Graphic photos released this week by the Florida State Attorney's Office show the inside of the Fort Myers Beach condo where Lois Riess allegedly shot and killed a look-alike she met in April while fleeing authorities in Minnesota.
Riess, 56, of Blooming Prairie, Minn., has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Pamela Hutchinson, whose body was found April 9 in her rented condo unit at Marina Village at Snug Harbor.
Images show a bullet hole in the wall of the bathroom where Hutchinson was found, two large pools of blood on the bathroom floor and shower stall, and a bloodstained pink baseball cap similar to one that Hutchinson had been wearing on April 4, the evening she was seen having a drink with Riess at a nearby bar.
The most grisly of the more than 1,200 images showed a white blouse drenched in blood and Hutchinson's body facedown with two bullet holes. Authorities also released images of bullets and a gun found in Hutchinson's unit. It is not clear if that gun was the murder weapon.
Authorities believe Riess first killed her husband, David, whose body was found in the couple's Blooming Prairie home March 23. By then Lois Riess, whose penchant for gambling earned her the nickname "Losing Streak Lois," had driven the couple's Cadillac Escalade to Fort Myers Beach. There she befriended Hutchinson at the seaside eatery because of their similar appearance, authorities have said.
Sometime overnight on April 4, Riess is believed to have shot Hutchinson in the condo's bathroom, covered the body with a towel, and stuffed another towel under the bathroom door to try to hide the smell of decomposition.
After a national manhunt, she was arrested April 19 on South Padre Island, Texas.
Riess was extradited to Florida to face charges of murder, grand theft, grand theft of a motor vehicle and criminal use of personal identification. She is being held in the Lee County jail and will make her next court appearance on Oct. 31.
Murder charges are still pending in Minnesota, where Riess has been charged in Dodge County with forging $11,000 in checks from her husband's business account.
Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768
