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A Minnesota woman who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a woman in Florida so she could assume her identity has been returned to her home state to face trial on allegations that she killed her husband in 2018.

Lois Riess is being held at the Steele County Detention Center in Owatonna on charges of first- and second-degree murder. She's accused of fatally shooting David Riess at their home in Blooming Prairie in March 2018.

Riess drove to Florida afterward, befriended Pamela Hutchinson and fatally shot her at a Fort Myers Beach condo the following month, according to prosecutors. Riess targeted Hutchinson because they looked alike and Riess intended to steal her identity, an indictment said.

 in December after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in Hutchinson's death.

With her head of white hair, the 58-year-old Riess garnered national attention as the “fugitive grandma” before she was captured in April 2018 in Texas.

The Florida Department of Corrections cleared the way in March for Riess to be sent to Minnesota. She was booked into the Steele County jail Friday.

Crime, Law and Justice

The Associated Press

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A Minnesota woman who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a woman in Florida so she could assume her identity has been returned to her home state to face trial on allegations that she killed her husband in 2018. 

Convicted Florida killer back in Minnesota on murder charges

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