Lois Riess pleaded not guilty to charges that she killed her husband in 2018 during her initial court appearance Tuesday in Dodge County and agreed to be held in jail without bail until a pretrial hearing can be set.
Riess, 58, was recently extradited from Florida to Minnesota to face first- and second-degree murder charges in which she is accused of killing her husband, David, in the couple's Blooming Prairie home in March 2018. She also faces theft charges for allegedly forging $11,000 in checks from her husband's business account.
Riess appeared before Judge Jodi Williamson via closed-circuit TV from the Steele County Detention Center, where she has been held since her return to Minnesota on Friday.
No date was set for a pretrial hearing.
Riess was the subject of a nationwide hunt that lasted nearly a month. After she allegedly shot her husband, she went to Fort Myers Beach, Fla., and befriended a woman who had a similar appearance. Riess admitted she later fatally shot Pamela Hutchinson, 59, in her rented condo room and stole her identity.
Riess fled to Texas in Hutchison's car, stopping at casinos in Louisiana on the way. Law enforcement arrested her for Hutchinson's killing in South Padre Island on April 19, 2018.
In December, Riess pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Lee County Court and was sentenced to life in prison. With that case closed, Florida officials cleared the way for Riess to be returned to Minnesota to face charges here.
Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768
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