LEE COUNTY, Fla. -- The state attorney’s office will seek the death penalty against accused killer Lois Riess.
Riess, 56, is charged with killing Pamela Hutchinson on Fort Myers Beach back in April.
Investigators say she then stole Hutchinson’s identity, money, and car, and fled to Texas, where she was caught roughly 30 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.
In their court filing, the state attorney’s office writes Hutchinson’s death meets the criteria for the death penalty.
The attorney’s office claims Hutchinson’s killing was premeditated, Riess benefited from killing Hutchinson, and Riess killed Hutchinson to escape prosecution from another felony.
Riess is also charged with murdering her husband in Minnesota.
Riess remains in custody on a no-hold bond.
There are currently only 3 women on death row in the State of Florida: Tiffany Cole, Margaret Allen, and Tina Brown. All of these women were convicted of first-degree murder.
Compare that to the 344 men currently on death row.
The State of Florida has only executed two women since 1976, which was when the death penalty was reinstated in the United States.
The first woman executed in Florida was Judias Goodyear Buenoano in 1998; she was nicknamed the Black Widow for the murder of her husband and her paralyzed son.
The second Florida woman to be executed was Aileen Wuornos. She was executed in 2002. She was convicted for the murder of a Tampa-area man.
Florida has executed 94 men since 1976.
There have only been 12 other women on death row in the State of Florida. All of those women were resentenced.
In total there have only been 16 women executed in the United States.
