Billboards going up in southwestern U.S. for fugitive Lois Riess
(KMSP) - U.S. Marshals are putting up electronic billboards across the southwestern United States in hopes of catching fugitive Minnesota grandmother Lois Riess.
It's the latest attempt by the agency to elicit the public's help in locating a woman they've taken to calling "Losing Streak Lois, a 56-year-old Blooming Prairie native who has been on the run since late March. She is wanted in the murders of her husband, David Riess, and her look-alike, 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson of Brandeton, Florida. Authorities believe she killed Hutchinson in order to assume her identity.
RELATED: TIMELINE of events in the search for Lois Riess
"I believe these billboards are going to be a huge help because they’re going to get a lot of exposure," said Micheal Fuller, a supervisory deputy for the U.S. Marshal's Service. "We need to catch this person and we need to get her off the street."
The billboards are going up in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada. Riess' last known whereabouts were in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Authorities, meanwhile, are still working to determine what exactly led Riess to kill her husband and flee the state.
"There’s been no talk of domestic violence in the home so for this to come out of the blue, the theft of the money, certainly, points to more of a gambling addiction," former BCA Agent Michael Wold said. "Something snapped, maybe there was some type of mental instability there. That’s what I would expect."
Riess is believed to be driving Hutchinson's white Acura TL with Florida license plate Y37TAA. She is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached.
Anyone who has had contact with Riess or has information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the U.S. Marshals at 1-800-780-8477.