00:00:09
NARRATOR: 59-year-old
Pamela Hutchinson lies dead in a hotel
room, detectives baffled
00:00:15
about the motive for homicide. This was unlike any other
investigation that I had.
00:00:19
Her body was
found in a bathroom. She had been covered up with
some sort of blanket or cloth.
00:00:25
NARRATOR: On the run,
56 year old Lois Riess-- wife, mother, grandmother. Unfortunately, there are
some very dangerous people
00:00:33
out there, people who you would
not expect by looking at them that they were dangerous.
00:00:42
We have to get her before
she commits another murder. NARRATOR: With a 2000
mile hunt underway,
00:00:48
what did Riess know
about another killing just days earlier-- that of her husband, David.
00:00:54
I've had some wild cases that
I have covered over the years. But I've never seen
one like this before.
00:01:02
NARRATOR: Could the
smiling grandma Lois Riess really be a double killer? Had she killed Pamela Hutchinson
just days after murdering
00:01:12
the man she had married? [music playing] NARRATOR: Rural Minnesota--
a quiet Midwest backwater.
00:01:45
Blooming Prairie is
a small, small town. It's less than 2000 people
live there in Blooming Prairie.
00:01:53
But it's a very tight knit
community where the people-- they're really,
really great people.
00:02:01
NARRATOR: To the outside
world, Lois and David Riess were the perfect couple. They met as teenagers,
fell in love, got married,
00:02:08
started a family. And I don't think anybody
would suspect Lois of doing anything untoward with anyone.
00:02:16
She looks like a
matronly, lovely person who might make you cookies
or take care of your children
00:02:22
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,
00:02:32
they married. So it was like a local boy
meets and marries a local girl. It's that kind of
wholesome story.
00:02:39
NARRATOR: In the 1980s, the
couple moved to the countryside to start a family. CAROLYN CANVILLE: David
serves in the Navy.
00:02:46
And when he gets out,
he opens up a bait shop. Eventually sells it
and then he opens
00:02:52
up his own worm farm business. They have this what looks like
this really nice storybook
00:02:59
life together, just
a happy couple, really well liked
in the community. And what people don't
know is that it's
00:03:06
not such a pretty picture
behind closed doors. NARRATOR: Geoffrey
Jackson was a newspaper
00:03:15
editor working for the nearby
Owatonna People's Press. He got to know all
about Lois Riess.
00:03:21
There was a history of
depression in her family. NARRATOR: And not
just depression,
00:03:28
Lois Riess was prescribed
antipsychotic medication. Sometimes she refused to take
it, much to the frustration
00:03:36
of her husband David. So she has a troubled
history here that most people in the community had no idea.
00:03:44
Nobody ever suspected that
there was any huge conflict and they just kind of blended
right into the neighborhood.
00:03:49
NARRATOR: Lois and David Riess
got on with raising the family. They could be seen regularly
at the local servicemen's club.
00:03:56
While Lois cared for her
cognitively disabled sister, David would often
be out on the water,
00:04:01
fishing or boating
with his grandchildren. Minnesota is the
Land of 10,000 lakes.
00:04:07
And there's a lot of fishing
that goes on in this state. NARRATOR: Journalist
Carolyn Campbell
00:04:12
has researched the life
of David and Lois Riess. He's a real outdoorsy guy. He loves fishing,
hunting, boating.
00:04:20
And especially loves sharing
that with his grandchildren. He was a good man. He loved his family, loved his
grandchildren, loved fishing.
00:04:31
It's a big expanded family. You can imagine the types
of nice get-togethers they might have.
00:04:36
And it seemed like the
family was very close-knit. Everybody knew grandma Lois
and they enjoyed visiting her.
00:04:42
NARRATOR: While the
Riess family appeared to be a classic
Midwest success story.
00:04:46
Behind closed doors, Lois'
problems were worsening. On top of her mental
health issues,
00:04:52
she developed an addiction. The hidden part
of Lois' personality was that she actually
was a thrill seeker.
00:04:58
And she did this
through gambling. NARRATOR: Lois's problems
were leading her, inexorably,
00:05:03
into a life of crime. Once the gambling
addiction took hold, there was nothing
that could stop her.
00:05:08
And if she didn't have the
funds to bankroll her gambling, she would stop at
nothing to steal.
00:05:15
NARRATOR: Not just
small amounts. As primary carer for
her disabled sibling, Lois was able to siphon
off more than $100,000
00:05:23
of her sister's money. Lois was appointed
as her guardian, and she stole
$100,000 before they
00:05:32
said something's wrong here. I think Lois knew that
she had an opportunity, that her cognitively
disabled sister relied
00:05:38
on her for everything
and possibly wouldn't even understand
that she had stolen from her.
00:05:43
And so she did so very
easily right under her nose. NARRATOR: Lois, the grandmother
of five, got away with it.
00:05:50
She was not charged
criminally in that, but she was removed as guardian. And in the papers, in the legal
documents that were filed,
00:05:59
removing her from that, it did
indicate that she had spent thousands and thousands and
thousands of dollars gambling,
00:06:06
particularly at this
one casino, the Diamond Joe casino, which isn't far from
their home in Blooming Prairie.
00:06:12
NARRATOR: Criminologist
Doctor Brian Frederick believed that Lois'
treatment of her own sister
00:06:17
should have rung alarm
bells with the authorities and with her family. So it's not completely
uncommon for people
00:06:24
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
00:06:33
Riess was, yes, I think it
would have thrown up a red flag, or should have. NARRATOR: After years
of covering things up,
00:06:40
Lois' personal
problems were causing a strain on the Riess marriage. Everything was saying that
the source of their trouble
00:06:49
was money, and
particularly the money she was using for gambling. She had an addiction problem.
00:06:56
She had a mental
illness that she wasn't properly
treating because she had discontinued her medication.
00:07:01
NARRATOR: Lois
Riess was a gambling addict, a liar, and a thief. Gambling is risky
behavior, right.
00:07:09
And there's a whole body of
knowledge around this sort of sociology of risk-taking.
00:07:13
Given her underlying condition,
if we accept that she was a psychopath, it wasn't
so much the money
00:07:21
she was after but sort
of a way of funding her addiction, her risk taking. NARRATOR: Were her
demons about to put
00:07:31
her husband's life in danger? I believe that she had planned
that she was going to have
00:07:36
to continue along
this path of crime so that she can amass
enough wealth for herself
00:07:40
to do everything
that she wanted. It seemed as if it just
kind of came to a one day.
00:07:46
Seemed like she just snapped. NARRATOR: David
Riess, Navy veteran, had met Lois in her
hometown of Rochester.
00:07:55
They were married for 35 years. But there was more to Mrs.
Riess than met the eye.
00:07:59
She might be a
grandmother of five, but she showed no signs of
dying down her lifestyle,
00:08:05
spending David's
money in casinos. Was David about to
pay the ultimate price for marrying Lois?
00:08:12
She would soon be
seen recorded asking for directions for how best
to get to the south, and fast.
00:08:20
If you want to
start heading south, would you take 35 South,
Just to keep going on down to the next state?
00:08:37
NARRATOR: In March 2018,
after 35 years of marriage, the pressure cooker of Lois
Riess's personal problems
00:08:43
exploded. So here's this woman. You know, she's in her 60s. She and her husband have been
married for over three decades.
00:08:52
They have three children,
five grandchildren. And then suddenly one night
she decides to kill him.
00:09:00
He and Lois had
apparently gone to see grandkids in sporting events. On the way back to their
home, they started arguing.
00:09:12
My guess is that they had
been arguing about money and particularly about
money being used by Lois
00:09:22
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
00:09:31
by finances and money. NARRATOR: The gambling
addict Lois Riess and the long suffering
husband were about to face
00:09:37
a final spin of the dice. He handed her a loaded
pistol and told her basically to shoot and kill herself.
00:09:50
She had attempted
suicide before. And now he was basically telling
her, do it right this time.
00:09:58
Get it right. Shoot yourself. And instead, she took the
gun, pointed it at him, and shot him three times.
00:10:11
This is not something that you
just did in a crime of passion. This is a cold blooded,
calculated murder.
00:10:17
We're not talking about a
psychotic, overnight break. She had probably sat
in the background,
00:10:23
quietly plotting the
demise of her husband. NARRATOR: After murdering
the man she married,
00:10:28
Lois Riess needed
an escape route. It started with a plan to delay
the discovery of the crime.
00:10:35
After she had killed him,
she covered him with a blanket and then lay down beside him.
00:10:40
It's like an old Gothic William
Faulkner tale or something, just quite, quite gruesome.
00:10:48
Then she takes some bath
towels and she closes the door and she stuffs the towels
under the door to seal out
00:10:56
any odors that might escape. NARRATOR: With David's corpse
wrapped up in the bathroom,
00:11:01
Lois put the second part
of her plan into action. Former medical
detective, Rod Demery.
00:11:07
She then manufactured
text messages to his family and friends to say that he
had gone on a fishing trip
00:11:16
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
00:11:23
and he doesn't want
to be bothered. All of these text
messages obviously to keep people from
looking for him
00:11:29
and throw them off the trail. NARRATOR: Lois was a practiced
hand at theft and fraud
00:11:33
from funding her
gambling addiction. Now she raided David's
business account. She writes three
personal checks to herself
00:11:42
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
00:11:51
and she was not
going to turn back. NARRATOR: As Lois Riess
plotted her future, David was nowhere to be seen.
00:11:58
People began to get
a little suspicious. They wondered, where is he. They couldn't-- they would call.
00:12:02
They couldn't-- they
couldn't reach him, they couldn't contact him. NARRATOR: Lois' fake texts
had looked unconvincing.
00:12:09
The alarm was
about to be raised. They realized, this
is really not something that he would have typed.
00:12:16
He wasn't known for
using punctuation, so it was pretty clear that
someone else had typed it.
00:12:22
Finally they
called the Blooming Prairie police department and
asked for a welfare check.
00:12:27
And that's when police
discovered his body. They see the towel stuffed
into the door and then walk in.
00:12:33
And they see
David's rotting body underneath a pile of blankets. The cause of death was
multiple gunshot wounds
00:12:41
to the chest. NARRATOR: From the start, police
regarded Lois as a key suspect. His car is missing.
00:12:52
And so is his wife. When we first
heard about the case and Lois was named as
a person of interest--
00:13:01
which of course, is just a
way of saying a suspect-- in the shooting
death of her husband,
00:13:08
we didn't have a lot to go on. NARRATOR: A warrant was
issued for her arrest. Lois was long gone.
00:13:16
I think there
was probably a part of Lois that always felt
disdain for a conventional life.
00:13:20
And once she
murdered her husband, then the floodgates were open. And she can be whoever
she wanted to be.
00:13:25
NARRATOR: Lois
devised a plan that would take her on a
2000 mile road trip in a bid to flee justice.
00:13:31
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.
00:13:41
If you want to start heading
south, would you take 35 south? Just to keep going on
down to the next state.
00:13:49
CCTV video will capture
her asking for directions at a gas station,
which just happens
00:13:56
to be next door to her favorite
casino, the Diamond Joe. Diamond Joe's
casino, that Lois
00:14:03
apparently frequented a lot. She spent the
day there gambling. And she hits the road.
00:14:10
And she starts traveling
south to Florida. NARRATOR: In David's Cadillac,
Lois drove first through Iowa,
00:14:17
and then further south, leaving
a trail of security footage that the police would
later piece together.
00:14:23
Even on her way down to
Florida to try to hide out, she was stopping at
casinos and spending money
00:14:34
that she had taken
from her husband after she had shot
and killed him. NARRATOR: In Florida,
she toyed with the idea
00:14:48
of looking up an old friend who
liked to winter in the South. Homicide detective David
Foraker worked the case.
00:14:54
It just so happened that our
suspect showed up to her house on Fort Myers Beach and appeared
to be scoping the place out.
00:15:01
When she was confronted
by our witness, she put her head
down and just said, oh I'm sorry, wrong
house, and then left.
00:15:13
We believe she came to
Southwest Florida and Fort Myers Beach in particular
perhaps because she knew
00:15:18
her friend lived down here. We believe that's why
she went to the house, to see the friend.
00:15:26
Although she got spooked
when the friend recognized her and she left immediately.
00:15:30
NARRATOR: Spooked or
not, Lois stuck around in the tourist resort
of Fort Myers Beach
00:15:34
and quickly made a new friend. We have no evidence
to suggest that they knew each other prior.
00:15:44
Lois is the one who
initiated the contact because she had an agenda. She had a plan.
00:15:52
On April 3, Lois Riess is
hanging out with her new buddy. She's met a woman named
Pamela Hutchinson, who
00:16:01
actually looks similar to Lois. And the two of them are
having a grand time. They're out having
dinner and drinks.
00:16:11
They were seen to have
drinks and dinner together and chatting. It looks like they were
getting along really well.
00:16:16
It looks like they've
been friends forever. From what I hear, she was
a very trusting, generous,
00:16:22
gregarious,
individual, who would take somebody under her wing
and be very generous with them.
00:16:28
NARRATOR: Two women of
similar age and appearance, sharing cocktails and dinner.
00:16:32
What could be more harmless? She looks like a
non-threatening individual who just wants to have fun.
00:16:40
NARRATOR: Carmine Marceno,
sheriff of Lee county, which includes Fort Myers Beach.
00:16:45
She could be
your family member. She wants to have a drink. She befriends our victim.
00:16:50
Unfortunately,
there are some very dangerous people out there. People who you would not
expect by looking at them
00:16:55
that they were dangerous. NARRATOR: The next part of
Lois's plan falls into place.
00:17:00
So Lois Riess has
figured this out. She can just find someone
who looks like her so she
00:17:05
can steal their identity. She's somebody that seems
to be plotting her next moves,
00:17:11
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.
00:17:25
NARRATOR: But this was to be no
simple case of identity theft. It was Lois Riess gambling
her future freedom on killing
00:17:32
those who got in her way-- first the husband, now
an innocent stranger. Lois Riess took
advantage of a very kind,
00:17:40
good-natured, lovely person. I'm thinking that Lois
Riess was taking her cues from something she'd
seen in a movie
00:17:47
or on television about how
to perpetrate identity theft. She wasn't, you know, the
brightest bulb in the house.
00:17:55
And I'm sure she saw this
as the perfect sort of plan. A call comes from Hutchinson's
rented condo to reception,
00:18:06
asking to stay for
a couple more days and given her credit
card number and it's extended for three days.
00:18:13
NARRATOR: It was another
of Lois Riess's deceptions. Just how far was she prepared
to go to stay out of jail?
00:18:20
Pamela Hutchinson was
about to find out. They had drinks together. They had fun together.
00:18:27
They talked. They laughed. Until Lois killed her. NARRATOR: David Riess was dead
at the hands of his wife Lois.
00:18:38
And the wife, mother,
and grandmother manufactured a way to avoid
capture and start a new life--
00:18:44
as Pamela Hutchinson. April 5th, 2018. On the run after
murdering her husband, Lois Riess is ready
to strike again.
00:19:07
At 7:46 PM that
night, CCTV video will capture Pamela and
Lois laughing and walking
00:19:18
and talking together. We see them entering
the condominium together. We see them leaving.
00:19:23
We see them entering. And then all of a sudden, we
don't see our victim leaving the condominium anymore.
00:19:29
NARRATOR: The next day, Pamela
didn't check out of the Village Marina in Fort Myers
Beach, as she'd originally
00:19:34
told people she would. Nor was she active
on social media. Pamela's family has
started get a little worried
00:19:41
because she should
have been home by now and she had been
posting on Facebook, but suddenly she's
not posting anymore.
00:19:48
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
00:19:58
in Fort Myers Beach, a
guest calls reception with a complaint about a foul smell.
00:20:03
He thinks it could
be a dead animal. The hotel personnel
go to room 404 to check.
00:20:11
NARRATOR: The maid finds
the bathroom door blocked. When she tried to open
the door, she couldn't.
00:20:17
She couldn't. It kept running into something. And she finally managed
to shove the door open.
00:20:23
They open the door and they
find Pamela's body covered in towels, and she's been shot.
00:20:33
A couple of things that I
first noticed when we got there and was briefed by the
others already on scene were
00:20:38
the spare bedroom and
the spare bathroom looked like they have been used. I don't know, typically,
if there's only one person
00:20:45
in a room, you would think they
would only use one bathroom, maybe use both. But then again, the
bedroom, the second guest
00:20:51
bedroom was also looked like
someone had slept in the bed. I knew that there was only
one person that checked
00:20:56
into the room, so knowing
what I saw from the video, I thought, OK, maybe this female
stayed the night, slept over.
00:21:03
This incident, this murder
investigation, it rocked us. This was certainly unlike any
other investigation that I had.
00:21:12
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.
00:21:20
And it's a quiet town,
but not by the norm to find a murdered person in
a rented condominium there.
00:21:28
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.
00:21:35
And at that point, she would
stop at nothing, not only murdering her husband, but
taking the life of a stranger
00:21:40
and then therefore her identity. NARRATOR: Lois repeated
the same escape plan that she had used after
killing her husband David.
00:21:47
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.
00:21:54
Over the next couple
of days, CCTV video will capture Lois going in
and out of Pamela's room,
00:22:03
carrying garbage bags. We see this white
female get in an Escalade with Minnesota license
plates, leave the property,
00:22:15
and then walk back to the
property about one hour later. NARRATOR: Lois had
dumped David's Cadillac
00:22:20
at a beachfront car park. You got a woman
who comes to Florida, looks like she's
looking for somebody who
00:22:26
looks at least somewhat
like her to kill and assume their identity. NARRATOR: To the outside
world, Lois Riess
00:22:32
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
00:22:40
before she takes off in
the victim's car, an Acura, and starts to make her
trek out of Florida.
00:22:46
NARRATOR: Local police are quick
to put the pieces together. Detective David Foraker.
00:22:50
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
00:22:57
consistent with being a gunshot
and being in close contact with a firearm as it was fired.
00:23:05
NARRATOR: Investigators
in Florida have already learned
of a suspect profile from another killing--
00:23:10
that of David Riess. We have an investigation,
a death investigation, maybe a murder investigation
going on in Minnesota.
00:23:19
At the same exact
time now, we have a murder investigation going on
in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
00:23:27
That creates a very unique
set of circumstances. We then got into
direct communication
00:23:35
with the detectives
up in Dodge county, and they were very helpful. We developed a rapport,
started communicating basically
00:23:42
non-stop over the next couple of
weeks, just going over things, providing them information
and vise versa.
00:23:49
We actually received
photos of their crime scene up there and compared it
to what we had down here.
00:23:56
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
00:24:04
was responsible
up there was also responsible for the
homicide down here. NARRATOR: Both forces were
getting a clear picture
00:24:13
of who Lois Riess was. The way she had befriended
the victim, who was a loving, wonderful, person--
00:24:18
and obviously a very
trusting person-- the way she had
befriended her and then killed her was highly
disturbing and we thought
00:24:25
had the marks of a
really evil killer. After committing two murders,
she's got the victim's vehicle,
00:24:33
she's calculated. We have to get her before
she commits another murder. NARRATOR: But with two crime
scenes 1,500 miles apart
00:24:41
and a murderer who's
assumed a new identity, how were the police going
to track her down?
00:24:47
Lead prosecutor,
Rich Montecalvo. So many places have
video, whether it's a private business, government
office, a highway, that it's
00:25:00
almost the first
place law enforcement looks now, especially when
they have a suspect on the run.
00:25:06
We figured out
that our best bet was going to be,
at least initially, to find out what the video
surveillance told us.
00:25:15
And so we started
reviewing that. It's the simplest, most
direct, immediate form
00:25:21
of evidence that they
could start working their investigation from. Remarkably, the
video is perfect--
00:25:29
perfect clarity, perfect
dates align and everything. And what we find
through the video
00:25:35
is our victim and another white
middle aged female going back and forth from the
victim's condominium
00:25:43
room on a number of occasions
over a course of a few days. And that begins, really,
the investigation.
00:25:51
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.
00:26:00
She takes the victim's
driver's license, credit cards, her identity, her vehicle.
00:26:05
And what does that do for her? It gives her more time. It's clear where she's going.
00:26:13
She wants out of the country. In my belief, she knows
we're on her tail. Everybody presumed,
because of the way
00:26:23
they were following her path,
that she was headed to Texas and then probably to Mexico.
00:26:30
It's a race against time
to reach the border. NARRATOR: But as she flees
the second murder scene,
00:26:34
Lois Riess is leaving
a trail of clues. She goes to an ATM or to
a bank on Fort Myers Beach
00:26:40
where Lois Riess
withdraws $5,000 from the victim's bank account. Walking into a
bank with someone's
00:26:47
ID that looks like
you, that's not common. In fact, that takes
a lot of chutzpah.
00:26:55
And off she goes in the
victim's car, the Acura, not to be seen until
many, many, hours later,
00:27:02
farther up north in
the state of Florida. Police launch a
nationwide manhunt for what they're calling
the Fugitive Grandma, right.
00:27:12
Here's this woman
who, you know she looks so sweet, like a grandma. She's got this white
hair and she just
00:27:18
looks so like she'd be someone
baking cookies, not out there killing people,
which is what makes
00:27:22
her all the more dangerous. Let's get this
information out. Let's be on the lookout.
00:27:27
Let's put her face on the
billboards, everywhere. Because where is she
going, we don't know.
00:27:31
But we need to all
work and stop her before she commits
another murder. I don't know if she
knows she's wanted.
00:27:37
But she knows that she's trying
to get as far away from Fort Myers Beach as she can.
00:27:42
The trail continues. The journey continues. She ends up in a hotel
in north Florida.
00:27:48
She walks up to the front desk. Once again, her MO,
smiling, calculated, cool, the appearance of
anyone's grandmother.
00:27:57
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--
00:28:05
and she's now using the victim's
identification and credit card to check into a hotel.
00:28:12
She did the best she
could to conceal herself. She was wearing a hat. We have her on video doing that.
00:28:17
She pulled in with
the victim's vehicle. And she actually rented a
room there for the night
00:28:21
and got room service. To then check
into a hotel using the actual identification and
the picture identification,
00:28:28
that's unusual. And that is a great
trail for law enforcement to follow up on. NARRATOR: But hotel
bills and credit cards
00:28:34
are not the only clues
that Lois is leaving. She even stops off
en route to indulge
00:28:38
her addiction-- gambling. And here she is
now fleeing, now having committed two
murders, and still feels
00:28:45
the need to stop and
gamble in broad daylight. As she leaves Florida,
she stops in a casino
00:28:52
and she wins $1,500. And at the time
she wins, she uses her own identification
and social security
00:29:01
number to claim the winnings. If she wouldn't have
stopped it at this casino to spend money, to
gamble some more,
00:29:10
she might have
made it to Mexico. She very, very, possibly
could have escaped and then
00:29:17
just not been heard of again. NARRATOR: Lois'
addiction-driven blunder amazes even the state attorney.
00:29:24
Unfortunately, when
we're dealing with people who are evil and who are
willing to kill, and kill
00:29:30
two times quickly, back to
back of each other, nothing they do surprises me. However, in this particular
case, it is surprising
00:29:40
to see somebody-- and unusual-- immediately go off
on a gambling jaunt after they've killed two people.
00:29:46
NARRATOR: Lois drove on through
Louisiana towards Texas. She knows, as time passes,
the investigation keeps moving
00:29:54
and we're going to be hot on
her trail at some point in time. I imagine there was
a bit of a thrill,
00:30:00
a bit of an adrenaline
rush, which that-- you know, that's parcel of
gambling addiction, as well.
00:30:11
But I'm certain that
her main objective was, I got to get out of here. NARRATOR: Eventually,
Lois crosses
00:30:19
the state line into Texas-- the final hurdle before
reaching the Mexican border.
00:30:24
She makes her way
along the Gulf Coast to Corpus Christie, Texas. She has with her directions
to get to South Padre Island.
00:30:33
And she checks into a Motel 6
on South Padre Island in Texas. We know she has
a gambling habit.
00:30:39
OK, she's got resources. She's in the casinos. Is she looking for another
person to befriend?
00:30:46
Is she looking for
the next vehicle to take, the next victim,
the next driver's license?
00:30:52
We have to stop her and put
an end to it immediately. NARRATOR: Lois
Riess had murdered
00:30:58
her husband then killed
an innocent woman to steal her identity. Now in the resort of
South Padre Island,
00:31:05
she targeted
another single woman of similar age and appearance-- Bernadette Mathis.
00:31:10
Remarkably, she looks
somewhat like Lois-- about the same height,
about the same age,
00:31:16
the head full of white hair. Not only did Lois Riess try
to find someone who looked
00:31:22
like her so that she could
assume their identity, but she probably found easier
to make friends with people who
00:31:28
looked like her more generally. You know, people who might have
shared the same experience, you
00:31:32
know, look like sort of a cuddly
grandma or frumpy grandma, even, if you will. NARRATOR: In her
frantic attempt to evade
00:31:38
the law for two
murders, was Lois about to repeat her deadly pattern? There's a trail of
evidence that she's building.
00:31:45
But her plan is,
that she's going to make it across the country
and leave the country.
00:31:50
I don't think anybody would
have thought that this was actually going to be
headed in the direction
00:31:55
of multiple murders. NARRATOR: Lois Riess-- hardly
the image of a doting wife after murdering her husband--
00:32:02
was proving just as
lethal as a friend. After two murders, one of
them her husband, David,
00:32:17
Lois Riess was shaping up
to continue her killing spree across the United States.
00:32:22
Let's look at our
suspect, Lois Riess. You know why she's able
to fly under the radar?
00:32:27
Because she looks like anyone's
family member, grandmother. It's always disturbing
to me as a prosecutor
00:32:34
and as a member of the
community to see when people do evil things and
just don't seem to have
00:32:41
any care about what they did. She's a wolf in
sheep's clothing. She walks up. She smiles.
00:32:48
She's calm. She has the appearance
of a grandmother. She's collective. But make no mistake,
she's calculated.
00:32:56
NARRATOR: On South Padre Island,
Riess's new friend, Bernadette Mathis, took her
to dinner and then
00:33:02
invited her home for the night. They spend time having drinks
and hanging out in her hot tub.
00:33:08
It amazes me that Lois would
yet befriend another person and somehow get invited
to stay in her guest room.
00:33:18
Those people should thank
their lucky stars that-- because she had the gun. She had the gun.
00:33:28
She could have done it again. Once she had an
unlocked or unleashed that sort of side
of her personality,
00:33:35
you know, the sky was the limit. Certainly she
had now committed one murder with the intention
of concealing her identity.
00:33:43
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.
00:33:51
At this time, law
enforcement has figured out through video surveillance
what she was up to in the days
00:33:58
leading up to the murder. And a little bit
afterward, they figured out that she switched cars, put
out the license plate reader.
00:34:05
And now law enforcement has
out a full fledged media campaign to try to catch her.
00:34:10
There's a BOLO, which means
be on the lookout for her. And her picture is everywhere.
00:34:17
We have a way to trace her and
the paper trail of the credit cards, debit cards, vehicles.
00:34:22
BOLO is be on the lookout,
all over the highways, the billboards. It's a matter of time.
00:34:27
But in that time,
we want to make certain in that time frame she
can't commit another murder.
00:34:32
We were behind the
eight ball a little bit. But with the investigation going
forward and all hands on deck,
00:34:39
we were able to make great
progress in it very quickly. And so that way we were
able to get that information
00:34:47
and the suspect
information out so that way hopefully someone could
come into contact with her
00:34:52
and catch her. NARRATOR: Police
offered a reward. Reward posted as $6,000
for any information leading
00:34:59
to the capture of Lois Riess. We knew what
happened in Minnesota. We knew what happened here.
00:35:05
And we did not want there
to be a third victim. NARRATOR: A third to add to the
growing roster, which had begun
00:35:11
with her own husband, David. Then on April 19,
2018, Lois Riess was spotted sipping cocktails.
00:35:19
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.
00:35:31
And he reported
her, and probably saved Bernadette Mathis' life. It is certainly something
that has crossed my mind.
00:35:38
That had she not been
captured when she was, perhaps she would have
done the same thing.
00:35:43
NARRATOR: Officers acted
quickly to grab the suspect. She got a tap on the shoulder
and it was a US marshal.
00:35:50
And he asked her
to step outside. And she did. And she was asked to produce
identification, and she did.
00:35:57
And she was arrested. Law enforcement
officers commented that she didn't appear to be
too startled or even worried
00:36:09
about being arrested. And the thought was maybe
she was just tired and tired of playing this game.
00:36:15
NARRATOR: The Thelma and
Louise style interstate chase was over. Lois Riess was in custody,
but the hunt for evidence
00:36:22
continued. The marshals go to Lois'
room there at the resort, and they find a
22 caliber pistol.
00:36:30
Lo and Behold, they discovered
that the gun that had been used on Pamela Hutchinson
was the same gun that
00:36:38
had been used on David Riess. It's clear that Lois
Riess has used the same MO in these two murders.
00:36:46
She's used a small
caliber weapon. She has covered the bodies. And she stuffed
towels under the door.
00:36:53
NARRATOR: With Lois
wanted in two states for murdering first her husband
and then Pamela Hutchinson,
00:36:57
the authorities had to decide
whether she would stand trial. It was ultimately agreed that
Florida would take her first
00:37:04
and do what we needed to do
through the judicial system to go forward. As the sheriff, it's
a personal thing for me.
00:37:12
You committed that murder
on a tourist in my county. You can run. You're not going to hide.
00:37:20
And we are going to get you. And in the end, I wanted
her to specifically face the music here.
00:37:28
CAROLYN CANVILLE: June
6, 2018, Lois Riess is indicted by a
grand jury in Florida
00:37:33
for the murder of
Pamela Hutchinson. NARRATOR: Initially,
Lois Riess denied the murder charges against her
in both Florida and Minnesota.
00:37:44
Once you're convicted of
first degree murder in Florida, there's only two
possible sentences.
00:37:49
One is a life sentence
without the chance of release. And the second sentence
is the death penalty.
00:37:56
In this case, we decided
to seek the death penalty. You know, I know people say
mental illness, mentally ill.
00:38:05
Then I'm going to tell
you that she was cold. She was calculated. She staged that crime scene.
00:38:13
She knew exactly
what she was doing. NARRATOR: When the
Pamela Hutchinson murder case came to trial, Riess
suddenly switched her plea.
00:38:21
In December of
2019, Lois Riess changes her plea in the
murder of Pamela Hutchinson
00:38:29
to guilty in order to
escape the death penalty. She sentenced to
life without parole.
00:38:34
Do you understand
why you're here today? Yes. To the charge of
first degree murder
00:38:40
with a firearm,
a capital felony, which is punishable by
the death penalty or life,
00:38:46
how do you plead? Guilty. She made a plea bargain with
the authorities in Florida
00:38:52
that she would admit
to first degree murder charges against her
in exchange for her
00:39:00
being given a life sentence. Pursuant to the
terms of the agreement, ma'am, I will
adjudicate you guilty.
00:39:09
I will sentence
you to the Florida Department of Corrections for
a period of life on count 1.
00:39:14
She understood and
accepted her responsibility. And she took the plea
and off she went,
00:39:19
back into the holding cell. NARRATOR: There was another
crime that Lois Riess had so far refused to admit--
00:39:24
the murder of her husband David. She's extradited to Minnesota
to face the music there.
00:39:30
With the family, the
next of kin's blessing, we decided that the best
thing to do in this case
00:39:35
would be to take
the life sentence and let her go on
her way to Minnesota and stay there and
answer her charges there.
00:39:41
NARRATOR: Prosecutors could
have let Lois Riess serve out her life sentence in
Florida for the killing
00:39:46
of Pamela Hutchinson. But in her home
state of Minnesota, there was another
measure of justice
00:39:51
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
00:40:00
has killed her husband, David. NARRATOR: Eight months after
her conviction for the murder
00:40:04
of Pamela Hutchinson, Lois Riess
finally confessed to killing her husband David, too.
00:40:09
She changes her plea. She enters a plea of guilty
to the murder of her husband David.
00:40:17
NARRATOR: The Fugitive
Grandma was a double killer. One of her victims,
the man she'd
00:40:22
been married to for 35 years. The enormity of this
case, geographically as well as just in
terms of what happened
00:40:35
and how this destroyed
so many families' lives, I've never seen
anything like before.
00:40:43
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.
00:40:52
We do not expect
to see somebody who's a typical suburban mom,
grandmom, who has been involved
00:41:00
in not only killing her
husband, but traveling, assuming the identity of a
completely innocent person,
00:41:06
and then killing them
to get that identity. That was very surprising to us. Certainly it's
not the image that I
00:41:12
have when I think of my
grandparents or my parents. But again, we don't
know, you know,
00:41:18
why people do things sometimes. This woman had no heart. She killed in cold blood.
00:41:25
She was calculated. And she was on the run. She's obviously not a
sophisticated criminal.
00:41:31
But she certainly had enough
premeditation and ill will to know what she was
planning on doing.
00:41:40
NARRATOR: Lois Riess was
given another life sentence for killing her husband, David.
00:41:44
And she will spend the
rest of her days in jail. She looked like
a grandmother that
00:41:49
may have been a
little quirky, but I don't think anyone suspect
that she would be violent.
00:41:54
When you look at
her path into murder, you can see that it
was really motivated by money first and foremost.
00:41:59
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.
00:42:07
NARRATOR: Lois
Riess-- wife, mother, killer, brought to justice. In the end, justice is served.
00:42:16
That killer's off the streets. She's behind bars
where she belongs. Hopefully it brings some
sense of resolution, conclusion,
00:42:24
justice for the family. [music playing]