Judge denies BP killer’s request for name change

There have apparently been some life changes for Lois Riess, the Blooming Prairie woman who is serving a life sentence for the 2018 murder of her husband.

Riess applied for a name change with the state of Minnesota, citing PTSD and mental issues “stemming from her married name Riess.”

Incarcerated people are not allowed to “hide or defraud” by changing their name and must list any felony convictions.

Riess shot David Riess in their rural Blooming Prairie home on March 11, 2018. She remained in the house with his dead body for nearly two weeks, telling friends and employees of David’s business that he was sick.

On March 22, Lois Riess drove out of the couple’s driveway – and was on the run.

She ended up in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., where she befriended a woman named Pamela Hutchinson. The two women met at a restaurant on April 4; Riess shot and killed her in Hutchinson’s condo the next night, stole her identification, banking information and her car – and was on the run again.

By the time Hutchinson’s body was found five days later, Riess was in Texas, eventually landing in South Padre. There, she befriended at least three other single, middle-aged women, spending time in bars and restaurants.

But by then, Riess was also the subject of a nationwide search, and a sharp-eyed restaurant manager called the authorities. She was arrested on April 19, 2018.

Riess pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other felonies in 2019 in Lee County, Fla., then waived extradition to Minnesota, which does not have the death penalty.

She was convicted of David Riess’s murder in Dodge County in August 2020.

She is serving out her life sentence at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee, where she filed the application for a name change in May 2023.

State law, however, says felons who wish to change their name are required to serve notice about the request to the prosecuting authority.

That party may object to the application on the basis that it: aims to defraud or mislead; is not made in good faith; will cause injury to a person or will compromise public safety.

Crysta Parkin, assistant Dodge County Attorney, responded within a month.

“Lois Riess has proven twice that she has no regard for human life, nor the identity of her victim,” Parkin wrote. “The request for name change is another attempt to defraud or mislead the public, the State, and herself, that she is not the person who murdered these individuals and evade responsibility under the guise of bettering her own situation.”

Riess contested the objection with a motion filed in August 2023, which contained her explanation for the request.

In it, Riess asked to be allowed to change her name to Lois Ann Bonds, “Bonds being the sir (sic) name of the man I would marry in the name of my religion, which I am not allowed.”

According to the handwritten document, “the Supreme Court says its a inmates fundamental right to marry, yet here in Mn. DOC I cannot.”

Offenders in the state who are over the age of 18 are legally allowed to marry, with two exceptions: An offender may not marry another offender, a DOC employee, a contractor, or an employee of a contractor; and the marriage must not pose a threat to the safety and security of a facility, staff, the public, or other offenders.

Shakopee houses only female offenders.

Riess did not provide the first name of the man “whom loves me” in her application, but did claim she was an “abused wife for over 30 years,” and said the name change “will help facilitate with Lois’ progressive health.”

She argued that “denying my name change is not relavent (sic) to my punishments. I am very sorry and ashamed for my crimes. I am serving my remainder of life.”

She went on to write that she has the support of her two surviving children, “and they wish for my happiness in this DOC. … This will not remove my responsibility an (sic) my shame for my crimes committed.”

Now 63, Riess wrote, “as a life without parole elderly inmate, I just wish this name change for some emotional healing from my abuser …”

She and two friends testified in Scott County Court two weeks later; the judge deliberated for a day before denying the request.

In the ruling, Judge Christian Wilton noted that Riess “has only served a short three years of her sentence before bringing this request. The Court cannot conclude that Ms. Riess has proven by clear and convincing evidence her request to change her name is not based upon an intent to defraud or mislead.”