Murder Accused Lois Riess Arrested In South Padre Island, Texas

A spokesperson for the United States Marshal Service confirmed that fugitive Lois Riess was arrested in South Padre Island, a resort town in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border, on Thursday by authorities, putting an end to a month-long manhunt.

Riess, 56, who hails from Minnesota was reportedly wanted in an alleged multistate crime spree.

Authorities said Riess fatally shot her husband, David Riess, in Minnesota and later killed and tried to steal the identity of her lookalike, 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson in Florida.

According to a report in ABC News, Riess was arrested by two deputies with the U.S. Marshals service around 8:30 p.m. local time (9:30 p.m. EDT) on South Padre Island. A U.S. Marshals spokesman, John Kinsey, said the woman was sitting in a restaurant all by herself when the deputies arrested her.

The case first came to light last month in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, when it was reported that no one had seen 54-year-old David for two weeks as of March 23. The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota, at the time, had said police officials went to David's home after his business partner requested a search.

Reports state that when officers reached the Riess’ residence, they found David’s body. The Sheriff’s office said David was shot multiple times but it wasn’t clear how long he had been dead. In addition to that, his wife was also missing.

It was after further investigation that authorities suspected that Riess might have killed her husband, stole his money ($11,000) and drove all the way to Fort Myers Beach, Florida, where she befriended Hutchinson. She then allegedly killed her too, stealing all her credit cards, her ID and her car, Lee County, Florida, the Sheriff's Office said.

Reports state that Riess, described as a 5-foot-5, 165-pound woman with brown eyes and blonde hair, was seen with Hutchinson at a Fort Myers Beach restaurant.

"This stone-cold killer was smiling like anyone’s mother or grandmother when she approached our victim (Hutchinson),” Lee County Undersheriff Carmine Marceno said.

However, police officials say Riess had an ulterior motive as she was purportedly planning to steal Hutchinson’s identity because the two women looked alike.

"This is the first time in my career that I’ve seen someone steal someone’s identity and target them for the way they look, in order to murder them," Marceno said.

According to a report in NBC News, surveillance video shows Riess at Hutchinson’s condo.

"The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office and Dodge County Attorney’s Office are preparing second-degree murder charges against Lois Riess for the March 2018 murder of her husband, David Riess. Investigators believe Pamela Hutchinson may have been killed with the same firearm used to murder David Riess,” the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension had said.

Before her capture on Thursday, authorities constantly feared that Riess would continue to target women who looked like her. "At some point in time (she) will have no resources and she will become more desperate and may kill again," Marceno had said.