MINNEAPOLIS _ Surveillance video of the Minnesota fugitive who is a suspect in two murders shows her chatting with the woman she allegedly killed in Florida before making off with her identity.
On Monday, the Lee County Sheriff's Office released the video, which shows Lois Riess, 56, patronizing the Smokin' Oyster Brewery in Fort Myers about 5:40 p.m. on April 5. Riess, who is wearing a light blue shirt, is shown talking to a woman authorities say is Pamela Hutchinson, the 59-year-old woman who was found shot to death four days later in her condo.
Riess is a suspect in Hutchinson's death.
"Riess may look like anyone's mother or grandmother, but she's an absolute coldblooded murderer," Lee County Undersheriff Carmine Marceno told NBC's "Today" show on Monday.
Authorities believe Riess targeted Hutchinson because the two women looked alike.
Meanwhile, court records in Minnesota show that Riess was accused of taking more than $78,000 from her disabled sister and spending it on herself, including thousands of dollars at casinos.
Riess was appointed in 2012 as guardian and conservator for her older sister, Kimberly Sanchez, now 62. Legal documents said that Sanchez suffers from bipolar disorder and clinical depression, as well as Parkinson's disease, and has the cognitive level of a 10-year-old.
A routine annual audit in 2015 found supposed payments, gifts and loans from Sanchez's accounts that had no documentation to back them up. One payment of $14,000 supposedly was made to William Witte, the sisters' father _ but he was dead.
Other suspicious payments totaling $15,000 were made to Riess' nieces and nephews, again without documentation. Riess also paid more than $40,000 to herself from her sister's assets, court records show.
In September 2015, Minnesota Prairie County Alliance, a nonprofit service organization, sought to have Riess terminated as her sister's guardian and conservator.
"I received a report that Lois Riess transfers funds from the guardianship account for Kimberly Sanchez to Lois Riess' own account," an affidavit said. "Lois Riess then withdraws the funds at the local casino."
In February 2016, Riess was removed as her sister's guardian and conservator. She did not contest her removal. The same month, the newly appointed guardian and conservator asked the court to order Riess to repay more than $78,000 to her sister's account.
There is no record that Riess was ever ordered to repay the money or that she was charged with a crime in the incident. Officials of the new guardian and conservator, Alternative Resolutions Inc., declined to comment on the case.
Riess has left south Florida, authorities said, and was last seen in the Corpus Christi area in Texas. The search for her has gone cold and authorities said they fear she could strike again. She will eventually run out of resources and in desperation could kill again, Marceno said.
Riess is suspected of killing her husband, David, in late March in Blooming Prairie in southern Minnesota. She is believed to have stopped at an Iowa casino on her way to Florida. Last week, police in Florida found a white 2005 Cadillac Escalade that Riess was believed to have been driving after her husband's death.
She surfaced in Fort Myers where she befriended Pamela Hutchinson, who has a similar appearance. Authorities say Riess then shot Hutchinson and took off with her credit cards, cash and her white 2005 Acura TL with Florida license plate Y37TAA. Photos showed Riess at Hutchinson's condo. Hutchinson was found dead on April 9.
Hutchinson's Acura was last spotted in Corpus Christi, but there have been no signs of Riess.
Last week, investigators filed charges of murder, grand theft of a motor vehicle and grand theft and criminal use of personal identification against Riess.
Riess also faces second-degree murder charges in Dodge County where her husband was found dead March 23. U.S. marshals have joined the search for Riess.
Law enforcement said they suspect that after David Riess was killed, Lois Riess transferred nearly $10,000 from his business account into his personal account and then forged her husband's signature on three checks to herself for $11,000.
Lois Riess is described as white, 5 feet 5 and 165 pounds, with brown eyes and blond hair.
