I Am Not a Monster: The Lois Riess Murders- A detailed case overview

I Am Not A Monster: The Lois Riess Murders, directed and produced by Erin Lee Carr, will premiere on HBO on October 15 at 9 p.m. EST. The second part of this true crime documentary will air on the streaming platform on October 16 at 9 p.m. EST.

I Am Not A Monster: The Lois Riess Murders will replay the crimes committed by Lois Riess, a Minnesota resident. It will also feature exclusive interviews with the Riess herself, who is serving her life sentence behind bars right now.

The synopsis of this two-part crime documentary reads:

"Lois and David Riess live a seemingly normal life as parents to three children, several grandchildren, and a thriving business in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, until, one day, David’s dead body is discovered and Lois goes on the run."

It continues,

"As Lois, now in prison, recounts her childhood and upbringing, a disturbing psychological portrait emerges of a woman battling many emotional demons. However, Lois’s methodical behavior after the murder may show the work of a calculated killer when another body is discovered."

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I Am Not a Monster: The Lois Riess Murders- A Detailed Case Analysis

Background

The upcoming two-part crime documentary on HBO features Lois Riess, who was sentenced to life for killing her husband, and another woman, her supposed lookalike who she had befriended.

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About the crimes

1) As reported by the Independent, Lois killed her husband David Riess in cold blood. The authorities found David dead inside his own home on March 23, 2018. He was shot several times. They were also $11,000 missing from the house, and Lois Riess was nowhere to be seen.

2) Reportedly, Pamela Hutchinson, a Fort Meyers resident, became friends with Lois Riess in 2018 after David Riess's death. Pamela Hutchinson's dead body was discovered by Florida police on April 9, 2018. It was covered with a blanket, and she had suffered several gunshot wounds.

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Investigation

The wife of David Riess, who was also missing, was named as the main suspect in his murder after he was found dead, and the money and his Cadillac Escalade were found missing from his house. The CCTV footage showed Lois fleeing the scene in the Cadillac Escalade and driving to Fort Meyers, Florida.

In Florida, she met her second victim, Pamela Hutchinson. Allegedly, Pamela and the killer were friends and were even seen eating in a restaurant a few days before Pamela’s death.

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Resolution

After Lois’s arrest in 2019, it was discovered that she withdrew $6000 and stole an ID and a car from Pamela Hutchison. The detectives summarized that Lois Reiss killed Pamela to steal her identity. In 2019, Lois entered a guilty plea and confessed to killing Pamela.

Returning to the murder of Lois Riess's husband, David Riess, Lios also admitted in 2020 to killing her spouse, after initially refusing to confess. Allegedly, the couple had an unhappy marriage. As per the killer’s statements, the couple had an argument after which David gave a loaded firearm to Lois Reiss to kill herself. However, Lois shot David in the heart instead.

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Aftermath

In December 2019, Lois entered a guilty plea for the murder of Pamela Hutchinson and was sentenced to life by the jury. Later in Minnesota in 2020, she entered yet another guilty plea for the murder of her husband.

Lois received another life sentence for David’s murder and was sentenced to life with no chance of parole. As per records, she is in a prison in Shakopee, Minnesota, serving double life sentences.

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To know more about this case and Lois's side of the story, watch I Am Not A Monster: The Lois Riess Murders on HBO.