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Sievers murder trial slowing down 'Killer Grandma' case
10:19 AM EDT, Thu September 05, 2019
LEE COUNTY, Fla. – The woman accused of killing her husband in Minnesota then killing a stranger on Fort Myers Beach to steal her identity was in court Thursday morning.
Lois Riess is facing a first-degree murder charge and the death penalty.
Riess is being represented by public defenders. In court Thursday morning, her attorneys noted delays in this case because of other on-going death penalty cases for their office.
Jimmy Rodgers, one of the men accused of killing Bonita Springs doctor Teresa Sievers, is also facing the death penalty and is using the same public defenders. Sievers was murdered more than four years ago and the case has yet to go to trial. Dozens of motions continue to delay the case, but a trial date is expected for October 1.
The judge has set Riess' next pre-trial conference hearing in December, hoping to get her case moving forward.
Riess is accused of killing her husband in Minnesota last spring. Investigators believe she traveled south to Florida, hitting multiple casinos on the way to Fort Myers Beach. Once she got to Lee County, deputies said she befriended a woman named Pamela Hutchinson, killed her in her condo, then stole her car and identity.
In brand new documents released from investigators in Minnesota, detectives believe Riess' husband hadn't been seen in 16 days. His co-workers said they knew something was up after they received text messages from his phone that used punctuation; his friends said he didn't use punctuation in texts.
Riess told friends and family her husband had gone on a fishing trip, then was sick so they shouldn't bother him in the house. Really, investigators believe Riess shot him several times, at least once in the chest, killing him in their bathroom. According to the new documents, Riess covered her husband's body in a blanket.
The dubbed "Killer Grandma" took off to Texas and was eventually captured at a restaurant in South Padre Island. Detectives said the gun that was used to kill her husband was the same one used to kill Hutchinson. The gun was found in Riess' Texas hotel room.
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