Six years ago, a Minnesota community was shocked to its core when police found local worm farmer David Riess dead in his home – and his wife, Lois Riess, missing.
That discovery would launch a multi-week manhunt that would ultimately lead to a chilling discovery: Lois killed her husband, fled the state and then murdered another woman in an effort to steal her identity.
Now, for the first time, Lois – briefly notorious across the nation as the “killer grandma” – is speaking out about the murders in an upcoming documentary directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Erin Lee Carr. Carr’s previous work includes Britney vs Spears and At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal.
“It was just the perfect storm,” Lois tells the documentary makers in I’m Not a Monster: The Lois Riess Murders, which premieres on HBO on October 15.
“It was just years and years of abuse, and years of giving and giving, and neglecting my own mental health and my own needs.
“And I don’t know, I think the word is ‘psychotic break’. I just snapped.”
A husband and father found dead
On March 23, 2018, police found 54-year-old David Reiss inside his Blooming Prairie, Minnesota home. Lois was nowhere to be found.
Police discovered David had been shot multiple times and $11,000 had been stolen from him.
David was described as an avid outdoorsman, The Daily Beast reported. In 2010, after a stint selling bait, he and Lois had bought a piece of land with a white farmhouse to start his own business: Prairie Wax Worm Farm.
But according to the documentary, their outward success concealed a tumultuous relationship, massive holes in their finances, and alleged emotional and physical abuse.
“I was very intimidated by him,” Lois alleges in the new film. “I didn't think I had a way out, or could defy him. Because he was a big man, and he was very very aggressive. Lots of verbal abuse, which I feel is worse than the physical abuse.”
The documentary details how Lois developed a dire gambling addiction, while experiencing a series of personal ordeals, ultimately leading to a suicide attempt and exacerbating the troubles in her marriage.
Eventually, Lois claims, she and David got into a fight in their farmhouse on March 11, 2018. During the argument, Lois says, David handed her a loaded gun, telling her to take her life and to “get it right this time.”
When David handed her the gun, she shot him in the heart, she said. Afterward, she covered him with a blanket and laid down beside him.
Then, she went on the run – and wasn’t arrested until April 19.
From fast friends to a fatal end
Lois, then 56, fled in their 2005 Cadillac Escalade.
She drove 1,500 miles south to Fort Myers, Florida, police said. On the way, Lois stopped to gamble at Diamond Jo Casino in Northwood, Iowa, roughly 40 miles rom her home, the Beast reported, citing surveillance footage.
Once in Fort Myers, she met 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson. The two became fast friends, and surveillance footage showed them eating at a local brewery on April 5. Pamela, originally from Bradenton, Florida, was staying in a timeshare on Fort Myers Beach.
“Never. I had never anticipated hurting that woman,” Lois says in I’m Not a Monster. “She reached out to me, to be my friend. I just wish I could have been in a better state of mind. I could have been her friend.”
Four days later, police found Pamela’s body inside that timeshare. Just like David’s body, police discovered Pamela dead from gunshot wounds and covered by a blanket.
The two women looked similar in age and build, and the authorities would go on to argue Lois killed Pamela to steal her identity.
To this day, Lois claims that she does not remember killing Pamela and does not know why she did it – though journalists who covered her case expressed severe doubt about this story.
“It truly is a puzzle, because I don't have all the memories and all the answers for that,” Lois says. “It was shown to me that I took her life. I still don’t know the reason why it happened.
“But I feel absolute remorse and shame. I feel terrible that I took her life, and David’s life.”
Beginning to cry, she continues: “She just got caught up in my breakdown, and it was awful.”
‘I miss my Dad’: Lois Riess in court
Lois was arrested ten days later by the US Marshal’s Service while eating at a restaurant in South Padre Island, Texas.
In June, a grand jury indicted Lois for Pamela’s murder, as well as stealing her car, ID and more than $6,000.
On December 17, 2019, Lois entered a guilty plea after initially planning to go to trial. She received a life sentence.
“You know, my mother died in a mental institution. I didn’t want to die in a mental institution,” Lois claims in the documentary. “And that was my biggest fear, if I had to go to trial. Because I felt mentally incompetent; I was in the middle of a breakdown. And I felt that’s what would happen – I’d end up just like my mother.”
Pamela’s ex-husband, James Hutchinson, said the outcome “probably wasn’t what I wanted.”
“Dang it, it was a cold-blooded murder,” James told the Fort Myers News-Press. “I’m trying to digest this, am I happy, sad? It might put a smile on my face, I don’t know if that’s OK.”
Pamela’s best friend, Judy Wilder, said she was thrilled when Lois was sentenced – but would have preferred the woman face the death penalty.
“Oh, my God, I’m so happy. This will give the family some type of closure. I’m just glad she didn’t say she was crazy,” she told the News-Press. “I’m kinda disappointed, but [you] gotta trust our system. [I] would have liked to see the death penalty.”
Lois was then extradited to Minnesota to face charges in her husband’s murder.
Similar to her previous trial, Lois initially entered a provisional not guilty plea but later changed course and entered a guilty plea during a pre-trial hearing.
For David’s murder, she received yet another life sentence without the possibility of parole. She will remain in prison in Minnesota for the rest of her life.
In a victim impact statement, David and Lois’s daughter Breanna Riess said she cycles between “anger, regret and sadness.”
“March 11th, 2018 was the last time I hugged my dad and told him I loved him,” she said, according to Fox 9. “I miss my dad more than words can describe.”
The couple’s son Billy Riess chose to address his mother directly in his statement, Fox 9 reported.
“You just left. We had nobody,” Billy said. “It will take a lot for me to talk and see you ever again. There’s no excuse for it.”
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are based in the UK, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
