The teenager being held in Bali for her mother’s gruesome murder is pregnant as she claimed, the local police chief confirmed on Monday.
Heather Mack, 19, is carrying a baby, but her pregnancy is not ectopic as she told police, according to Denpasar police head Djoko Hari Utomo.
Ms Mack and her boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, 21, from Chicago, are accused of bludgeoning Ms Mack’s mother, Sheila Von Weise-Mack, 62, to death at a five-star resort last week and stuffing her body into a suitcase.
Mr Djoko said Ms Mack’s condition meant she would be checked regularly by the local doctor while she was in custody.
Ms Mack and Mr Schaefer are in different police lock-ups and both are being held without charge while the investigation continues. Police want to charge them with premeditated murder, which carries the possibility of being sentenced to death by firing squad.
However, Ms Mack has still not been questioned because she has refused to be accompanied by the duty solicitor, Ni Wayan Mesir.
Ms Wayan said police had appointed her to represent both Mr Schaefer and Ms Mack. She had seen Ms Mack and “she's doing fine, she's eating fine. She’s a bit nauseated, from the pregnancy maybe."
Mr Djoko said: “We are in talks to get her to accept the lawyer we have appointed, and we hope she will agree”.
Ms Mack, however, is waiting for her own lawyer to arrive from the United States. He or she is expected to land on Tuesday.
American lawyer Michael Elkin, who says he is representing Ms Mack, says his client is innocent.
Also in Bali is an agent from the FBI, who is there to observe proceedings and arrange the repatriation to the United States of Ms Von Wiese-Mack’s remains.
The agent refused to make any comment or to be photographed at the Bali police station on Wednesday.
Bali police chief Benny Mokalu said last week that there was enough evidence, including CCTV footage, fingerprints and items found at the murder scene which “all points to them as the perpetrators”.
Ms Von Wiese-Mack’s body was stuffed into a grey suitcase, which was wrapped in a hotel bed sheet and then loaded into a pre-ordered taxi.
Ms Mack and Mr Schaefer allegedly sought to leave Bali without passports and, when that failed, went to stay in a cheap hotel near the airport, where they were arrested last Wednesday morning.
with Amilia Rosa
