Meet, Marry, Murder - Season 1, Episode 19 - Riess - Full Episode | Forensic Files

NARRATOR: 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson lies dead in a hotel room, detectives baffled
about the motive for homicide. This was unlike any other investigation that I had.
Her body was found in a bathroom. She had been covered up with some sort of blanket or cloth.
NARRATOR: On the run, 56 year old Lois Riess-- wife, mother, grandmother. Unfortunately, there are some very dangerous people
out there, people who you would not expect by looking at them that they were dangerous.
We have to get her before she commits another murder. NARRATOR: With a 2000 mile hunt underway,
what did Riess know about another killing just days earlier-- that of her husband, David.
I've had some wild cases that I have covered over the years. But I've never seen one like this before.
NARRATOR: Could the smiling grandma Lois Riess really be a double killer? Had she killed Pamela Hutchinson just days after murdering
the man she had married? [music playing] NARRATOR: Rural Minnesota-- a quiet Midwest backwater.
Blooming Prairie is a small, small town. It's less than 2000 people live there in Blooming Prairie.
But it's a very tight knit community where the people-- they're really, really great people.
NARRATOR: To the outside world, Lois and David Riess were the perfect couple. They met as teenagers, fell in love, got married,
started a family. And I don't think anybody would suspect Lois of doing anything untoward with anyone.
She looks like a matronly, lovely person who might make you cookies or take care of your children
when you're gone. Lois and David Riess were both from Rochester, Minnesota. They both were born in the 1960s and then about 20 years later,
they married. So it was like a local boy meets and marries a local girl. It's that kind of wholesome story.
NARRATOR: In the 1980s, the couple moved to the countryside to start a family. CAROLYN CANVILLE: David serves in the Navy.
And when he gets out, he opens up a bait shop. Eventually sells it and then he opens
up his own worm farm business. They have this what looks like this really nice storybook
life together, just a happy couple, really well liked in the community. And what people don't know is that it's
not such a pretty picture behind closed doors. NARRATOR: Geoffrey Jackson was a newspaper
editor working for the nearby Owatonna People's Press. He got to know all about Lois Riess.
There was a history of depression in her family. NARRATOR: And not just depression,
Lois Riess was prescribed antipsychotic medication. Sometimes she refused to take it, much to the frustration
of her husband David. So she has a troubled history here that most people in the community had no idea.
Nobody ever suspected that there was any huge conflict and they just kind of blended right into the neighborhood.
NARRATOR: Lois and David Riess got on with raising the family. They could be seen regularly at the local servicemen's club.
While Lois cared for her cognitively disabled sister, David would often be out on the water,
fishing or boating with his grandchildren. Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 lakes.
And there's a lot of fishing that goes on in this state. NARRATOR: Journalist Carolyn Campbell
has researched the life of David and Lois Riess. He's a real outdoorsy guy. He loves fishing, hunting, boating.
And especially loves sharing that with his grandchildren. He was a good man. He loved his family, loved his grandchildren, loved fishing.
It's a big expanded family. You can imagine the types of nice get-togethers they might have.
And it seemed like the family was very close-knit. Everybody knew grandma Lois and they enjoyed visiting her.
NARRATOR: While the Riess family appeared to be a classic Midwest success story.
Behind closed doors, Lois' problems were worsening. On top of her mental health issues,
she developed an addiction. The hidden part of Lois' personality was that she actually was a thrill seeker.
And she did this through gambling. NARRATOR: Lois's problems were leading her, inexorably,
into a life of crime. Once the gambling addiction took hold, there was nothing that could stop her.
And if she didn't have the funds to bankroll her gambling, she would stop at nothing to steal.
NARRATOR: Not just small amounts. As primary carer for her disabled sibling, Lois was able to siphon off more than $100,000
of her sister's money. Lois was appointed as her guardian, and she stole $100,000 before they
said something's wrong here. I think Lois knew that she had an opportunity, that her cognitively disabled sister relied
on her for everything and possibly wouldn't even understand that she had stolen from her.
And so she did so very easily right under her nose. NARRATOR: Lois, the grandmother of five, got away with it.
She was not charged criminally in that, but she was removed as guardian. And in the papers, in the legal documents that were filed,
removing her from that, it did indicate that she had spent thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars gambling,
particularly at this one casino, the Diamond Joe casino, which isn't far from their home in Blooming Prairie.
NARRATOR: Criminologist Doctor Brian Frederick believed that Lois' treatment of her own sister
should have rung alarm bells with the authorities and with her family. So it's not completely uncommon for people
to steal from those that they're taking care of, right. But I think if we look at it within the context of who Lois
Riess was, yes, I think it would have thrown up a red flag, or should have. NARRATOR: After years of covering things up,
Lois' personal problems were causing a strain on the Riess marriage. Everything was saying that the source of their trouble
was money, and particularly the money she was using for gambling. She had an addiction problem.
She had a mental illness that she wasn't properly treating because she had discontinued her medication.
NARRATOR: Lois Riess was a gambling addict, a liar, and a thief. Gambling is risky behavior, right.
And there's a whole body of knowledge around this sort of sociology of risk-taking.
Given her underlying condition, if we accept that she was a psychopath, it wasn't so much the money
she was after but sort of a way of funding her addiction, her risk taking. NARRATOR: Were her demons about to put
her husband's life in danger? I believe that she had planned that she was going to have
to continue along this path of crime so that she can amass enough wealth for herself
to do everything that she wanted. It seemed as if it just kind of came to a one day.
Seemed like she just snapped. NARRATOR: David Riess, Navy veteran, had met Lois in her hometown of Rochester.
They were married for 35 years. But there was more to Mrs. Riess than met the eye.
She might be a grandmother of five, but she showed no signs of dying down her lifestyle,
spending David's money in casinos. Was David about to pay the ultimate price for marrying Lois?
She would soon be seen recorded asking for directions for how best to get to the south, and fast.
If you want to start heading south, would you take 35 South, Just to keep going on down to the next state?
NARRATOR: In March 2018, after 35 years of marriage, the pressure cooker of Lois Riess's personal problems
exploded. So here's this woman. You know, she's in her 60s. She and her husband have been married for over three decades.
They have three children, five grandchildren. And then suddenly one night she decides to kill him.
He and Lois had apparently gone to see grandkids in sporting events. On the way back to their home, they started arguing.
My guess is that they had been arguing about money and particularly about money being used by Lois
to feed her gambling habit. When you look at how she decided to cross that line into killing, it was really motivated first and foremost
by finances and money. NARRATOR: The gambling addict Lois Riess and the long suffering husband were about to face
a final spin of the dice. He handed her a loaded pistol and told her basically to shoot and kill herself.
She had attempted suicide before. And now he was basically telling her, do it right this time.
Get it right. Shoot yourself. And instead, she took the gun, pointed it at him, and shot him three times.
This is not something that you just did in a crime of passion. This is a cold blooded, calculated murder.
We're not talking about a psychotic, overnight break. She had probably sat in the background,
quietly plotting the demise of her husband. NARRATOR: After murdering the man she married,
Lois Riess needed an escape route. It started with a plan to delay the discovery of the crime.
After she had killed him, she covered him with a blanket and then lay down beside him.
It's like an old Gothic William Faulkner tale or something, just quite, quite gruesome.
Then she takes some bath towels and she closes the door and she stuffs the towels under the door to seal out
any odors that might escape. NARRATOR: With David's corpse wrapped up in the bathroom,
Lois put the second part of her plan into action. Former medical detective, Rod Demery.
She then manufactured text messages to his family and friends to say that he had gone on a fishing trip
and that he wasn't going to be around and they shouldn't come looking for him. She eventually sends another text that says he's sick
and he doesn't want to be bothered. All of these text messages obviously to keep people from looking for him
and throw them off the trail. NARRATOR: Lois was a practiced hand at theft and fraud
from funding her gambling addiction. Now she raided David's business account. She writes three personal checks to herself
and forges the signature, all totaling $11,000. And then she hits the road. I think at that point the world was open for Lois
and she was not going to turn back. NARRATOR: As Lois Riess plotted her future, David was nowhere to be seen.
People began to get a little suspicious. They wondered, where is he. They couldn't-- they would call.
They couldn't-- they couldn't reach him, they couldn't contact him. NARRATOR: Lois' fake texts had looked unconvincing.
The alarm was about to be raised. They realized, this is really not something that he would have typed.
He wasn't known for using punctuation, so it was pretty clear that someone else had typed it.
Finally they called the Blooming Prairie police department and asked for a welfare check.
And that's when police discovered his body. They see the towel stuffed into the door and then walk in.
And they see David's rotting body underneath a pile of blankets. The cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds
to the chest. NARRATOR: From the start, police regarded Lois as a key suspect. His car is missing.
And so is his wife. When we first heard about the case and Lois was named as a person of interest--
which of course, is just a way of saying a suspect-- in the shooting death of her husband,
we didn't have a lot to go on. NARRATOR: A warrant was issued for her arrest. Lois was long gone.
I think there was probably a part of Lois that always felt disdain for a conventional life.
And once she murdered her husband, then the floodgates were open. And she can be whoever she wanted to be.
NARRATOR: Lois devised a plan that would take her on a 2000 mile road trip in a bid to flee justice.
Lois Riess is on the run. The first sign of her is at a convenience store. She's seen on a video camera asking for directions.
If you want to start heading south, would you take 35 south? Just to keep going on down to the next state.
CCTV video will capture her asking for directions at a gas station, which just happens
to be next door to her favorite casino, the Diamond Joe. Diamond Joe's casino, that Lois
apparently frequented a lot. She spent the day there gambling. And she hits the road.
And she starts traveling south to Florida. NARRATOR: In David's Cadillac, Lois drove first through Iowa,
and then further south, leaving a trail of security footage that the police would later piece together.
Even on her way down to Florida to try to hide out, she was stopping at casinos and spending money
that she had taken from her husband after she had shot and killed him. NARRATOR: In Florida, she toyed with the idea
of looking up an old friend who liked to winter in the South. Homicide detective David Foraker worked the case.
It just so happened that our suspect showed up to her house on Fort Myers Beach and appeared to be scoping the place out.
When she was confronted by our witness, she put her head down and just said, oh I'm sorry, wrong house, and then left.
We believe she came to Southwest Florida and Fort Myers Beach in particular perhaps because she knew
her friend lived down here. We believe that's why she went to the house, to see the friend.
Although she got spooked when the friend recognized her and she left immediately.
NARRATOR: Spooked or not, Lois stuck around in the tourist resort of Fort Myers Beach
and quickly made a new friend. We have no evidence to suggest that they knew each other prior.
Lois is the one who initiated the contact because she had an agenda. She had a plan.
On April 3, Lois Riess is hanging out with her new buddy. She's met a woman named Pamela Hutchinson, who
actually looks similar to Lois. And the two of them are having a grand time. They're out having dinner and drinks.
They were seen to have drinks and dinner together and chatting. It looks like they were getting along really well.
It looks like they've been friends forever. From what I hear, she was a very trusting, generous,
gregarious, individual, who would take somebody under her wing and be very generous with them.
NARRATOR: Two women of similar age and appearance, sharing cocktails and dinner.
What could be more harmless? She looks like a non-threatening individual who just wants to have fun.
NARRATOR: Carmine Marceno, sheriff of Lee county, which includes Fort Myers Beach.
She could be your family member. She wants to have a drink. She befriends our victim.
Unfortunately, there are some very dangerous people out there. People who you would not expect by looking at them
that they were dangerous. NARRATOR: The next part of Lois's plan falls into place.
So Lois Riess has figured this out. She can just find someone who looks like her so she
can steal their identity. She's somebody that seems to be plotting her next moves,
taking her time doing it, very deliberately. There's a very general resemblance as far as age and race and color of hair, maybe build, somewhat.
NARRATOR: But this was to be no simple case of identity theft. It was Lois Riess gambling her future freedom on killing
those who got in her way-- first the husband, now an innocent stranger. Lois Riess took advantage of a very kind,
good-natured, lovely person. I'm thinking that Lois Riess was taking her cues from something she'd seen in a movie
or on television about how to perpetrate identity theft. She wasn't, you know, the brightest bulb in the house.
And I'm sure she saw this as the perfect sort of plan. A call comes from Hutchinson's rented condo to reception,
asking to stay for a couple more days and given her credit card number and it's extended for three days.
NARRATOR: It was another of Lois Riess's deceptions. Just how far was she prepared to go to stay out of jail?
Pamela Hutchinson was about to find out. They had drinks together. They had fun together.
They talked. They laughed. Until Lois killed her. NARRATOR: David Riess was dead at the hands of his wife Lois.
And the wife, mother, and grandmother manufactured a way to avoid capture and start a new life--
as Pamela Hutchinson. April 5th, 2018. On the run after murdering her husband, Lois Riess is ready to strike again.
At 7:46 PM that night, CCTV video will capture Pamela and Lois laughing and walking
and talking together. We see them entering the condominium together. We see them leaving.
We see them entering. And then all of a sudden, we don't see our victim leaving the condominium anymore.
NARRATOR: The next day, Pamela didn't check out of the Village Marina in Fort Myers Beach, as she'd originally
told people she would. Nor was she active on social media. Pamela's family has started get a little worried
because she should have been home by now and she had been posting on Facebook, but suddenly she's not posting anymore.
And she's not responding to any of their posts. So they're getting concerned. NARRATOR: And not just Pamela's family, in the condo below hers
in Fort Myers Beach, a guest calls reception with a complaint about a foul smell.
He thinks it could be a dead animal. The hotel personnel go to room 404 to check.
NARRATOR: The maid finds the bathroom door blocked. When she tried to open the door, she couldn't.
She couldn't. It kept running into something. And she finally managed to shove the door open.
They open the door and they find Pamela's body covered in towels, and she's been shot.
A couple of things that I first noticed when we got there and was briefed by the others already on scene were
the spare bedroom and the spare bathroom looked like they have been used. I don't know, typically, if there's only one person
in a room, you would think they would only use one bathroom, maybe use both. But then again, the bedroom, the second guest
bedroom was also looked like someone had slept in the bed. I knew that there was only one person that checked
into the room, so knowing what I saw from the video, I thought, OK, maybe this female stayed the night, slept over.
This incident, this murder investigation, it rocked us. This was certainly unlike any other investigation that I had.
It wasn't just your normal run of the mill, if there is such a thing, homicide. Fort Myers Beach as a smaller town in Lee county.
And it's a quiet town, but not by the norm to find a murdered person in a rented condominium there.
All sorts of things were crossing my mind, but it never would have dawned on me that another elderly white female would be my killer.
And at that point, she would stop at nothing, not only murdering her husband, but taking the life of a stranger
and then therefore her identity. NARRATOR: Lois repeated the same escape plan that she had used after killing her husband David.
She starts to do her own cover up of the crime scene. Puts the towel by the door so there's no odor coming out.
Over the next couple of days, CCTV video will capture Lois going in and out of Pamela's room,
carrying garbage bags. We see this white female get in an Escalade with Minnesota license plates, leave the property,
and then walk back to the property about one hour later. NARRATOR: Lois had dumped David's Cadillac
at a beachfront car park. You got a woman who comes to Florida, looks like she's looking for somebody who
looks at least somewhat like her to kill and assume their identity. NARRATOR: To the outside world, Lois Riess
was now Pamela Hutchinson. A couple of days later, she goes on the run again. We see it's her walking back and forth in the hallway
before she takes off in the victim's car, an Acura, and starts to make her trek out of Florida.
NARRATOR: Local police are quick to put the pieces together. Detective David Foraker.
Once I entered the bathroom, I noticed that there was a pillow that appeared to be from the bed itself that had a defect in it
consistent with being a gunshot and being in close contact with a firearm as it was fired.
NARRATOR: Investigators in Florida have already learned of a suspect profile from another killing--
that of David Riess. We have an investigation, a death investigation, maybe a murder investigation going on in Minnesota.
At the same exact time now, we have a murder investigation going on in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
That creates a very unique set of circumstances. We then got into direct communication
with the detectives up in Dodge county, and they were very helpful. We developed a rapport, started communicating basically
non-stop over the next couple of weeks, just going over things, providing them information and vise versa.
We actually received photos of their crime scene up there and compared it to what we had down here.
And again, they were very similar with what happened up there and down here. So again, that solidified for us that OK, the person who
was responsible up there was also responsible for the homicide down here. NARRATOR: Both forces were getting a clear picture
of who Lois Riess was. The way she had befriended the victim, who was a loving, wonderful, person--
and obviously a very trusting person-- the way she had befriended her and then killed her was highly disturbing and we thought
had the marks of a really evil killer. After committing two murders, she's got the victim's vehicle,
she's calculated. We have to get her before she commits another murder. NARRATOR: But with two crime scenes 1,500 miles apart
and a murderer who's assumed a new identity, how were the police going to track her down?
Lead prosecutor, Rich Montecalvo. So many places have video, whether it's a private business, government office, a highway, that it's
almost the first place law enforcement looks now, especially when they have a suspect on the run.
We figured out that our best bet was going to be, at least initially, to find out what the video surveillance told us.
And so we started reviewing that. It's the simplest, most direct, immediate form
of evidence that they could start working their investigation from. Remarkably, the video is perfect--
perfect clarity, perfect dates align and everything. And what we find through the video
is our victim and another white middle aged female going back and forth from the victim's condominium
room on a number of occasions over a course of a few days. And that begins, really, the investigation.
Who is that other woman with our victim? NARRATOR: The other woman was Lois Riess, now dubbed the fugitive grandma in the press and on TV.
She takes the victim's driver's license, credit cards, her identity, her vehicle.
And what does that do for her? It gives her more time. It's clear where she's going.
She wants out of the country. In my belief, she knows we're on her tail. Everybody presumed, because of the way
they were following her path, that she was headed to Texas and then probably to Mexico.
It's a race against time to reach the border. NARRATOR: But as she flees the second murder scene,
Lois Riess is leaving a trail of clues. She goes to an ATM or to a bank on Fort Myers Beach
where Lois Riess withdraws $5,000 from the victim's bank account. Walking into a bank with someone's
ID that looks like you, that's not common. In fact, that takes a lot of chutzpah.
And off she goes in the victim's car, the Acura, not to be seen until many, many, hours later,
farther up north in the state of Florida. Police launch a nationwide manhunt for what they're calling the Fugitive Grandma, right.
Here's this woman who, you know she looks so sweet, like a grandma. She's got this white hair and she just
looks so like she'd be someone baking cookies, not out there killing people, which is what makes
her all the more dangerous. Let's get this information out. Let's be on the lookout.
Let's put her face on the billboards, everywhere. Because where is she going, we don't know.
But we need to all work and stop her before she commits another murder. I don't know if she knows she's wanted.
But she knows that she's trying to get as far away from Fort Myers Beach as she can.
The trail continues. The journey continues. She ends up in a hotel in north Florida.
She walks up to the front desk. Once again, her MO, smiling, calculated, cool, the appearance of anyone's grandmother.
She checks into a Hilton in Ocala. And she uses the victim's-- it's the first time now she's taken on this new persona--
and she's now using the victim's identification and credit card to check into a hotel.
She did the best she could to conceal herself. She was wearing a hat. We have her on video doing that.
She pulled in with the victim's vehicle. And she actually rented a room there for the night
and got room service. To then check into a hotel using the actual identification and the picture identification,
that's unusual. And that is a great trail for law enforcement to follow up on. NARRATOR: But hotel bills and credit cards
are not the only clues that Lois is leaving. She even stops off en route to indulge
her addiction-- gambling. And here she is now fleeing, now having committed two murders, and still feels
the need to stop and gamble in broad daylight. As she leaves Florida, she stops in a casino
and she wins $1,500. And at the time she wins, she uses her own identification and social security
number to claim the winnings. If she wouldn't have stopped it at this casino to spend money, to gamble some more,
she might have made it to Mexico. She very, very, possibly could have escaped and then
just not been heard of again. NARRATOR: Lois' addiction-driven blunder amazes even the state attorney.
Unfortunately, when we're dealing with people who are evil and who are willing to kill, and kill
two times quickly, back to back of each other, nothing they do surprises me. However, in this particular case, it is surprising
to see somebody-- and unusual-- immediately go off on a gambling jaunt after they've killed two people.
NARRATOR: Lois drove on through Louisiana towards Texas. She knows, as time passes, the investigation keeps moving
and we're going to be hot on her trail at some point in time. I imagine there was a bit of a thrill,
a bit of an adrenaline rush, which that-- you know, that's parcel of gambling addiction, as well.
But I'm certain that her main objective was, I got to get out of here. NARRATOR: Eventually, Lois crosses
the state line into Texas-- the final hurdle before reaching the Mexican border.
She makes her way along the Gulf Coast to Corpus Christie, Texas. She has with her directions to get to South Padre Island.
And she checks into a Motel 6 on South Padre Island in Texas. We know she has a gambling habit.
OK, she's got resources. She's in the casinos. Is she looking for another person to befriend?
Is she looking for the next vehicle to take, the next victim, the next driver's license?
We have to stop her and put an end to it immediately. NARRATOR: Lois Riess had murdered
her husband then killed an innocent woman to steal her identity. Now in the resort of South Padre Island,
she targeted another single woman of similar age and appearance-- Bernadette Mathis.
Remarkably, she looks somewhat like Lois-- about the same height, about the same age,
the head full of white hair. Not only did Lois Riess try to find someone who looked
like her so that she could assume their identity, but she probably found easier to make friends with people who
looked like her more generally. You know, people who might have shared the same experience, you
know, look like sort of a cuddly grandma or frumpy grandma, even, if you will. NARRATOR: In her frantic attempt to evade
the law for two murders, was Lois about to repeat her deadly pattern? There's a trail of evidence that she's building.
But her plan is, that she's going to make it across the country and leave the country.
I don't think anybody would have thought that this was actually going to be headed in the direction
of multiple murders. NARRATOR: Lois Riess-- hardly the image of a doting wife after murdering her husband--
was proving just as lethal as a friend. After two murders, one of them her husband, David,
Lois Riess was shaping up to continue her killing spree across the United States.
Let's look at our suspect, Lois Riess. You know why she's able to fly under the radar?
Because she looks like anyone's family member, grandmother. It's always disturbing to me as a prosecutor
and as a member of the community to see when people do evil things and just don't seem to have
any care about what they did. She's a wolf in sheep's clothing. She walks up. She smiles.
She's calm. She has the appearance of a grandmother. She's collective. But make no mistake, she's calculated.
NARRATOR: On South Padre Island, Riess's new friend, Bernadette Mathis, took her to dinner and then
invited her home for the night. They spend time having drinks and hanging out in her hot tub.
It amazes me that Lois would yet befriend another person and somehow get invited to stay in her guest room.
Those people should thank their lucky stars that-- because she had the gun. She had the gun.
She could have done it again. Once she had an unlocked or unleashed that sort of side of her personality,
you know, the sky was the limit. Certainly she had now committed one murder with the intention of concealing her identity.
So it was very important to try to find her so that she wouldn't do that again. NARRATOR: By now, the nationwide hunt was in full swing.
At this time, law enforcement has figured out through video surveillance what she was up to in the days
leading up to the murder. And a little bit afterward, they figured out that she switched cars, put out the license plate reader.
And now law enforcement has out a full fledged media campaign to try to catch her.
There's a BOLO, which means be on the lookout for her. And her picture is everywhere.
We have a way to trace her and the paper trail of the credit cards, debit cards, vehicles.
BOLO is be on the lookout, all over the highways, the billboards. It's a matter of time.
But in that time, we want to make certain in that time frame she can't commit another murder.
We were behind the eight ball a little bit. But with the investigation going forward and all hands on deck,
we were able to make great progress in it very quickly. And so that way we were able to get that information
and the suspect information out so that way hopefully someone could come into contact with her
and catch her. NARRATOR: Police offered a reward. Reward posted as $6,000 for any information leading
to the capture of Lois Riess. We knew what happened in Minnesota. We knew what happened here.
And we did not want there to be a third victim. NARRATOR: A third to add to the growing roster, which had begun
with her own husband, David. Then on April 19, 2018, Lois Riess was spotted sipping cocktails.
She's sitting in a bar in South Padre. And the bartender looks at her and says, oh, that's the woman who's wanted who I just saw on TV.
And he reported her, and probably saved Bernadette Mathis' life. It is certainly something that has crossed my mind.
That had she not been captured when she was, perhaps she would have done the same thing.
NARRATOR: Officers acted quickly to grab the suspect. She got a tap on the shoulder and it was a US marshal.
And he asked her to step outside. And she did. And she was asked to produce identification, and she did.
And she was arrested. Law enforcement officers commented that she didn't appear to be too startled or even worried
about being arrested. And the thought was maybe she was just tired and tired of playing this game.
NARRATOR: The Thelma and Louise style interstate chase was over. Lois Riess was in custody, but the hunt for evidence
continued. The marshals go to Lois' room there at the resort, and they find a 22 caliber pistol.
Lo and Behold, they discovered that the gun that had been used on Pamela Hutchinson was the same gun that
had been used on David Riess. It's clear that Lois Riess has used the same MO in these two murders.
She's used a small caliber weapon. She has covered the bodies. And she stuffed towels under the door.
NARRATOR: With Lois wanted in two states for murdering first her husband and then Pamela Hutchinson,
the authorities had to decide whether she would stand trial. It was ultimately agreed that Florida would take her first
and do what we needed to do through the judicial system to go forward. As the sheriff, it's a personal thing for me.
You committed that murder on a tourist in my county. You can run. You're not going to hide.
And we are going to get you. And in the end, I wanted her to specifically face the music here.
CAROLYN CANVILLE: June 6, 2018, Lois Riess is indicted by a grand jury in Florida
for the murder of Pamela Hutchinson. NARRATOR: Initially, Lois Riess denied the murder charges against her in both Florida and Minnesota.
Once you're convicted of first degree murder in Florida, there's only two possible sentences.
One is a life sentence without the chance of release. And the second sentence is the death penalty.
In this case, we decided to seek the death penalty. You know, I know people say mental illness, mentally ill.
Then I'm going to tell you that she was cold. She was calculated. She staged that crime scene.
She knew exactly what she was doing. NARRATOR: When the Pamela Hutchinson murder case came to trial, Riess suddenly switched her plea.
In December of 2019, Lois Riess changes her plea in the murder of Pamela Hutchinson
to guilty in order to escape the death penalty. She sentenced to life without parole.
Do you understand why you're here today? Yes. To the charge of first degree murder
with a firearm, a capital felony, which is punishable by the death penalty or life,
how do you plead? Guilty. She made a plea bargain with the authorities in Florida
that she would admit to first degree murder charges against her in exchange for her
being given a life sentence. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, ma'am, I will adjudicate you guilty.
I will sentence you to the Florida Department of Corrections for a period of life on count 1.
She understood and accepted her responsibility. And she took the plea and off she went,
back into the holding cell. NARRATOR: There was another crime that Lois Riess had so far refused to admit--
the murder of her husband David. She's extradited to Minnesota to face the music there.
With the family, the next of kin's blessing, we decided that the best thing to do in this case
would be to take the life sentence and let her go on her way to Minnesota and stay there and answer her charges there.
NARRATOR: Prosecutors could have let Lois Riess serve out her life sentence in Florida for the killing
of Pamela Hutchinson. But in her home state of Minnesota, there was another measure of justice
to be carried out for the murder that started it all-- that of her husband. On August 11, 2020, now it's two years after Lois
has killed her husband, David. NARRATOR: Eight months after her conviction for the murder
of Pamela Hutchinson, Lois Riess finally confessed to killing her husband David, too.
She changes her plea. She enters a plea of guilty to the murder of her husband David.
NARRATOR: The Fugitive Grandma was a double killer. One of her victims, the man she'd
been married to for 35 years. The enormity of this case, geographically as well as just in terms of what happened
and how this destroyed so many families' lives, I've never seen anything like before.
And I hope I never see again. Who would have ever suspected this woman from Minnesota to have come down here to do what she did.
We do not expect to see somebody who's a typical suburban mom, grandmom, who has been involved
in not only killing her husband, but traveling, assuming the identity of a completely innocent person,
and then killing them to get that identity. That was very surprising to us. Certainly it's not the image that I
have when I think of my grandparents or my parents. But again, we don't know, you know,
why people do things sometimes. This woman had no heart. She killed in cold blood.
She was calculated. And she was on the run. She's obviously not a sophisticated criminal.
But she certainly had enough premeditation and ill will to know what she was planning on doing.
NARRATOR: Lois Riess was given another life sentence for killing her husband, David.
And she will spend the rest of her days in jail. She looked like a grandmother that
may have been a little quirky, but I don't think anyone suspect that she would be violent.
When you look at her path into murder, you can see that it was really motivated by money first and foremost.
Really all she saw was dollar signs. And it was whatever she could do to get as much money as possible, to amass wealth for herself.
NARRATOR: Lois Riess-- wife, mother, killer, brought to justice. In the end, justice is served.
That killer's off the streets. She's behind bars where she belongs. Hopefully it brings some sense of resolution, conclusion,
justice for the family. [music playing]

Lois Riess was a gambling addict who would do anything to feed her habit. She even went on a killing-and-robbing spree across America.

Though wedded couples vow to stay together until death do they part, this new true crime series looks at what happens when a groom or bride causes their beloved's death.

Brief Summary

Lois Riess murdered her husband and a stranger to steal identities, leading to a nationwide manhunt and her eventual capture.

Key points

The Perfect Couple. Lois and David Riess appeared to be a wholesome couple, but dark secrets lurked beneath.
A Shocking Transformation. Lois Riess's gambling addiction spirals into theft and ultimately murder.
The Double Life. After killing her husband, Lois Riess adopts a new identity by murdering an innocent woman.
The Fugitive Grandma's Identity Theft. Lois Riess steals the identity of her victims to evade capture.
A Nationwide Manhunt. Law enforcement launches a manhunt for Lois Riess, dubbed the Fugitive Grandma.
Capture at the Bar. Lois Riess is finally spotted and arrested after a bartender recognizes her.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What people don't know is that it's not such a pretty picture behind closed doors.

NARRATOR: Revealing the hidden troubles in Lois's life.

3:01WatchJun 8, 2022

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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