Sheriff: Lois Riess will be extradited to Fla. before standing trial in Minnesota

Riess was arrested on South Padre Island last Thursday

(KMSP) – The Dodge County, Minn., Sheriff’s Office confirmed Tuesday that Lois Riess, the Minnesota grandmother arrested last week in Texas for the alleged murder of her husband last month and another woman just a few weeks ago, will be extradited to Florida before returning to Minnesota to face trial.

Riess was arrested on South Padre Island last Thursday after a tipster recognized her sitting at a seafood restaurant, ending a 10-day manhunt that garnered international media attention. Cameron County, Texas, subsequently said the 56-year-old would be extradited to whichever state arrived to pick her up first.

She faces one charge of larceny in Minnesota and has not yet been charged in relation to her husband’s death–though Riess is wanted in Florida for murder, criminal use of identification, larceny and grand theft auto.

Authorities believe she shot and killed her husband last month at their Blooming Prairie home, stealing $11,000 from one of his bank accounts before leaving town and resurfacing at an Iowa casino. Local authorities later dubbed her “Losing Streak Lois” in reference to her gambling addiction.

Police also connected Riess to the murder of Pamela Hutchinson, 59, in Fort Myers two weeks ago, saying she was seen on surveillance video driving her car shortly thereafter. They believe Riess targeted Hutchinson because of their similar appearance and killed her to assume her identity.

She fled southwest Florida in Hutchinson’s car and made her way along the Gulf Coast before being apprehended in Texas, just a short drive from the U.S.-Mexico border. Authorities later discovered two pistols in her motel room.