Investigators are seeking to extradite to Florida the Minnesota grandmother accused of killing her husband and then a Florida woman whose identity she tried to assume, police said Saturday.
Police in the South Texas resort town in which Lois Ann Riess was captured late Thursday said she was arraigned early Saturday in municipal court and is being held without bond in the Cameron County jail to await a court hearing over her pending extradition to Florida.
The Dodge County Sheriff's Office in southern Minnesota said Friday that investigators from Minnesota and Florida traveled to Texas to process a vehicle stolen from the Florida victim. Authorities from both states planned to interview Riess about the two homicides.
Saturday's announcement signaled for the first time where Riess is likely to first face charges.
South Padre Island police also reported recovering two pistols late Friday from Riess' motel room. Riess, 56, has been in custody since her arrest Thursday night in South Padre Island, just north of Mexico. She had been on the run since allegedly killing her husband, David Riess, in their Blooming Prairie, Minn., home last month. She is also accused of killing Pamela Hutchinson this month before stealing her driver's license, credit cards and car.
U.S. marshals arrested Riess at a restaurant following a tip from a restaurant worker.
Stephen Montemayor • 612-673-1755
