ND - Anita Knutson, 18, murdered, Minot, 4 June 2007 *Roommate Arrested*

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JessicaRita said:
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.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry for your loss.

I've read a couple of different links as well as the one you posted. Do you know why her and her roommate weren't getting along?
 
joe jones said:
Former Roommate Arrested in Cold Case Murder of North Dakota College Student
Click to expand...

SBM
  • ...Nichole Rice, 34, Knutson’s roommate at the time of her death,...
  • ...detained Rice at Minot Air Force Base where where she works in a civilian capacity,
  • ...long suspected that Rice may be the killer, but they lacked sufficient evidence to make an arrest.
  • ...she was always a person of interest in this case.”
  • Asked what the “turning point” in the case was, Klug did not identify a particular piece of evidence. Rather, he said it was investigators piecing together 15 years of information.
  • If found guilty, Rice faces a sentence of life in prison. She is scheduled to appear before a judge at 2 p.m. on Thursday,...
 
Here's an archived article

Horrific murder of North Dakota college student remains unsolved as family waits for new evidence | Brainerd Dispatch

There were theories investigators looked into during the early days. Anita Knutson did have a roommate she did not get along with. At times, their verbal altercations had led to accidental physical contact, yet no arrests were ever made.

While the roommate did have an alibi, provided by her parents who claimed she was with them throughout the weekend, she was still subject to polygraph tests and multiple interviews throughout the years.
 
imstilla.grandma said:
Nichole Rice: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

Nichole Rice to make initial appearance Thursday on charge in 2007 killing of Anita Knutson
Click to expand...

From the Heavy article:
According to the affidavit, “A number of individuals indicated that there was a lot of tension between Anita and Nichole. Anita had a reputation for being kind, friendly and likable. Nichole’s reputation is that she was hot-tempered and reactionary. One friend heard Nichole say to Anita, prior to her murder, ‘One way or another I’m going to get you (Anita) out of this house.'

I wonder what happened between them, and why they seemed to be stuck together in that place. What a tragedy.
 
Roommate Arrested For 2007 Murder Of Anita Knutson, To Be Featured On ‘Cold Justice’ | Oxygen Official Site

Looks like the TV show "Cold Justice" helped solve this case. Love that show!

“We tried to actively investigate Anita’s case for the past few years, and finally, with the help of ‘Cold Justice,’ we were able to move forward and regain focus,” Klug said on Wednesday. "Due to the resources, logistics, planning and experts they were able to provide, we were able to obtain an arrest warrant.”

"Cold Justice's" Kelly Siegler noted that "working on a case with a victim as loved as Anita with a police department like Minot PD, who was so invested, in a world of witnesses this cooperative was wonderful.”
 
This case has always interested me. There was no sign of forced entry or any struggle and the window screen was cut in a way to suggest the apartment was broken into but Anita’s blood was on the cut screen; it was cut after Anita was killed. All of this is pretty compelling evidence that the murderer was someone that Anita admitted to the apartment and did not feel any particular threat from.

While it was well reported that there was some conflict between her and her roommate, coverage of the case seemed to focus on the young man who lived in the same building and was described as some sort of unsuccessful suitor. There didn’t seem to any real evidence against the guy but we all know that the jilted boyfriend usually did it.

A big problem in the investigation was Time of Death. The coroner established it as Saturday night/Sunday morning but she missed work on Saturday and no one had heard from her that day. Time of Death is always problematic and there were techniques available but not always used by medical examiners at the time. Without a definite Time of Death, alibis or the lack there of, don’t mean all that much.

What has now come out was that the roommate and her parents gave what was described as “inconsistent statements” when they were interviewed. There is a general assumption that, in a murder investigation, people with nothing to hide, do not lie to Law Enforcement. It doesn’t alway work that way and it is reasonable that even the well intentioned can get details wrong. Still, lying to the police during a murder investigation looks really bad to a jury.

The other “new” evidence is the statement from the ex-boyfriend that she had confessed to him that she killed Anita. Hard to tell how credible he will be. It is always good to hear of arrests being made in old cases. We will see how it plays out.
 
Suspect charged in Anita Knutson killing to appear in court next month

The courts have rescheduled the preliminary hearing and arraignment for 34-year-old Nichole Rice for May 26.

The original hearing, set for April 21, was pushed back due to large amounts of discovery.

According to court documents, Rice will also have a pre-trial conference in August.
 

Murder trial set for accused Anita Knutson killer

The preliminary hearing for Nichole Erin Rice, 34, the accused killer of Anita Knutson, 18, was held on Sept. 8 in North Central District Court in Minot. Rice is charged with Class AA murder in the June 2007 stabbing death of Knutson, who was a childhood friend and her roommate at the time. The...
www.minotdailynews.com www.minotdailynews.com

Judge Richard Hagar ruled there was enough evidence to proceed to trial, and Rice pleaded not guilty. The pre-trial conference is scheduled for Nov. 16.
 
Oct 21 2022 rbbm
www.kfyrtv.com

Next court hearing for suspect charged in Anita Knutson case pushed back to March 2023

The suspect charged in the 2007 killing of Minot college student Anita Knutson likely won’t be back in court until next year.The courts have rescheduled the pretrial conference for 35-year-old Nichole Rice for March 1, 2023, at 11 a.m. in district court in Minot.
www.kfyrtv.com www.kfyrtv.com
''MINOT, N.D. (KMOT) – The suspect charged in the 2007 killing of Minot college student Anita Knutson likely won’t be back in court until next year.

The courts have rescheduled the pretrial conference for 35-year-old Nichole Rice for March 1, 2023, at 11 a.m. in district court in Minot.

The hearing had originally been scheduled for Nov. 6, and then rescheduled for Dec. 21, before being pushed back again.''

''The month prior, investigators from the show Cold Justice came to Minot to assist local police with the investigation.

Earlier this month, the case was the focus of a two-part special on the show, which included interviews with Rice and others connected to the case, as well as analysis of the murder weapon, the scene of the crime and text conversations between Knutson and Rice.''
 
www.wdayradionow.com

Courts agree to continue hearing in Anita Knutson death trial

(Minot, ND) -- A judge has agreed to another continuance in the case against the woman accused of killing Anita Knutson. Nichole Rice will appear for a pretrial conference June 14th in Minot. Both sides in the case filed a joint request last week to delay the hearing to June due to the amount of...
www.wdayradionow.com www.wdayradionow.com

A judge has agreed to another continuance in the case against the woman accused of killing Anita Knutson.

Nichole Rice will appear for a pretrial conference June 14th in Minot. Both sides in the case filed a joint request last week to delay the hearing to June due to the amount of evidence

www.kxnet.com

Nichole Rice files motion for DNA samples and hearing

Talbott testified that investigators ruled Hall out as a suspect after watching video footage of him arriving in Minot at the train station the evening after the murder.
www.kxnet.com www.kxnet.com
In the motion filed on March 20, she requested the courts to compel the state to provide updated State Crime Lab DNA sample reports.

She claims a previous suspect in the case, Devin Hall, was never tested.

During Rice’s preliminary hearing, one of her attorneys, Philip Becher pressed former Detective Mikali Talbott about Hall’s alleged involvement in Knutson’s murder.
albott testified that investigators ruled Hall out as a suspect after watching video footage of him arriving in Minot at the train station the evening after the murder.

But the defense continues to press the prosecution on Hall’s involvement.


This is what Rice’s defense attorney had to say at her preliminary hearing on September 8:

Philip Becher: “Does that state that Devin’s Grandmother had reached out and told somebody that Devin had told her he had possibly killed a young lady in Minot?”

Mikali Talbott: “That’s through like a third or fourth party but that’s what it says, yes.”… “There are several people of interest throughout this case. There have been items that have been able to exclude or eliminate those individuals.”

Rice’s attorney also requested the courts set a date for a hearing regarding the motion.


The motion also requested an updated address for Talbot in case she is subpoenaed.

Rice’s pretrial conference is still set for June 14, 2023.
 

Hearing set for Wednesday in Anita Knutson death case

The person charged in the 2007 killing of Minot college student Anita Knutson is scheduled to be back in court Wednesday in Minot.
www.kfyrtv.com www.kfyrtv.com

MINOT, N.D. (KMOT) - The person charged in the 2007 killing of Minot college student Anita Knutson is scheduled to be back in court Wednesday in Minot.

Knutson’s former roommate, 36-year-old Nichole Rice, is scheduled to appear for a pretrial conference.

Knutson was found fatally stabbed in her off-campus apartment in June 2007, but the case went cold for roughly 15 years.
 
In dispute is whether Rice’s DNA can be ruled out following three separate tests of DNA from the knife prosecutors say was used to kill Knutson, and whether Talbott’s testimony impacts if there is probable cause for the case to go to trial.

The courts held a hearing on the matter last month, where each side called a forensic analyst to testify. Becher filed his post-hearing brief shortly thereafter, doubling down that the court should throw out the charge due to the detective’s testimony, and claiming that the state’s other evidence did not tie his client to the murder scene.

In their response filed Friday, Dep. State’s Attorney Tiffany Sorgen wrote that Det. Talbott did not testify to having extensive training in DNA analysis at last year’s preliminary hearing, and that the defense did not prove that Talbott deliberately provided false information.

The state also asserted in their brief that Becher had the chance to challenge Talbott’s statements regarding DNA at the preliminary hearing, but instead focused on other matters.
www.kfyrtv.com

State renews calls in killing of Anita Knutson to move case forward to trial

In their response, the state asserted that the defense had the chance to challenge the detective’s statements regarding DNA at last year’s preliminary hearing, but instead focused on other matters.
www.kfyrtv.com www.kfyrtv.com
 
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