Northwestern Minnesota homicide suspect arrested, charged

The man accused of killing his wife in northern Minnesota was arrested after nearly a month on the run and has been charged.

The Red Lake County Sheriff’s Office reported Eric Reinbold was taken into custody overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. Later Wednesday, charges consisting of second-degree murder were filed against him.

He will make his first court appearance Friday morning.

The arrest was made on a rural property north of Oklee just after midnight.

Investigators from more than a dozen local, state and federal law enforcement agencies searched for Reinbold, the primary suspect in the July 9 murder of his wife, 34-year-old Lissette Reinbold, of Oklee, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

"We were relieved. We are obviously still in mourning. We haven’t been able to rest since our lives completely stopped July 9th," said Jessica Alanis, the victim’s sister when law enforcement called overnight with the update.

She added her sister dedicated her life to care for her children. She also showed her appreciation towards police’s efforts in finding Reinbold.

"My family members have been restless, we haven’t been able to sleep or lay my sister to rest," Alanis said. "So when we got that phone call, we were extremely grateful."

A $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to his capture.

"Now our community can be at rest once again. People have been on edge for the last 25 days," Red Lake County Sheriff Mitch A. Bernstein said Wednesday. Berstein noted Reinbold had a utility tool, a blanket and a jug of water taken into custody with him.

According to the criminal complaint, on July 9 at about 9:15 a.m., EMTs responded to a residence along 340th Avenue SE in Oklee, Minnesota, on a report of an unresponsive woman.

The woman, identified as Lissette, was found lying outside on the ground, with a noticeable amount of blood on her face and hands. An autopsy conducted the next day revealed Lissette had suffered multiple sharp force injuries to her neck, torso and upper extremities.

EMTs met with three kids who told them they didn’t know what happened to their mother, or where Reinbold’s location was. The kids were from a previous relationship of Lissette’s and were not related to Reinbold, the complaint notes.

In analyzing Lissette’s phone via a search warrant, police discovered that the victim and Reinbold had tension in their relationship at times and attempts to reconcile at other times, dating back to March. According to the complaint, exchanges between Reinbold and Lissette from June 25 to July 7 showed Reinbold "accusing (her) of being unfaithful, demanding sex from her and fighting over finances."

Reinbold had been under federal supervision for a December 2018 conviction of possession of unregistered destructive devices. He was found to have stashed pipe bombs on family property and police later found materials associated with those pipe bombs at his residence in 2017. He was later convicted, served prison time, and was released under supervision for three years.

The complaint also states in 2015, Reinbold threatened Lissette and her two children with a gun, ramming the vehicle they were in before Lissette was eventually able to leave the residence. He later entered a guilty plea towards second-degree assault and an amended count of endangerment of a child by firearm access.

After he was placed on probation for five years for that conviction, Reinbold broke his probation less than a year after by possessing pipe bombs and materials to make them. He was later arrested in Kansas as he fled the state.