She is wearing her victim's hat in the security footage at the Hilton. I wonder if that helps her "become" Pamela? Or if she finds some sort of pleasure in wearing the victim's hat?
https://www.news-press.com/story/ne...ed-around-fort-myers-beach-florida/528674002/
Pamela Hutchinson was a hat person.
Her cousin, Tabitha Lohr Stoops, remembers the 59-year-old wearing them on outings in particular, a white womans boater hat with a black ribbon around it.
But now surveillance video shows the hat sitting on the head of the woman authorities say likely killed Hutchinson. The footage of Lois Ann Riess at an Ocala hotel April 6 shows the woman waiting at a counter with a hat like the one Hutchinson owned.
The Lee County Sheriffs Office released surveillance images tracking the whereabouts of Riess, who was last known to be in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Hutchinson, authorities said, is Riess second victim. They believe she shot and killed her husband, who was found March 23 in their rural Minnesota home, and used the same gun to kill Hutchinson in her room at a condominium at the Marina Village at Snug Harbor on Fort Myers Beach.
On Wednesday they released details of Riess movements on Fort Myers Beach and on her way out of the Sunshine State.
More: Fort Myers Beach homicide: 'It just smelled like a dead animal'
More: LCSO: Lois Ann Riess killed husband in Minnesota before killing woman at Fort Myers Beach
When I saw the hat, I just broke down because this was one of Pams prized possessions, said Lohr Stoops, of North Carolina. This was one of her favorites, and she wore it many times.
For me to see this vile woman wearing my cousins hat after she murdered her was heartbreaking.
The Lee County Sheriffs Office said Pamela Hutchinson, 59, was killed by a woman who was on the run after killing her husband in Minnesota. (Photo: Special to the News-Press)
Hutchinson was found April 9 in Room 404 at the Marine Village where she had planned to stay until at least Wednesday before deciding to stay an extra day.
By that time, according to the Sheriffs Office timeline, Riess was long gone. Investigators tracked her to Refugio, Texas, driving Hutchinsons stolen white 2005 Acura TL. Refugio is a small town about 40 miles north of Corpus Christi.
Its unclear how or when Riess befriended Hutchinson, but the two were captured together on surveillance footage during daylight hours on April 5 drinking at the Smokin Oyster Brewery on Old San Carlos Boulevard, a short walk from the hotel.
Reid Freeman, the executive chef at the restaurant, said he believed they were there between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. and ran up a tab between $50 and $60.
It was all in cash, Freeman said.
