Lois Riess' son calls his mother a 'good lady'

(KMSP) - In a sit down with Inside Edition, Braden Riess, 30, grappled with the reality that his mother, Lois Riess, is an accused killer. 

“You want to wake up and for it to be back to normal, but it’s not,” he said during the interview. 

Riess was charged with second-degree murder, grand theft auto and criminal use of personal identification in the Florida death of 59-year-old Pamela Hutchinson after allegedly killing Braden’s father, her longtime husband, in March. 

“Nobody ever suspected anything like this,” Braden said during his interview. “It has devastated my family.” 

At the same time, Lois battled a demon—a gambling addiction, which Braden told Inside Edition she blew a $500,000 inheritance on. 

“She literally snapped,” he said. 

According to detectives, both murders were carried out much in the same way, with cash as the end game. 

A .22 caliber hand gun was used at both scenes, both bodies were draped and shortly after each murder, it was Lois who took off with the victim’s money and cars. 

“Gambling’s a terrible thing where it can suck people in. Destroy lives,” Braden said during his interview with Inside Edition. 

In 2016, Lois was also accused of stealing more than $100,000 from her disabled sister. Ever since, she’s been on the run, with no success. 

Braden and his siblings have now all been forced to live without their father—and now in many ways, without their mother. 

“I felt really bad for my mom, I felt like she was alone—desperate,” he said. 

Fox 9 reached out to Braden and his siblings, but attempts were unsuccessful. 

Riess remains in custody without bond. Her arraignment in Florida is set for May 29.