A Chicago man was sentenced to serve nine years in prison,
and four years supervise for conspiring with his cousin and his cousin’s
girlfriend to kill a U.S. citizen at an Indonesian resort in 2014.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Joel R. Levin of
the Northern District of Illinois and Special Agent in Charge Michael J.
Anderson of the FBI’s Chicago Division made the announcement.
Robert Ryan Justin Bibbs, 26, of Chicago, was sentenced
before U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer of the Northern District of
Illinois. On Dec. 13, 2016, Bibbs
pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit the foreign murder of a
U.S. national.
According to admissions made in connection with his plea
agreement, in 2014, Bibbs’s cousin Tommy Schaefer informed Bibbs that Heather
Mack, Schaefer’s girlfriend, had offered Schaefer approximately $50,000 to kill
her mother, Sheila Von Wiese. In approximately
late July or early August 2014, Mack told Bibbs that she wished her mother was
dead and she asked Bibbs whether he knew someone who would kill her mother in
exchange for money. Bibbs knew that Von
Wiese was wealthy and that she and Mack were taking a vacation in Indonesia in
early August 2014. Schaefer had conveyed
to Bibbs that Mack was planning to kill her mother while they were overseas and
that Schaefer intended to travel to Indonesia to join Mack.
According to the plea agreement, while Schaefer waited for
his flight to depart O’Hare International Airport, he exchanged text messages
with Bibbs, which Bibbs understood to mean that Von Wiese’s murder was
imminent, that Schaefer expected to receive millions of dollars as a result of
the murder, and that Schaefer would spend some of this money on Bibbs. According to the plea agreement, after
Schaefer arrived in Bali, he informed Bibbs that Mack had unsuccessfully
attempted to kill Von Wiese. Bibbs then
provided advice to Schaefer via text message on alternative ways to kill Von
Wiese, including by drowning or suffocation.
In addition, Bibbs admitted that he counseled Schaefer that he should
murder Von Wiese as long as no cameras were present, that he counseled Schaefer
to be careful, and that he further encouraged his cousin to kill Von Wiese.
A short time later, Schaefer bludgeoned Von Wiese to death,
then, with Mack, stuffed Von Wiese’s body into a suitcase, placed the suitcase
into a taxi cab and fled the resort.
Schaefer and Mack were subsequently arrested and convicted in Indonesian
court, and are serving respective 18-year and 10-year sentences in prison.
Deputy Chief Hope Olds and Trial Attorney Christine Duey of
the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bolling Haxall of the Northern District of Illinois
prosecuted the case. The FBI
investigated the case. The Criminal
Division’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance in
this matter as well.
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