RIESS MURDER HAD POLICE PUZZLED

For more than two years a conference room at the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office
in Mantorville was turned into “a war room,” as Sheriff Scott Rose describes it.
A war zone doesn’t happen unless it’s something big. Really big. And that’s exactly
what Rose and his investigators found themselves tangled into in March 2018,
though initially they had no idea just exactly how big it was going to be.
After a welfare check call to a residence in the far southwestern corner of the county
near Blooming Prairie, Rose and his office quickly found itself involved in what
would become a case like none other. Rose calls it the biggest case of his 25 plus
year law enforcement career and perhaps one that will go down in the history books
as the most high profile case ever in Dodge County.
“We’ve had homicides before, but nothing like this,” said Rose. “I can’t think of
another case that has been high profile other than the Greg Lange shooting
(Claremont police chief murdered in 1988), but even then the suspects were found
the next day.”
Deputies and investigators found the body of David Riess who had been dead inside
in his home for days on March 21, 2018. He had gunshots to his body, but no
answers readily apparent as to what happened. Sheriff Rose also responded that
evening.
“Initially we didn’t know what we had,” Rose confesses. “We had no history and no
contacts at the house. We were dealing with a family that we had no history with.”
And, in law enforcement circles, that is unusual— at least when it comes to
something as drastic as a murder investigation.
To complicate matters for police there was no one at the residence to provide any
clue as to what took place. Riess had a business partner, but he was in Montana at
the time. His wife was also away from the house.
 
The sheriff’s office quickly enlisted the help of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal
Apprehension in St. Paul to team up with its lead detective, Ben Bohle. The BCA
offers skilled investigators to help local agencies solve major crimes.
 
The War Room
 
Within days, the conference room became the war room in which investigators were
the only people allowed access into the area. Investigators used the space to piece
together their evidence and track tips from all over the country. Rose said it’s
incredibly helpful to have a dedicated area especially when working a multi-state
investigation.
Early on in the investigation the sheriff’s office had information that Lois Riess was
at Diamond Joe’s Casino in Northwood, Iowa, about 45 minutes south of the murder
scene. Rose admits that information “seemed odd” when investigators came upon it.
“What kill your husband and go gambling,” shrugged Rose with a perplexed look.
But the Diamond Joe’s connection quickly proved to be a pivotal point in the
investigation. Detectives came across a security video at a near-by convenience
store in Northwood where Lois Riess was captured on video asking for directions
“to get south.” At that point, police knew she had left the immediate area.
Asked what kind of lag time there was between police and Lois Riess, Rose said,
“Not very long.” While David had been dead for a week, Lois did come back to the
residence during that time for unknown reasons, Rose noted. “It always seemed like
we were a day or two behind. It was luck on her part,” he said.
But Riess did a great job of eluding capture for almost a month. “We were always
trying to play catch up,” Rose said.
A short time after the Diamond Joe’s information, authorities began utilizing the
news media to help find Lois Riess as “a person of interest.” Rose said they wanted
to get her picture out there right away because “she looks just like anybody.” He
noted there are no unique characteristics of Riess, which added to the importance of
getting her photo out there.
The information quickly went nationwide through the media as well as billboards
on major highways throughout the country. Besides Lois’ photo, police also
broadcast her vehicle description along with a license number.
Within no time, tips began pouring in to the “war zone” at the sheriff’s office from all
over the country. Rose stressed that three investigators followed up on every tip
that came into the sheriff’s office even if it was in the middle of the night. In some
cases, it meant sending local police in the jurisdictions wherever the tip came from
to confirm or deny the information. Most of information proved to be a dead end.
But finally in early April 2018 police got the break they needed. Blooming Prairie
businesswoman Tess Koster reported she came into contact with Lois Riess while
vacationing in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. Koster called police to tell them that Riess had
shown up at their Florida house, made eye contact and then quickly turned away
and left the area.
“With the Kosters seeing her in Florida, that’s when everything focused down there,”
Rose said. It was also the first time state and local officials sought the help of the U.S.
Marshall’s.
 
Things began falling into place even more after the discovery of Pamela Hutchinson,
who had been murdered in a Fort Myers Beach hotel. Riess was immediately
identified as a suspect.
Hutchinson’s killing caught Rose and investigators back in Minnesota off guard. “The
other body (Hutchinson’s) surprised us. Lois assumed her identity. That didn’t make
any sense to us,” Rose said.
After the Florida killing, media coverage intensified even more as did the desire of
authorities to catch Riess. The U.S. Marshall’s utilized the national media to find
Riess.
And it worked.
Rose credits the media with helping find Riess. Someone in a Texas bar recognized
Riess from TV while she was sitting in the same bar and tipped off police.
“The more attention we got from the media that the chances were better we could
find her,” Rose said. “I don’t know how we would have done it without the media.
Without the national media, we would have had a tough time finding her.”
 
A tough case
 
For Rose, the hardest part of this mystery was dealing with the family. “One of the
toughest things is having this family get torn apart,” he said empathetically. “They
were upset with the circumstances, and who can blame them?”
In order to maintain the integrity of the investigation, investigators had to keep
silent about everything even with family members. “We couldn’t tell the family
anything,” Rose said. He added it proved to be the greatest frustration he had with
the case.
Adding to the frustration for both family and law enforcement officials was that the
two murder investigations in Minnesota and Florida ended up going down different
paths because each state has very diverse laws concerning release of evidence.
Florida law requires case details and evidence be released throughout the court case
while in Minnesota everything is kept under wraps until the case has been
prosecuted, which in most high profile cases could be at least a year or two after the
crime took place. In the Florida case, details and photos of evidence began coming
out within weeks of Lois’ capture.
“The family was learning more through the media from Florida than what we could
tell them about the Minnesota case,” Rose said. “They were just left in the dark for
two years as they watched the national media call her ‘Losing Streak’ and ‘Killer
Grandma’.”
Asked how his office dealt with the Riess family, Rose said, “Keep talking to them
and make yourself available to them. It’s tough.”
Rose credits investigator Bohle with developing a solid relationship with the family.
The sheriff’s other frustration with this case was that there was a second victim.
“She (Hutchinson) was just at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Rose says.
And through that frustration the sheriff found his office facing a feeling of whether it
did enough. “We wondered what could we have done differently,” Rose admits.
“Looking back, I don’t think there is anything differently we could do.”
 
Rose said the Riess murder was different than anything they’ve experienced before.
“Nothing in this case is normal,” he says. “The spouse is a suspect. Someone we
haven’t had contact with and someone who flees the area,” he said.
 
A restless public
 
As the case played out in Florida and then again back in Minnesota, Rose found the
public was getting restless wondering why things couldn’t happen quicker. Riess did
not come back to Minnesota until July, nearly 28 months after she killed David.
“People started questioning us why it hadn't gone to court sooner,” Rose said.
“There were so many circumstances completely out of our control that delayed it.”
Rose said this investigation put an incredible strain on his tiny department. He
related how “a ton of time” was initially put into the case by nearly every member of
the sheriff’s office. “Everything stops when you start searching for someone,” he
said. “Other things get put on the back burner,” he added.
Calls like the Riess murder, Rose said, take a toll on law enforcement in a variety of
ways. “When you get this call, you drop everything and go. Everything else stops.
Personal life, professional life, everything,” the sheriff said.
Rose is most proud of his office and the investigators who handled the case. He says
the fact that this case didn’t go to trial speaks volumes to the strong investigation his
office put together. “We had a solid case,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul
declined to comment for this story, citing Lois still has an opportunity to appeal her
case, though it’s highly unlikely.
The sheriff has one big reason he is glad it didn’t go to trial. “It would have been a
media circus,” said Rose.
He expressed great relief in this case being put to close finally after more than two
years. “More than words can say I’m glad to be done,” Rose said.
And as for the war room?
Well, it has been converted back into a conference room waiting for the next big
case to come along. And, Rose as well as most everybody else within the sheriff’s
office is quite fine if that big case never comes along again.