They knew they had to get the body out of the room, and themselves out of Bali, before Sheila was discovered. Tommy went back to his room, fetching a silver, hard-sided suitcase. The two hugged and kissed before trying to hoist Sheila’s limp body into the open case, but she was far too heavy and didn’t fit. Yet they had to somehow smuggle Sheila’s lifeless form out of the hotel room…
Police photos would later show that they’d tried stuffing her in every which way. As blood seeped from her ears, nose and mouth, matting her dyed blonde hair, they first wrapped her in a hotel bedsheet before, using every ounce of strength, they literally folded her into the case, wincing as her bones cracked and bending her forwards so her head was between her legs, which had been folded back towards her ears.
It was a far from perfect fit. They couldn’t close the case completely so they got another bedsheet and used it to tie down the lid as best they could.
It was around midday that the exhausted couple took two bags down to a waiting taxi, and called a bellboy to help them put the covered, extremely heavy silver suitcase on to a trolley and wheel it down to the hall. A receptionist recalled seeing red smears on the silver case, which Heather explained as make-up stains. Following the bellboy to the taxi, Tommy helped him and the driver lift the case into the boot and told the driver to wait while the bill was settled.
But now they had another problem. Heather couldn’t check out because the room was on her mother’s credit card, and Tommy couldn’t either, because Sheila had cancelled the card he and Heather had used to book him his own room. And she had told hotel staff that only she should have access to the hotel safe, where the passports were held.
After a quick discussion the pair decided they had to get out of the hotel any way they could and get to the airport. While Sheila’s cracked, bloodied corpse patiently waited to depart in its taxi, security cameras recorded the young lovers climbing a wall and heading out to the main road, where they hailed another taxi, asking to be taken to the airport…