The proceedings kicked off with testimony by former Minot Police Sgt. Bob Barnard who provided further details on the early days of the investigation in June 2007. Barnard recollected the difficulties he had in contacting Rice to bring her to the scene to aid investigators in reviewing if anything had been taken from the apartment. Barnard said Rice’s behavior gave him pause, as she appeared disinterested about the situation, but almost immediately announced that her iPod Nano was missing from her room.

Additional testimony was elicited from former BCI investigator Dale Maixner, forensic pathologist Mary Ann Sens and forensic scientist Amy Gebhardt. Sens testified regarding the autopsy of Knutson, and how her cause of death was determined. Gebhardt testified regarding DNA evidence collected from the crime scene, and particularly regarding DNA found on the knife determined to be the murder weapon.

Gebhardt said more than three DNA contributors were found on the DNA from the knife, which she said made it difficult to make a reliable determination. Gebhardt testified that a sample collected from the window screen matched a known sample from Knutson, and that another provided only a partial sample which could not be used to make a determination.

Cold case cracked

Nichole Rice

Testimony resumed after lunch after the state called former MPD investigator Mikali Talbott, who was assigned to the Knutson case in 2019. Deputy Ward County State’s Attorney Tiffany Sorgen asked Talbott about how she and case agent Carmen Asham commenced their review of the case, which ultimately led to the arrest of Rice in March 2022.

Talbott said she and Asham began simply reviewing evidence and interviews in the case file, which entailed cataloging thousands of pages of reports and hours of audio and video. Talbott said the department eventually decided to bring “Cold Justice” into the fold to help them reach out to individuals for additional interviews and reviewing the evidence.

Talbott said at the outset there were a number of persons of interest, including former maintenance worker Marty Annell, and the defense’s alternative suspect Devin Hall. However, Talbott said eventually, everything pointed to Rice as the suspect.

“Their statements alone, as well as evidence that didn’t support Marty or Devin being the person of interest at that point, and inconsistencies in the defendant’s statement,” Talbott said.

On cross-examination, Rice’s attorney Richard Sand asked Talbott about interviews with a friend of Annell’s named Verne Olson, who indicated something had “happened” to Annell precipitating his suicide. Annell’s friend said he hadn’t been the same after Knutson’s murder, but Talbott said it was determined there were difficulties in his relationship with his girlfriend Laura Knapp. Talbott said she never attempted to reach out to or speak with Hall, despite him initially being a person of interest.

Anita Knutson

When Sand pressed Talbott on why Hall was pursued, Talbott said the investigators from “Cold Justice” didn’t have him on a list of individuals to be re-interviewed. Talbott said the crew from “Cold Justice” were in Minot for 7-10 days, and otherwise didn’t have contact with investigators in Minot before Rice was arrested and the episode concerning the investigation was released.

On redirect, Sorgen asked Talbott why Hall wasn’t interviewed, and Talbott replied that based on evidence provided by his friend Jaron Vivier, Hall was in Montana at the time of Knutson’s murder.

Toxic roommates

The State’s next witness was Rice’s former supervisor Matthew Hansen at the eTelecare call center in Minot. Hansen testified that Rice discussed a number of issues she was having with her living situation with Knutson at the time.

“They weren’t getting along. Strange things like she was locked out of the wi-fi. That she was locked out of a microwave or something – things that just seemed strange at the time. A little bit ridiculous, you know?” Hansen said. “She was kind of stuck in a bad spot, she made it seem like. She was up at my desk and I remember her talking to me. She was really worried about the lease. I would tell her to just move out, and she’d say she couldn’t because of the lease.”

Hansen described Rice as a top sales worker at the call center, and won a trip to Florida, but that she ultimately didn’t take the trip as she quit after Knutson’s murder.

Hansen said Rice wasn’t as social on June 4, 2007, and was “a little sped up.”

Hansen recalled being contacted by Minot Central Dispatch who were trying to reach Rice to bring her to the apartment, but that Rice said, ‘No, my roommate is a crackhead, and I’m not dealing with that,” Hansen said. “I relayed to the police on the phone, and they said either she comes here now or we’re going to come here and take her there.”

Hansen said Rice left the call center shortly after, and that he didn’t remember her returning to work after that.

Next to testify was Donna Bjelland, Rice’s former coworker at the eTelecare call center in Minot. Bjelland said in her first interaction with Rice she was complaining about Knutson leaving her alarm active behind her locked bedroom door.

“She was angry when she sat down complaining about it,” Bjelland said. “She was angry with her I would say on a daily basis. Something was going on. They fought a lot. She said when they got into fights that Anita would go into the bedroom and lock the door. She was very angry.”

Bjelland testified about another argument the roommates had, when Knutson wanted Rice to remove a fish tank due to it making a lot of noise. Bjelland said the dispute escalated when Knutson turned the filter of the fish tank off on three occasions which ended with the fish dying the week before Knutson’s murder.

“That time when she was upset, it was as if Anita had really crossed a line then. This is my interpretation, she had moved from being the worst roommate in the world to being a bad evil person. That was how (Rice) acted,” Bjelland said.

Bjelland said she learned of Knutson’s murder when Rice told her about it, and that Rice said the police thought she had killed her roommate.

“She said, ‘If I keep my mouth shut, I’ll be ok,” Bjelland said.

Bjelland said Rice told her that after police called Rice and her parents to the crime scene, her father wouldn’t allow her to stay on the farm, forcing her to spend the night in a shed.

“That night she had no place to stay because her dad told her she had to clean up that mess, and she wouldn’t be coming back to the farm. Why the heck would somebody when their 20 year old daughter’s roommate was brutally murder, why wouldn’t you grab them to your heart and get home?” Bjelland said.

Bjelland also recalled a subsequent conversation with Rice about her interview with police.

“She said, ‘They think I did it. But I had the key to the place. Why would I have to cut a screen to get to her?'” Bjelland said. “I felt a lot of concern and a little panic because I remembered her saying when they got into arguments, Anita would go into her bedroom and lock the door. So if she wanted to get to Anita she’d have to get through the screen to get to that.”

Bjelland said after this conversation, Rice angrily shouted, “You don’t want to get me angry.”

“I was shocked and I looked up thinking she’d had a bad conversation on the phone, which it could be. But she was looking at me and I thought ‘uh oh she knows I know she’d have to go through the window to get to her.’ So I was concerned then,” Bjelland said.

Trial outlook

Bjelland’s testimony concluded the State’s witnesses for Thursday, wrapping up about half of the State’s two dozen witnesses. The next four witnesses were expected to arrive in Grand Forks that evening. Five witnesses expected to testify on Monday will be traveling over the weekend, and the state’s witnesses will conclude with testimony by primary case agent Sgt. Carmen Asham..

Judge Richard Hagar recessed the proceedings, and said the parties and jury would reconvene at 8:30 a.m. today.