Jennifer Riesel
/ file photo
LITTLE FALLS, HERKIMER COUNTY -- A Little Falls woman was sentenced Wednesday for allegedly running over and killing Francis Nelson, 74, last fall.
Jennifer Riesel, 29, showed no remorse and declined to say anything when she was sentenced for the death of Francis Nelson, said Assistant Herkimer County District Attorney Jeffrey Carpenter.
Riesel admitted she tied up and ran over Nelson last September in a farmer's field in September in Little Falls.
Police said Nelson met Riesel at a local German social club where he was president in their hometown of Little Falls, 60 miles west of Albany.
Nelson was found dead, his hands and feet tied, near his abandoned car on a farm field Sept. 27. Riesel claimed Nelson was terminally ill and wanted to die and offered to pay her $180,000 to kill him. The Herkimer Telegram newspaper reported it was Nelson who chose the way his death would play out.
Riesel was sentenced to 16 years determinant with 5 years post release supervision, consecutive with a previous sentencing for 1 1/3 to 4 years for fourth degree grand larceny for stealing and using Nelson's credit cards.
Riesel's lawyer, Ed Kaminski, said after her arrest that Riesel had known Nelson for about four years and they had a relationship almost like grandfather and granddaughter. Months before his death, Kaminski said, Nelson approached Riesel about wanting to end his life and was tied up because he wanted it to appear to be a violent robbery.
