It’s very nearly time for young Stella to leave Kerobokan Prison, where she has been living with her mother, convict Heather Mack, since birth.
In just ten days, on March 17, Stella will turn two, which happens to be the cutoff age for children to live with their mothers behind bars, under Indonesian law.
The paternal grandmother of Stella aka the mother of Mack’s ex Tommy Schaefer, is fighting hard to bring Stella back to the US and raise her there. Kia Walker has said it’s in her granddaughter’s best interest to live in the US under her care.
While that certainly might be true, the issue is it’s pretty murky where jurisdiction lies for rights to Stella’s custody.
Last month, American Judge Neil Cohen declined to rule on the matter. Cohen, a judge in Illinois’ Cook County had been handling matters regarding Mack’s $1.5 million trust fund. But in a hearing on Feb. 17, Cohen said Stella’s custody wasn’t his decision to make.
Now basically the same thing has apparently happened with another judge in Cook County.
Judge Susan Kennedy Sullivan denied Walker’s emergency petition, due to two main factors: procedural issues and a need for a standard child welfare background check on Walker. Those procedural issues include giving proper legal notice to the imprisoned parents, according to reports.
“How am I supposed to have jurisdiction over a child in Bali?” the Chicago Tribune quoted Sullivan as saying.
Mack is serving out a 10-year sentence for being an accessory in her mother, Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s murder in August 2014, while Schaefer got 18 years for the woman’s killing. Von Wiese-Mack’s body was found stuffed into a suitcase at the posh Bali St. Regis, where the group had been staying.
A lawyer representing Mack says the mother wants her child to stay in Bali so she can be involved in her life. Mack has made arrangements for Stella to live with an Australian couple in Bali, according the attorney.
However, Walker’s attorney, Michael Goldberg, says Stella’s father wants his daughter to go to the US to live with Walker.
While Stella was born in Indonesia, Goldberg argues that she is a US citizen through acquisition since both parents are American and were traveling to Indonesia on tourist visas.
Schaefer and Mack are no longer together and have not appeared to be on great terms since they started their sentences. Mack posted a controversial series of videos to YouTube, claiming she killed her mother by herself and manipulated Schaefer into taking most of the blame. However, just days later, Mack retracted her video “confession” and claimed Schaefer had coerced her into doing the recordings.
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Goldberg says he and Walker will appear before a probate judge on March 14 to continue their effort to get Walker permanent custody of Stella.
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