Hello,
I would like to preface this by saying I am not a websleuth, I am merely asking for help.
I have been heavily involved in seeking justice for Anita Knuston. She was murdered in her off campus apartment in the city of Minot, 14 years ago this June. Her case remains unsolved and is now considered a cold case. Over the past 14 years her family and friends have done whatever they could to keep her case in the spotlight. We have put up billboards and requested news channels to run stories.
Anita Knutson was 18 years old in 2007 and working full time while attending college at Minot State University. She was reported found in her apartment lying face down, stabbed several times, covered with her own bathrobe early afternoon on Monday June 4th 2007.
Her mother, Sharon Knutson, generally spoke to her everyday. Anita didn't answer her call on Saturday, June 2 and Sharon didn't receive a call back on Sunday. When Anita failed to answer her phone again on Monday, Anita’s father drove to her apartment to check up on her. He arrived to find her car parked but she did not answer her door and it was locked. He went to the manager's office and asked to be let into the apartment. He called the manager to open up the apartment who pointed out that a screen had been cut in one of the windows and was laying on the ground.
Her father pushed aside the blinds and saw Anita face down on her bed. He reached his arm through and touched her head and knew instantly that she was dead. As they entered the apartment, nothing looked out of the ordinary until they walked into Anita's room. Her bed was covered with blood, she was face down and her body was covered with an old robe. She had been brutally stabbed in the upper body numerous times. The murder weapon, a pocket knife, was laying on the floor at the foot of her bed (or in the sink--reports are conflicting on this detail).
Her recorded time of death on her death certificate is Monday, June 4th at 5:15pm. This is when she was pronounced dead and not her actual time of death. Per the Grand Forks Herald article, linked below, Anita’s speculated time of death was Sunday morning June 3rd. She spoke with her mother Friday night, June 1st, but then failed to show up for work on Saturday or return her mother's call for the remainder of the weekend, leading me to believe her time of death may be inaccurate. Another detail that emerged was that the screen in her bedroom had been cut seemingly after the murder from the inside. If that is the case, how did the perpetrator get inside? Then, there is the question of motive, there was no robbery or sexual assault, no drugs or alcohol were found in Anita's system and she had no known connections to questionable people or activities.
Police have spoken to and investigated hundreds of people: neighbors, classmates, and people who attended the same club she liked to spend weekend nights at. No promising leads turned up. There have been several people of interest, but nothing has warranted an arrest.
From there, the case turned cold. No new leads and no arrests have ever been made. However, the tragedy of Anita's murder created another massive blow to the Knutson family. Daniel Knutson, Anita's younger brother, never recovered from her murder. Sadly, he killed himself in 2013, siting Anita's murder as the cause of his pain and depression.
This family deserves answers for the suffering they have endured. Anita Knutson deserves justice and somebody needs to be held accountable for her murder and the pain it caused her loved ones.
Anita was a bright light in a dark room. She went out of her way to make everyone feel special and she deserves better than her case collecting dust on a shelf for over a decade. This is personal for me as she had been my best friend since kindergarten and I refuse to let her light go out.
I’m hoping I can gain access to her case files so that I might enlist the help of a professional outside source to review her case. I have reached out to the State’s Attorney for help in this endeavor, but have yet to hear back. If anyone reading this has experience in this matter, I would love to speak with you.
In general, I’m asking for any help. We are 14 years out and would appreciate literally any information whether you think It’s common knowledge or not.
Grand Forks Herald Article:
Minot college student's slaying in 2007 remains a mystery | Grand Forks Herald.
