The initial introduction to the story of American teenager Heather Mack and her mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack occurred when the lifeless body of the 62-year-old was discovered concealed within a suitcase in Indonesia. However, the true narrative of this tragic tale actually commences many years prior.

Beneath the surface of the attention-grabbing headlines surrounding the infamous "Suitcase Killer" lies a heartbreaking account of a mother who endured prolonged domestic violence inflicted by her own child within the confines of their shared residence in the Oak Park suburb of Chicago.

This abuse ultimately culminated in the fateful day of 2014, when the 18-year-old and her 21-year-old boyfriend brutally murdered her at a luxurious resort in Bali.

Rasul Freelain, a retired Oak Park Police sergeant who apprehended Mack on multiple occasions for allegedly abusing her mother, reveals to The Independent that the warning signs were evident from the very first encounter he had with the pair in 2010.

What he witnessed was a distressingly common scenario of a domestic abuse victim who hesitated to speak out or take action against the person she loved, the abuser.