She Loved the Dough

Heather Mack is the “Body in a Suitcase” murderer who is serving time in a “notorious” Indonesian prison for killing her mother in 2015 in Bali and stuffing her body in a suitcase. The motive was money. A taxi driver who saw blood dripping from the suitcase notified authorities. Mack was sentenced to 10 years in prison. While in prison, she gave birth to a daughter, Stella, with whom she was pregnant at the time of her conviction.

The trustee of her mother’s trust refused to pay Mack her inheritance due to Illinois’ slayer statute. The trustee and Mack finally agreed that Mack’s daughter, Stella, will receive the $1.6 million instead. Despite her incarceration, Mack has been seen lounging around prison with her boyfriend while also posting photos on social media of herself in restaurants with her boyfriend.

Not much new ground to cover.

1. Slayer statutes prevent a murderer from financially benefitting from her crime.

2. My definition of “notorious” differs from that of others when prison involves having a boyfriend and going out to restaurants with him.

3. 10 years for murdering her mother? The Menendez brothers wish they had committed their crimes in Bali.

Photo Credit:  Instagram/thisischriswhite (from linked article)

License:  Fair Use/Education

The Man Who Sold the World

The will of David Bowie was filed in Manhattan Surrogate Court on Friday.  The will left $1 million of his reported $100 million estate to the former nanny of his son, $2 million to his long time personal assistant, 25% of his estate to his 44 year old son, 25% in trust to his 15 year old daughter, and the balance to his wife, Iman.

Three points of minimal importance:

1.  I was initially surprised that his estate is being administered in NY rather than in England.  By residing in NY, the estate tax benefit for his estate is $2 million while the NY income tax rates were also in his favor for years.

2.  Leave it to Bowie to do as he sees fit until the end whether residing where he wants regardless of lower taxation elsewhere, using his death as art, or bending gender and other rules during his career.

3.  I like this plan - everyone receives enough to make her comfortable for the rest of her life even if Iman's best modeling days are behind her.

   Credit:    Masayoshi Sukita