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Florida Grand Jury Indicts Minnesota Grandmother For 1st Degree Murder

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A Minnesota grandmother who spurred a cross-country manhunt earlier this year will be tried for first degree murder in Florida.

A grand jury indicted 56-year-old Lois Riess of Blooming Prairie on the charge, as well as grand theft of a motor vehicle and criminal use of personal identification information of a deceased individual.

Riess spurred a nationwide in March after police say she killed her husband in their Blooming Prairie home, fled to Iowa to gamble, then killed another woman in Florida. Authorities eventually arrested her in Texas after they say she attempted to steal the Florida woman's identity.

She was extradited to Florida in April to stand trial. If convicted on the murder charge, Riess could be sentenced to life in prison.

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