Town note
The town's motto is 'A great place to spend the next hundred years'.
about 0:05:02Spoilers are covered until your reading preferences load.
FILE 561 / 9 January 2025 / 174 MIN / full
James: 'This is Blooming Prairie, Minnesota' in southern Minnesota, in Steele County, edging into Dodge County, about an hour and twenty minutes from Minneapolis about 0:04:14
The town's motto is 'A great place to spend the next hundred years'.
about 0:05:02The town is in Steele County, edging over into Dodge County, area code 507, about an hour and twenty minutes from Minneapolis.
about 0:04:41The town started in 1868 and took the name of the surrounding Blooming Prairie township, dropping the word township.
about 0:05:18Before Prohibition, the town's position near the intersection of several counties made it a place to stop and buy alcohol; in 1917 Steele County was the only one of the four around it (Mower, Freeborn, Dodge and Steele) where alcohol could be sold.
about 0:05:43The town's motto is 'A great place to spend the next hundred years'.
about 0:05:02The town is in Steele County, edging over into Dodge County, area code 507, about an hour and twenty minutes from Minneapolis.
about 0:04:41The town started in 1868 and took the name of the surrounding Blooming Prairie township, dropping the word township.
about 0:05:18Before Prohibition, the town's position near the intersection of several counties made it a place to stop and buy alcohol; in 1917 Steele County was the only one of the four around it (Mower, Freeborn, Dodge and Steele) where alcohol could be sold.
about 0:05:43During Prohibition several tunnels were dug under the businesses on Main Street to make and move moonshine out of sight.
about 0:06:03The town holds an annual old-fashioned Fourth of July; the most recent was the 49th, with a 5K race, parade, tractor pull, street dance and beer gardens.
about 0:14:17The town has a State School Orphanage Museum, where children dress as orphans and there are tours and a genealogy research assistant.
about 0:17:2172.3%
about 0:08:33White 92.8% · Black 0.3% · Hispanic 6.7%
Ethnicity can overlap race.Property crime
▼ about one quarter
Violent crime
▼ about one third
Listing: four bed, three bath, 1,710 sq ft house (run-down)
about 0:11:30Listing: four bed, two bath, 2,160 sq ft house
about 0:12:10Listing: three bed, two bath, 1,734 sq ft house built 1890
about 0:13:04"2,074"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:07:45
"36 and a half"
Comparison: "usually about 37 (national average)". Direction: below.
As told in 2025 about 0:07:59
"about 50-50 married"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:08:00
"92.8%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:08:13
"0.3%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:08:13
"6.7%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:08:13
"0.2%"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:08:13
"72.3%"
Comparison: "'Utah numbers', very high". Direction: above.
As told in 2025 about 0:08:33
"Lutheran"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:08:39
"a little under five percent"
Comparison: "about the national average". Direction: about the same.
As told in 2025 about 0:08:56
"$57,625"
Comparison: "about $69,000 nationally". No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:08:59
"83"
Comparison: "100 is regular". Direction: below.
As told in 2025 about 0:09:14
"$212,800"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:09:19
"$990"
Comparison: "about $300 under the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2025 about 0:10:15
"$84,900"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:11:30
"$199,900"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:12:10
"$89,900"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:13:04
"about one quarter"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2025 about 0:18:30
"about one third"
Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2025 about 0:18:40
5.0 / 5 · average of 3
“All the people are kind, there is a strong sense of community and everyone looks out for one another; a small town that has everything you need.”about 0:06:45
“Likes living there: knows everyone and everyone knows them; a friendly town where news gets around fast.”about 0:07:04
“Amazing little town with a park, a small pool, small class sizes meaning more one-on-one time, and a small gym.”about 0:07:19
Dave Reese was born in Rochester, Minnesota on 24 April 1963 and graduated from Mayo High School in 1981. He served in the Navy from 1981 to 1985, based in San Diego and later Guam, and met his friend Denny while laying carpet as a favour. They shared a love of fishing, rented a trailer on the Mississippi as a fishing base and appeared on ESPN in a tournament in the 1980s. She was the fourth of five children from Rochester; her father was an IBM engineer and her mother a severe hoarder who was later committed to a state hospital. The couple had three children in four years.
In 2005 they moved to Blooming Prairie so Dave could open a waxworm farm. It grew into a business with employees, delivering bait to Walmart, Kwik Trip and bait shops across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. On 16 February 2006 a fire, probably from wiring Dave had done himself, destroyed their home. The town raised money and they rebuilt on the same lot.
From 2012 she controlled the finances of her sister Kim, who had been placed in adult foster care after a breakdown in 2010, and gambled away much of Kim's inheritance. In 2016 she overdosed on pills and was found by Dave, then airlifted to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester. In July 2016 she disappeared for three days.
Replies to text messages used proper punctuation, unlike Dave's usual dictated texts. On 22 March staff called the police, and on the night of Friday 23 March officers found Dave dead on the bathroom floor under a blanket, shot twice with a .22, once in the chest through his forearm and once in the back, dead for about ten days. On 23 March she was at the Diamond Joe, and law enforcement who tracked her phone arrived the next day to find she had gone.
Tess recognised her and called 911, but Lee County deputies concluded she was long gone. On 3 April Pam Hutchinson, 59, recently divorced and about to buy a condo in Bradenton, checked into condo 404 at Marina Village at Snug Harbor. On 5 April the two dined there again. Cameras place the woman at the condo at 7.46 p.m. and at the elevator at 8.34 p.m. Pam was shot twice with a .22 in the bathroom, covered with towels, with the thermostat turned down. Her cards, car, keys and valuables were taken.
On 9 April the manager, Lori Russell, found the body. The Acura was spotted near Refugio, Texas on 8 April. The US Marshals made it a major case and a $6,000 reward was offered.
Searches turned up a Colt Woodsman .22, a Smith and Wesson 9mm, bullets, a holster, duct tape, gloves, Pam's sunglasses and cards.
Family gave impact statements. She later told an HBO documentary, I'm Not a Monster, that she had snapped and claimed years of abuse, and she is held at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee.
March 2018 / the Reese home and waxworm farm outside Blooming Prairie, Minnesota
As told in the episode, on 9 January 2025.
Accused
April 2018 / Marina Village at Snug Harbor, Fort Myers Beach, Florida
As told in the episode, on 9 January 2025.
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
crime scene
about 0:33:17school
about 0:19:57business
about 0:39:41business
about 0:44:57business
about 0:44:11business
about 0:44:57school
about 1:00:05business
about 0:58:40hospital
about 1:17:47business
about 1:24:00business
about 1:25:45home
about 1:30:19crime scene
about 1:33:37business
about 1:40:16business
about 1:39:04business
about 1:44:50landmark
about 1:52:43home
about 1:35:23business
about 1:35:23business
about 1:45:29business
about 1:45:55business
about 1:46:06road
about 1:56:59business
about 1:58:57business
about 1:59:22business
about 2:05:12business
about 2:05:46business
about 2:07:42business
about 2:09:52business
about 2:12:38home
about 2:27:14landmark
about 2:28:40