Lois Riess enters provisional not guilty plea to 2018 murder of husband in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota
Lois Riess booking photo at the Steele County Jail Friday, July 3. (Steele County Jail)
BLOOMING PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Lois Riess entered a provisional not guilty plea Tuesday to charges that she killed her husband in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota in 2018 and stole $11,000 from him before fleeing the state.
Riess made her first court appearance in Dodge County Tuesday on charges of first-degree and second-degree murder in the death of her husband, David Riess, who was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds on March 23, 2018.
She appeared via Zoom from the Steele County Adult Detention Center in Owatonna. There she is being held after being extradited from Florida, where she was already serving a life sentence for a murder she committed while on the run.
Lois Riess sentenced to life in prison for killing of Florida woman
Lois Riess, the Minnesota woman accused of killing a woman in Fort Myers Beach in April 2018, has entered a guilty plea to avoid the death penalty and been sentenced to life in prison, according to the Office of the State Attorney in Florida.
The hearing last less than 10 minutes. In addition to entering the provisional not guilty plea, the judge said they are exploring locations for future hearings in Mantorville in Dodge County.
The lead prosecutor is the case in Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Matthew Frank, who is also prosecuting the case against the four police officers involved in the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
TIMELINE OF THE CASE
In May 2019, a grand jury indicted Riess on first-degree and second-degree murder in the death of her husband, David Riess, who was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds on March 23, 2018. Authorities began looking for her after she withdrew $11,000 from her husband’s bank account.
Riess fled to Ft. Myers Beach, Florida, where police say she befriended Pamela Hutchinson, 59, in order to kill her and steal her identity.
After a 10-day nationwide manhunt, U.S. Marshals arrested her at a bar in South Padre Island, Texas on April 19, 2018.
In December 2019, Riess was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for Hutchinson’s murder.
At the time, the Dodge County Sheriff announced he would begin the process of bringing Riess back to Minnesota to face charges in her husband’s murder.
Riess was booked into the Steele County Jail in Owatonna on Friday.