Jurors in Thief River Falls convict man of killing wife soon after his early release from prison

Jurors in northwestern Minnesota convicted a man on Friday of killing his wife soon after he was granted an early release from a federal prison, where he was serving time for possessing bombs.

Eric J. Reinbold, 46, was found guilty in Pennington County District court of two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the death of 34-year-old Lissette Reinbold on July 9, 2021. Reinbold was angry at his wife, accusing her of cheating on him and rejecting his demands for sex, the criminal complaint read.

Sentencing in the Thief River Falls courtroom has yet to be scheduled for Reinbold. In the meantime, he remains jailed.

One of Lissette Reinbold's children found her body the next morning outside the couple's home beside her vehicle, the charges read. She was stabbed in the neck, torso and upper extremities, the complaint noted.

Reinbold fled into the woods and was on the run for more than three weeks before he was captured on Aug. 4, 2021.

"Reinbold brutally murdered his wife, leaving her body for her child to find, then fled justice for weeks before he was captured," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office led the prosecution, said in a statement. "He has now been convicted for his hateful, violent act. ... As always, my thoughts today are with the victims of this crime, above all Lissette's children. We can never bring their beloved mother back, but they and all of us are now protected from her murderer."

Reinbold's death occurred less than four months after her husband was granted an early "compassionate release" from federal prison, where he was serving time for possessing pipe bombs. His sentence initially called for him to be locked up until February 2022.

In December 2018, a federal jury in Fergus Falls convicted him of keeping the bombs at his hunting cabin near Oklee. A notebook in his desk detailed how to survive in the wilderness, build bombs and identify enemies.

He was sentenced to five years in prison. However, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim granted Reinbold an early "compassionate release" in March 2021 from the federal lockup in Oxford, Wis.

The defense argued that his health problems, including high cholesterol and borderline high blood pressure, made him especially vulnerable to contracting COVID-19 while incarcerated. The filing also pointed to his wife's medical troubles as she cared for their children while staying employed.

In a follow-up filing, the defense pledged that Eric Reinbold's family members will "ensure he stays law-abiding."

Prosecutors countered that Eric Reinbold had already contracted the virus and recovered. They also noted that the prison was virus-free at the time of their filing. "Reinbold is an active man in generally good health who appears to have recovered from COVID-19 without further incident," the filing read.