BLOOMING PRAIRIE, Minn — Sheriff's officials in Minnesota have started the extradition process to bring a woman convicted of killing her look-alike in Florida back to the state to face charges in her husband's slaying.
Lois Riess, 57, pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing Pamela Hutchinson in Florida. Prosecutors say the two women shared similar features and that Riess wanted to assume Hutchinson’s identity while on the lam following her husband's death.
Sheriff Scott Rose in Minnesota's Dodge County said on Facebook that the extradition process could take one to two months.
Riess, with her long, white hair, garnered national attention as the “fugitive grandma” who led authorities on a cross-country manhunt before she was captured in April 2018 in Texas.
Her saga began in March 2018, when her husband, 54-year-old David Riess, was found dead at the couple’s Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, home. Lois Riess forged checks to steal $11,000 from her husband’s account, traveled south to Florida and landed in Fort Myers where she met Hutchinson, prosecutors said.
Riess waived extradition after pleading guilty in Hutchinson's death. She was sentenced to life in prison in that killing. On Tuesday the Minnesota Attorney General's Office confirmed they will handle the murder case against Riess for Dodge County.
