We had heard of this intriguing double-murder case on the eve of our annual “snow bird pilgrimage” to South Padre Island, Texas.
Once on “The Island,” we enjoyed dinner at our favorite restaurant on the island – “The Sea Ranch” – where we heard from our favorite waiter, Sergio, that we were having dinner at the very same place where the nationwide chase for a double-murder suspect had ended just a couple of days before.
We also talked to Dina Arévalo, the young editor, reporter, photographer, etc., etc., of the small but plucky “Port Isabel – South Padre Press” weekly newspaper — circulation 3,000 – who gave us a few more details about Lois Ann Riess, the 56-year-old woman whose alleged crime spree started in rural Blooming Prairie, southeastern Minnesota, towards the end of March — perhaps earlier — continued in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., and ended in Arévalo’s newspaper’s area of coverage the evening of April 19.
Although Arévalo had already posted parts of the story online, we rushed on Friday morning to buy a print copy of the newspaper to read the full, updated story from the gruesome beginning to the almost anti-climactic end.
In Arévalo’s online column “Woman wanted for murder in Minnesota, Florida captured on South Padre Island,” we had learned that the body of Lois Riess’ husband, David Riess, was found with multiple gunshot wounds on March 23 by authorities at the couple’s rural Blooming Prairie, Minn., home. It appeared that Riess had been killed at least two days before police found his body.
Neither his wife, Lois Ann Riess, nor the couple’s 2005 Cadillac Escalade were anywhere to be found.
Arévalo cites Jeffery Jackson, managing editor of the Owatonna People’s Press, reporting that Lois Riess withdrew $10,000 from her husband’s business account, deposited the money into her husband’s personal checking account, wrote three checks, totaling $11,000, to herself from that account and cashed two of the checks, for $8,500, on the day her husband’s body was found.
Also, on the same day that David Riess’ body was found, Lois Riess was seen on surveillance footage at a gas station at an Iowa casino approximately 40 miles from her home.
With the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the U.S. Marshals Service in hot pursuit, on April 2 “authorities received tips that Riess might be in Florida,” 1,500 miles from where she had started her flight.
A week later, on April 9, the body of Pamela Hutchinson, 59, was found in a condo in Fort Meyers Beach, Florida.
It is suspected that Riess killed Hutchinson in order to assume her identity. According to Lee County, Florida Undersheriff Carmine Marceno, “Hutchinson was targeted by the suspect due to the similarities in their appearance,” Arévalo reports.
A few days later, Florida police found Riess’ Cadillac Escalade abandoned and said Riess was seen driving Hutchinson’s car.
According to Arévalo, “[f]rom Florida, Riess made her way to Texas, where sightings were reported in Refugio [a small town we travel through on our way to and from The Island]. Ultimately, she arrived on South Padre Island and checked into the Motel 6.”
On Thursday evening, April 19, an alert George Higginbotham, General Manager of Dirty Al’s, another great island sea food restaurant, recognized Riess as she was about to place a “to-go” order. Higginbotham immediately notified authorities.
When asked about his quick-thinking, a modest Higginbotham (below) replied that he was just doing his duty.
Probably “spooked,” Riess left Dirty Al’s and drove a couple of hundred yards to “our favorite restaurant” where the nationwide chase ended in a very anti-climactic way: No shouting, no shoving, no shooting, no shockers.
An NBC-published video shows Riess sitting at the bar of the marina-side Sea Ranch having a cocktail when authorities walk in.
Riess is totally unaware of the marshals and police walking into the bar and surrounding her from behind. A few seconds later she is arrested, all very peacefully.
“She was sitting down for about two hours,” said Bob Friedman, owner of the Sea Ranch Restaurant. “The police and the marshals came in, walked through and saw her sitting at the bar,” according to News-Press.
Arévalo reports that a later search of Riess’ motel room “turned up two guns – a 9 mm and a .22 caliber handgun.”
On Thursday, April 26, Riess was released into the custody of Florida authorities to be extradited to that state where she will face charges in the death of Pamela Hutchison.
Things should soon become more tranquil in beautiful South Padre Island, one of Texas’s premiere tourist destinations. That is, if one can call the expected summer flood of visitors, part of the over one million visitors travelling here annually, “tranquil.”
As to the Sea Ranch, well it is still savoring a little bit of the perhaps unwanted publicity that was thrust upon it.
Our favorite waiter there, Sergio, jokingly tells us that the bar is re-naming the cocktail Riess was enjoying at the time of her arrest, “the killer drink.”
Lori Darlin’ (below), as she likes to be called, is the vivacious bartender who was serving Riess at the time of her arrest. She vividly recalls every detail of Riess’ final hours of freedom.
What Riess drank: Two glasses of Yellow Tail Riesling wine.
What Riess ate: Caesar salad with anchovies and a seafood enchilada.
But what she remembers best is the $64 tip (Lori calls it the “$64,000 tip”) she received when Riess left a one-hundred-dollar bill on the bar to pay for her $36 bill and had to depart in a hurry and in handcuffs.
We’ll be leaving the island soon to return to the humdrum life, but we will for a long time remember an exciting week on “The Island.”
Update:
The accused killer of Pamela Hutchinson, Lois Riess, arrived in Fort Myers Saturday after being extradited from Texas to face charges in Florida, including homicide and identity theft.
On Sunday, she was ordered to remain in a Lee County jail without bond.
The State Attorney’s office told a judge that the Texas authorities claim Riess has a psychosis and has refused to take medications.
Lead image, courtesy searanchrestaurant.com
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.