FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The woman who led investigators on a nationwide manhunt after being accused of murders in Minnesota and Fort Myers Beach faced a judge in Fort Myers Sunday morning.
Lois Riess was denied bond and is behind bars at the Lee County Jail.
Riess is back in Southwest Florida after a month-long nationwide manhunt ended with her arrest in Texas earlier this month. It all started when detectives say she shot and killed her husband in Minnesota, withdrew thousands of dollars from his bank account and took off. She then resurfaced in Fort Myers Beach, where she is accused of murdering a tourist to steal her identity before fleeing for Texas.
Now she's awaiting her first court date next month. A judge decided Sunday that she'll be held without bond.
Former state attorney Joe D’Allessandro says it's because she's a flight risk. “If you have a situation where a person's done a crime there, moved on to another area, another state…this state, that state…you wanna make sure they're gonna be there for their hearings and they'll give you no bail."
Investigators say Reiss left Minnesota and was seen at a casino in Iowa before heading to Fort Myers Beach, where is accused of killing tourist Pamela Hutchinson to withdraw money from her bank account.
Detectives say she then stopped in Ocala, was spotted in Louisiana and Corpus Christi, then finally caught and arrested on South Padre Island, Texas on April 19th.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office brought her back to Southwest Florida Saturday night.
But now that she's in Lee County, the question is: will she see a judge in Minnesota? And when?
"Depends on what she's convicted of, what the sentence is. They wait ‘til that's all done," says D’Allesandro.
Reiss is due in court on May 29th.
