Rural Blooming Prairie woman sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder charges in Florida

A rural Blooming Prairie woman facing murder charges in both Florida for killing a Bradenton woman to assume her identity and in Minnesota in the shooting death of her husband pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges in Florida.   

The 20th Circuit of Florida reported that 57-year old Lois Riess pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree murder with a firearm, grand theft of a motor vehicle, grand theft and criminal use of personal identification information. She was sentenced to life in prison.

Authorities in Florida went on to report that the state has withdrawn the death penalty.  Riess could still be sentenced in Minnesota, and if found guilty, those sentences would run concurrently.  If Riess were to serve a sentence in Minnesota and is released, she would then return to Florida to finish her sentence.

Riess was captured in April of 2018 on South Padre Island, Texas and was taken back to Florida to face charges there for the murder of 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson.  

Authorities were called to Fort Myers Beach on April 9, 2018, and found Hutchinson dead, with gunshot wounds. Investigators believe Riess used the same gun to kill her husband and Hutchinson and that she killed Hutchinson to assume her identity.

David Riess was 54 when he was shot and killed in March of 2018 in the couple’s home just south of Blooming Prairie.  Authorities reported that Riess would stand trial in the Minnesota killing after court proceedings in Florida.

Dodge County officials stated on Tuesday that they are working on the next step in regards to the Minnesota case with the State Attorney’s Office.