A 56-year-old grandmother, Lois Riess, from Minnesota has been accused of killing her doppelganger and assuming her identity.
Authorities claim Riess has led them on a nationwide manhunt from Minnesota, where they found her husband shot to death, to Florida where they think she murdered a woman who resembled her to steal her ID, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“She smiles and looks like anyone’s mother or grandmother, but she’s calculating, she’s targeting and she’s an absolute cold-blood killer,” Carmine Marceno, a deputy sheriff in Lee County, Fla., told NBC News.
“This is the first time in my career that I’ve seen someone steal someone’s identity and target them for the way they look, in order to murder them,” he added.
By the time police began searching for Riess’ missing husband David, she had already left town, the Chicago Tribune reported. Police later found him dead of gunshot wounds on March 23.
The police tracked Riess to Iowa, but she had already left the state by the time they tracked her down in late March. Her photo was posted online telling citizens she was dangerous and to call 911 if they saw her.
From there, Riess is said to have driven to Florida where she stalked and killed 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson. Riess targeted Hutchinson because she had a similar build and hair color.
Hutchinson’s cousin Daniele Jeffreys called Riess “pure evil.”
“Pure evil — that’s really the only thing that could resonate with my system. It’s not necessarily her, or whatever, it’s just evil that flowed through,” Jeffreys told WTVR. “Because how can you go around killing people for no other good reason other than to keep yourself out of prison?”
The two women were seen laughing on a surveillance camera for the Smokin’ Oyster Brewery in Fort Myers, Fla., the Chicago Tribune reported.
Police found Hutchinson shot to death through the heart at her condo on April 9. A camera caught Riess at Hutchinson’s building. Her credit cards and ID had been stolen and her keys were missing.
Riess’ current whereabouts are still unknown.
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