iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Lois Riess, the grandmother who stands accused of killing two people, made her first court appearance on Sunday morning in Lee County, Florida, where a judge found probable cause to deny her bond until a pretrial detention hearing sometime in the next five days.
Recently released surveillance video from a south Texas restaurant captured the sudden arrest and capture of the Minnesota grandmother who allegedly killed her husband and a Florida woman in an apparent effort to assume her identity.
Riess, 56, was sitting at a bar on South Padre Island in Texas, talking with another patron, and enjoying a meal on April 19 when around five officers stormed in to arrest her, according to the footage.
Riess, who led police on a nationwide manhunt, appeared to be caught off guard as the officers, including at least two deputies with the U.S. Marshals Service, surrounded her, making it impossible for her to escape.
She appeared to surrender without a fight, ending a weeks-long search that involved authorities from multiple states.
Riess was charged in connection with the murder of her husband, 54-year-old David Riess, who was found dead in the couple’s home in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, about 85 miles southeast of Minneapolis.
Police believe she shot and killed her husband in late March and fled more than 1,500 miles south to Bradenton, Florida, where she fatally shot 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson in an apparent effort to steal her identity. Riess is alleged by police to have stolen Hutchinson’s car, identification and credit cards — leading authorities on a manhunt that eventually ended in Texas.
Riess faces charges of homicide, grand theft of motor vehicle, larceny and fraud impersonation, according to police.
Her arraignment hearing is scheduled for May 29.
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