MN woman charged in Florida killing now charged in husband's death

Lois Riess, of Blooming Prairie, Minn.
Lois Riess, of Blooming Prairie, Minn., who was arrested by federal deputy marshals on April 19, 2018, at a restaurant in South Padre Island, Texas.
South Padre Island Police Department via AP file

A southern Minnesota woman who led police on a nationwide manhunt last year has been charged with murder and theft in connection to her husband's death in Blooming Prairie, Minn.

Dodge County authorities kicked off a 10-day hunt for Lois Riess, 57, that stretched into Florida and finally into Texas, where she was arrested by federal marshals.

Shortly after her husband David's death in March 2018, Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose said that investigators were waiting for forensic test results to file charges against her.

Riess is currently being held in jail in southwest Florida awaiting trial for shooting and killing 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson, a woman who resembled Riess, so she could assume her identity.

She's pleaded not guilty to the Florida murder charge. She could face life in prison if convicted.

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