Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Killers Amongst Us: Murder on the Waxworm Farm (part 4)

Episode Date: September 23, 2020

Police are now actively look to question Lois Riess. Riess' husband and now new friend Pamela Hutchinson are dead, and in the same manner. Has her modus operandi now been established? What happens next? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Hi guys, Nancy Grace here. Welcome back to Killers Amongst Us, a production of iHeartMedia and Crime Online. You know, to look at Lois Reese, you would never suspect that this attractive platinum blonde is really a serial killer. Statistically, female serial killers are few and far between. But has Lois Reese proven all the experts wrong? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Killers Amongst Us.

Take a listen to our friend Kate Radd at CBS Minnesota. On April 6th, an employee told police Hutchinson, or someone that sounded like her, called to extend her stay by three days. Later that day, Reese was captured on video using Hutchinson's information to withdraw $5,000 from her bank account. She may look like anyone's mother or grandmother. She's an absolute cold blooded murderer. She was seen entering a hotel in Ocala, Florida. Video also captured her pulling up to the hotel in Hutchinson's white Acura sedan. Hutchinson's body was found in the bathroom with gunshot wounds bearing similar characteristics to a.22 caliber handgun. She was also draped with a towel similar to David Reese being covered with a blanket. You are hearing our friend Kate Raddatz

talking about the death of Pamela Hutchinson found basically her medically sealed in the bathroom there at her resort condo and leaving caught on video surveillance is Lois Reese actually wearing Pam's hat. The two met at a local oyster bar at the bar, hit it off, and the next thing you know, Hutchinson allows her to come home with her. Hutchinson never seen alive again. Take a listen to Carmen Martino, Lee County Sheriff. On April 9, 2018, the Lee County Sheriff's Office responded to a medical assistance call at 645 Old San Carlos Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach. Upon arrival, deputies encountered a deceased 59-year-old female, later identified as Pamela Hutchinson, who was found to have suffered fatal gunshot wounds. The medical examiner determined that Ms. Hutchinson was the victim of a homicide. The Lee County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit responded and assumed the investigation.

Ms. Hutchinson's purse was found to be in disarray, and all cash, credit cards, and identification appeared to have been removed. Additionally, the decedent's car keys, vehicle, a white Acura TL with a Florida tag of Y37TAA were determined to be missing. Further investigation revealed that Ms. Hutchinson was targeted by the suspect due to the similarities in their appearance. Once again, we learn that she's looking for a doppelganger, someone that looks enough like her that she can pass for them as she's driving their car or using their credit cards. So where is she headed? So we've already heard about Pam Hutchinson. Pam Hutchinson bearing a pretty striking resemblance to Lois Reese, but not just Pam Hutchinson, her longtime friend all the way from Minnesota who relocated to Florida. Joining me right now, Kaylin Thompson, KIMT News 3, Rochester, Minnesota.

What do you make of the fact that Lois Reese is spotted by her longtime friend from Minnesota who is now relocated in Florida? Pretty shocking that those two look alike as well. Yes, I'm sure she probably thought she saw a ghost that day as far as she was trying to get away and was a little close to her past there. We're referring to Tess Koster, who says she froze when she realized she was looking right at Lois Reese. With me, an all-star panel, Ashley Wilcott, judge, trial lawyer, anchor, Court TV at AshleyWilcott.com. Dr. Angela Arnold, psychiatrist, joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction at AngelaArnoldMD.com.

Director of the Cold Case Research Institute, Forensics Expert Cheryl McCollum, Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and star of the new series Poisonous Liaisons on True Crime Network, Kaelin Thompson, you just heard from, KIMT Rochester, and Amanda Hall, reporter with WINK-TV Fort Myers Florida so when they found Pam Hutchinson Amanda Hall that I we think at this juncture anyway was the second doppelganger Lois Reese had identified first Pam Hutchinson first Tess K. And then when that didn't work out, because Tess Koster basically hid in her home for the next few days, she found Pam Hutchinson.

The way that Pam's body was found is strikingly similar to the way Lois Reese's husband, David, was found. Explain. That's right. She was found in the bathroom, covered up with a towel in the exact same manner that Lois left her husband in Minnesota. She sealed off the door to the hotel room using a towel, closed it behind her, and that's when she left in Pam's hat, in Pam's car, and with Pam's credit card. Yeah, the M.O. is so identical. Both Pam Hutchison and David Reese, her husband, Lois Reese's husband, found dead in the bathroom floor, on the bathroom floor, towel draped over their head. Both shot with a.22, and both times

the bathroom had basically been sealed off, I guess to avoid the stench from escaping. It didn't work. Joe Scott, what do you make of that? The purpose of that, as you rightly said, was to prevent the odor from coming out the door, and this gives us an idea that this perpetrator is thinking about this. You know, who in their right mind would think to seal off the door? This is something that thought has to go into. And, you know, she's using the same weapon. Many times, you know, when people are perpetrators, particularly serial killers like this, you think they return to the same tools over and over again.

This is a 22 caliber pistol nancy it's a perfect for this because it's such a small caliber it doesn't make a real loud boom easy to conceal to you dr angela arnold're the psychiatrist. I'm just a trial lawyer. Why the same MO all the time? I just thought about our old pet when I was growing up, Trouble. He would always go lay down in the very same spot. He would circle it three times and curl up in a ball and lay down. Never changed. Why?

Why does she use the same MO? Well, why does she use the same mo well why would she change that would that could learn to some error on her part couldn't it in her mind this is working for her she's got it planned out the way she does it is working for her she may be a little ocd and and that's why she remains that's why she sticks to this same pattern of behavior. She probably has some OCD thoughts going through her head. And this makes her comfortable. She can do it, get out of there, and leave. Well, now, a manhunt is on. Take a listen to our friends at Inside Edition.

Authorities tell me they're now trying to figure out why Lois Reese, with no prior criminal record, turned into an alleged cold-blooded killer. This morning officials warning she is believed to be armed and extremely dangerous. This morning the subject of an urgent nationwide manhunt and the suspect in two murders more than 1,700 miles apart. Police say 56 year old Lois Reese shot her husband David in their rural Minnesota home in March, then took off in their white Cadillac Escalade. Soon after, spotted at an Iowa casino.

U.S. Marshals joining the search as Reese allegedly drove to Fort Myers, Florida. Authorities say she befriended 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson, a stranger bearing a similar physical appearance before shooting her to death. Authorities releasing these surveillance images that they say show Reese leaving Hutchinson's motel. Investigators claim they found the victim's purse in disarray, cash, credit cards, IDs missing, her white Acura sedan stolen. Wow, what an M.O. And Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer, Anchor Court TV, she uses the same M.O. over and over. But she's brazen. She's brazen. During the manhunt, she's not even trying to conceal herself. She's spotted at casinos, at hotels, ordering room service, renting movies in bed.

I mean, and she's using Pam Hutchinson's five grand and her car to do the deed. Yeah, there's a word I would use for that, except I can't say it on air. And what I would never cease to amaze me, Nancy, when I'm on the bench is that you've got all kinds of criminals, but there are some criminals who are that cold, that calculating, and that, I don't know, egotistical may not be the right word. However, they are going to use the fruits of their crimes as if they've done nothing wrong, right? It's all good. It came up according to my plan, and now I have money to spend. I don't get it, Dr. Angela Arnold.

You're the psychiatrist again. She's got dead bodies, a trail of dead bodies shot multiple times and hidden in bathrooms and she's ordering room service and primetime movies? How?

Well, Nancy, none of us understand this because we don't think the way these people do. I'm telling you, at the end of the day, Nancy, none of us understand this because we don't think the way these people do. I'm telling you, at the end of the day, Nancy, there's something wrong with her attachment. She doesn't make attachments to these people. She has a plan. She has a goal in mind.

And she is not attached to people like you and I are. Okay? That's not a mental illness, but she didn't form proper attachments when she was growing up. So that's why she can step away, walk away from it, and be fine with this and go on and do it to the next person. Joe Scott Morgan, you have investigated well over 1,000 death cases. I don't know about you, but in all the years I prosecuted,

and to this day, but especially then, I was thin as a rail because the cases physically made me lose my appetite. I could no more eat at lunchtime during a jury trial. I'm showing all these horrible photos and blood-soaked clothes and talking about tortures and rapes and murders. How do you murder Pam Hutchinson, take five grand out of her ATM account, drive her car to the next hotel, order room service and a movie? I mean, can you just leave a death scene and just drive up and order a Big Mac? I think that it's very difficult, Nancy, if you're, you know, quote unquote normal.

But this is not a normal person you're talking about. It would seem as though that these victims, these poor people, are merely, you know, just a means to an end, you know, for everything for her. They're just little pit stops along the way to get to her ultimate goal. She's callous. She's brazen. And she lacks, you know, kind of this humanity to attach. You know, she meets this woman, Nancy, in a bar, in a bar, forms an attachment to her. And we know that she formed an attachment to this woman because she covered her face. She covered her husband's face.

Covered up with a towel. And that's something that shows kind of an intimate event that's going on there. March 23, Lois Reese allegedly murders husband David in the bathroom, covers him up with a towel, and takes $11,000 out of his bank account. Then there she goes. She hits the road. She drives from blooming Prairie, Minnesota to Fort Myers Beach in Florida,

stopping at multiple locations, multiple casinos on the way. Then she's spotted outside the home of her longtime friend who's moved to Florida, Tess Koster. Koster convinced Reese targeted her to rob her, murder her and her husband, and assume her identity. But it didn't work.

Koster hides out inside her home for the next week. Reese then seen at Smoking Oyster Brewery. Late that night, Reese is spotted alone outside Hutchinson's room. Next thing you know, she is in Hutchinson's vehicle taking money, five grand out of Hutchinson's bank account. Hutchinson found dead in the condo bathroom covered with a towel. Where is she going? And what's her plan? When you don't know a horse, look at her track record.

She's looking for her next look-alike. Take a listen to Carmen Marcino, Lee County Sheriff's. Reese is currently a person of interest in a recent homicide that took place in Dodge County, Minnesota. Our major crimes unit has worked around the clock and has obtained an arrest warrant for Reese. Our detectives have reviewed hundreds of hours of video and traveled throughout the state and collected hundreds of items for forensic examination and have coordinated efforts with our state and federal agencies. It has been determined that Reese has fled southwest Florida and has traveled through the Gulf states and into Corpus Christi, Texas area, and current whereabouts are unknown.

Reese is wanted for murder, grand theft of a motor vehicle, and grand theft and criminal use of personal identification. Reese's mode of operation is to befriend women who resemble her and steal their identity. U.S. Marshals are actively involved in a national search for this dangerous fugitive. Reese is considered armed and dangerous and in a recent homicide that took place in Dodge County, Minnesota. Our major crimes unit has worked around the clock and has obtained an arrest warrant for Reese. Our detectives have reviewed hundreds of hours of video and traveled throughout the state and collected hundreds of items for forensic examination and have coordinated efforts with

our state and federal agencies. It has been determined that Reese has fled southwest Florida and has traveled through the Gulf states and into Corpus Christi, Texas area. And current whereabouts are unknown. Reese is wanted for murder, grand theft of a motor vehicle and grand theft and criminal use of personal identification. Reese's mode of operation is to befriend women who resemble her and steal their identity. U.S. Marshals are actively involved in a national search for this dangerous fugitive. Reese is considered armed and dangerous and should

not be approached if located. Especially if you're a platinum blonde woman. I mean, Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer, she's got quite the M.O. And I can tell you where she's going. She's going to Texas to cross the border to Mexico. I don't have to be an FBI serial killer profiler to figure that out. I agree with you, Nancy. But you know what's wild in this case? All right, she's committing these crimes.

And now on a manhunt for her, what the heck happened to her the rest of her life? I mean, did she do something to other people along the way? What triggered this for her to say, ooh, I'm going to start by killing my husband and then going from there? As a grandmother that people said they thought they could trust. Can I ask you a question, Ash? Who cares? Who cares? What kind of, what triggered her to become a serial killer? Do, I mean. Where I'm going with that, Nancy, are there other victims? Do we know? I don't know. Yeah, okay, to that extent, I'd like to know. But you know, when you go to court and people are going, why, why?

I used to ask myself why. It took me about seven years in at the DA's office wondering why, why, why did they do this? Finally, I figured out, Ashley, I can't crawl into the mind of a killer and figure out why they would torture and kill someone or prey upon innocent people like David Reese and Pamela Hutchinson that they could target them. And, and really, I mean, Joe Scott Morgan reminds me of a spider catching someone in their net. The spider doesn't catching a bug in the net because a spider doesn't think about oh this poor little fly i wonder how many thousands of fly babies he's leaving behind i'm gonna bite him in the head and eat him the fly doesn't the spider doesn't think and that's just like that's just like lois reese yeah i kind of have to agree with what Ash is saying here, Nancy. What?

No, listen, I just begin to think about, did she just suddenly decide to kill multiple people? Is this a line that's running through her life that we don't know where this thread maybe began at along the way? I mean, you know, it's not like she, you know, she went from shoplifting to robbery to – Okay, you know what? You know what? I'll let you and Ashley Wilcott get together and have a little cup of tea somewhere, maybe over at the Ritz-Carlton. Cheryl McCollum and I will get down to business and figure out what the hay is going on. Cheryl McCollum, Ashley Wilcott, and Joe Scott Morgan find themselves twiddling their thumbs wondering, why, why did

she do this I'll tell you why she wanted to be free she wanted to gamble and she needed somebody else's money to do it that's why I'm with you Nancy there's a reason we don't have to prove motive when we have a murder it's because it doesn't matter and with a lot of these things it doesn't matter what reason she's ever going to give me. I can't accept this. You not only murder your husband, then you go about as this doppelganger trying to find somebody that looks just like you so you can befriend this person, sit in their hot tub, sleep in their guest room, only all the while plotting how you're going to kill them and assume their identity so you can stay free from all the other crimes you've committed. Well, number one, I don't want Lois Reese in the same hot tub I'm in, but that's a whole other can of worms.

Take a listen to Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com. Where is Lois Reese? Lois Reese made many acquaintances in her nearly 2,600-mile travels. She befriended two vacationing men at a karaoke bar who described her as completely normal. In Texas, people said they never witnessed any emotional breakdowns or outbursts. Kathy Lafferty, who owns the Padre Rita Grill on South Padre Island, said she remembered her as always happy, upbeat, and pleasant. Reese made several visits to the eatery.

Lafferty said she never observed any signs of anger or emotional distress. Reese appeared to be overly friendly, a good tipper, and talked with everyone at the bar. One hotel employee noted a change in Reese's appearance after she met her, saying she appeared to be a completely different woman, even dressing more provocatively by wearing short shorts and a black tank top. Okay, there you go. Double killer so far in hot pants and a black tank top, chatting everybody up. You know, she certainly did not shrink from attention, Cheryl McCollum. Along her trail, people remember her vividly.

She befriended people. That was part of her M.O. She had to get people to like them in order to gain their trust, to get into their home, to get their cars and their identity, and eventually take their life. The search is on for Lois Reese, who has left a trail a mile wide. All she needs now is a new driver's license and somebody's car. Whose car will it be? Killers Amongst Us, Nancy Grace, signing off.

Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.