am Schaefer rang the bell of the room. The couple hugged and started talking, waking Ms Von Wiese Mack.
The court heard a fight ensued with Ms Von Wiese Mack screaming at Schaefer that he was "just a nigger". Although initially laughing off the insult, Schaefer then allegedly grabbed the handle of the fruit bowl and swung it at his girlfriend's mother.
The court heard Heather Mack ran to the bathroom but Schaefer continued raining blows on Ms Von Wiese Mack until she stopped moving.
Schaefer called out for Heather Mack to come out from the bathroom. The couple allegedly hugged and Schaefer said: "Sheila is dead".
The court heard they stuffed Ms Von Wiese Mack's body into the suitcase. Heather Mack sat on the suitcase so her boyfriend could close it.
The couple cleaned the rooms and then tried to check out of the hotel. They allegedly took the suitcase and left it the taxi boot, while they headed back inside and ran away out the back of the St Regis.
Although the primary indictment is premeditated murder, the couple could also be found guilty of disposing of a body to conceal a death, which carries a maximum sentence of nine months prison.
The trial will resume on January 21.
