A custody battle is underway for the little girl whose American parents were convicted in Bali’s infamous ‘Suitcase Murder’ at the St. Regis.
Kia Walker, the paternal grandmother of nearly two-year-old Stella, is apparently doing everything she can over in the US to get gain custody of her granddaughter. Walker has said she believes it’s in Stella’s best interest to come back to the US and be raised by her.
The latest development, however, is that a judge back home in the US in Illinois has declined to make a ruling on young Stella’s custody.
American Judge Neil Cohen had been handling matters regarding Mack’s $1.5 million trust fund. But in a hearing on Friday, when requested by Walker to grant custody of Stella, Cohen said that the matter wasn’t under his charge.
“I’m not going to decide a thing about Stella,” Cohen said, as quoted by CBS Chicago. “She’s merely damage from this, collateral damage. I’m deciding whether Heather can take” her mother’s estate.
Walker’s quest to bring Stella home will not end there. She says she will keep fighting.
“I may be a grandmother, and I don’t have a lot of rights.
“But I can be a voice for my granddaughter.”
Stella was born in Bali in 2015 and has been living with mom, Heather Mack, who is serving a 10 year sentence for involvement in her mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s 2014 killing. While Stella’s father (Walker’s son), Tommy Schaefer, is serving an 18-year sentence for delivering the fatal blows to von Wiese-Mack.
Under Indonesian law, Stella can stay in prison with Mack until her second birthday. Stella will turn two on March 17.
Meanwhile, Mack’s lawyer said a local family has been lined up to take care of Stella while Mack serves her time.
“She wants her to stay in Bali,” attorney Vanessa Favia said.
Renewed focus on the battle for Stella comes after Mack posted chilling videos to YouTube, confessing to her mother’s murder, claiming she masterminded the whole thing and that she duped Schaefer into taking the fall for her. However, after the videos came out, Mack retracted her claims and said she had been coerced into making the videos by Schaefer and that he really was the one who ultimately killed her mother.
