A billboard near the intersection of 135th Avenue and Highway 83 south of Minot, shown in this March 6 photo, honors Anita Knutson and other victims of violence. Nichole Rice, the Minot woman accused in Knutson’s murder, is scheduled for a jury trial commencing on March 17.

The murder of Anita Knutson, 18, has haunted her family and the communities of Butte, Velva and Minot since her body was discovered in her apartment on June 4, 2007.

Almost 18 years later, the cold case mystery surrounding Knutson’s murder could finally achieve resolution with the scheduled trial of her roommate Nichole Rice commencing on March 17 in Grand Forks.

Anita Knutson was born on Sept. 22, 1988, in Orange County, California. When Knutson was five months old, she was adopted by Gordon and Sharon Knutson. Knutson and her family lived in Anaheim, California, until her freshman year of high school, after which they moved to Butte.

Knutson graduated from Velva High School in 2006 and enrolled at Minot State University, where she majored in elementary education. Knutson worked at Vanity, located in the Dakota Square Mall, and at a local hotel in between classes.

June 1, 2007

Knutson’s last known contact occurred on June 1, 2007, when she spoke with her mother after returning to her northwest Minot apartment after work. Knutson reportedly communicated with her parents daily.

Anita Knutson was found dead in her bedroom at 2420 4th Street, Apartment 5, in Minot on June 4, 2007.

June 2-4, 2007

Knutson fell out of contact with her family over the weekend, with multiple calls from Sharon Knutson going unanswered. Court documents indicate that the last known communication with Knutson was text messages sent to a friend in the early morning hours of June 3.

Knutson reportedly did not show up for work at the Fairfield Inn on June 2, which Minot Police detective Dave Goodman said was odd in a June 4, 2027, article in The Minot Daily News.

On June 4, 2007, Gordon Knutson drove to Minot that afternoon to check on Anita, but found her car in the parking lot and her door locked. After multiple knocks didn’t lead to a response, Knutson asked the property manager to access the apartment. A maintenance worker named Marty Annell approached Gordon and pointed out that the screen of Knutson’s apartment was lying on the ground with a slash in it.

Gordon Knutson looked through the window and observed Anita Knutson’s body on a blood-soaked mattress covered with a robe. Minot Police were called to the scene at around 5:12 p.m., finding Knutson’s body lying face down on the bed, dead from apparent stab wounds.

Minot Police Detective Dan Strandberg addresses local media at a June 5, 2007, press conference regarding the discovery of Anita Knutson’s body.

June 5, 2007

An article in the June 6, 2007, edition of The Minot Daily News detailed a June 5, 2007, press conference from Minot Police Lt. Dan Strandberg at Minot City Hall regarding the investigation a day after Knutson’s body was discovered.

Strandberg stated it appeared Knutson’s death was caused by an unknown intruder. While details of her cause of death were still being determined pending the investigation and autopsy results, Strandberg said it was obvious that a homicide had taken place. Strandberg said not knowing the nature of the relationship between the intruder and Knutson was “unsettling.”

“In my experience, the victim and the suspects have always had a close relationship. However, in this case we’re not able to ascertain any of that,” Strandberg said.

June 7, 2007

According to a June 7, 2007, article in The Minot Daily News, the investigation into Knutson’s murder yielded no arrests, despite Minot Police receiving a tip. Minot Police were approached by a woman who said she saw a man running up Fourth Street Northwest, away from Knutson’s apartment, around 7:30 a.m. on June 3, 2007.

The man was described as being in his early 20s with dark hair, a white T-shirt and dark blue or black shorts. Standberg is quoted in the article saying, “The man almost certainly wasn’t someone out for a morning jog,” based on the information provided by the woman.

June 8, 2007

Four days after Anita Knutson’s body was discovered, Minot Police investigators still had no “concrete suspects,” despite conducting numerous interviews. Standberg was quoted in a June 8, 2007, article in The Minot Daily News saying several individuals had been reinterviewed and some physical evidence had been taken to the state laboratory in Bismarck. Minot police were still awaiting Knutson’s autopsy at the time.

Meanwhile, those who knew Knutson found themselves struggling with the circumstances of her death. According to the June 8, 2007, article, her coworkers at the Fairfield Inn expressed sorrow, with one saying, “She was just such a wonderful person. She will be sorely missed.”

Her coworkers at Vanity were still visibly upset at the mention of Knutson’s name and declined to comment for the article.

June 11, 2007

Anita Knutson’s memorial service was held on June 11, 2007. A June 12, 2007, article in The Minot Daily News reported several hundred people attended the service at Oak Valley Lutheran Church in Velva, with attendees overflowing into a gymnasium where they watched the service on a TV monitor.

Co-officiant Mary Ann Haugen acknowledged the anger growing in the hearts of everyone who knew Knutson, but she said the time had come to set anger aside. Knutson’s sister, Anna Knutson, also spoke, sharing childhood memories and the ways her sister directly impacted everyone she crossed paths with.

Knutson was laid to rest in the Butte Cemetery later that afternoon.

June 13, 2007

Despite still awaiting the official autopsy report, Minot Police Lt. Dan Strandberg released initial observations from the autopsy regarding Knutson’s cause of death.

Strandberg was quoted in a June 13, 2007, article in The Minot Daily News, reporting that Knutson had died from two stab wounds to the chest. Strandberg revealed police had a weapon in custody, which was later confirmed to be a small pocket knife.

The search for suspects was still proving fruitless, according to Strandberg, who said Minot Police had “nothing that brings us into a specific focus of a person or persons.”

July 2007

According to a brief published in the July 2, 2007, edition of The Minot Daily News, Minot Police announced two local businesses had contributed $5,500 to a reward fund for information leading to the arrest of the individual responsible for Knutson’s murder. North Dakota BCI had previously offered $5,000, in addition to $10,000 offered by Knutson’s family.

2007-2016

Eight years after Anita Knutson was murdered, the investigation had stalled and officially been declared cold by the Minot Police Department. Knutson’s family hand-delivered a petition to the Minot Police Department on Sept. 22, 2015, on what would have been her 27th birthday.

Signed by more than 1,000 people, the petition was a call to action for the MPD to make efforts to bring closure to the case. According to the ipetitions.com page, the first item demanded investigators contact television programs such as “Cold Justice,” a cable documentary series which inserts veteran investigators into cold case investigations like Knutson’s.

A 2016 analysis by the North Dakota State Crime Lab of the murder weapon yielded a sample too small for database testing, but proved sufficient for a DNA comparison. The comparison excluded all tested male profiles but reportedly could not exclude Knutson’s roommate, then named Nichole Thomas. The accuracy of this finding would later be disputed.

June 4, 2017

A decade after Knutson was murdered, no one had been arrested or charged, a bitter fact which haunted her family and Minot Police investigators.

According to a June 4, 2017, article in The Minot Daily News, the list of suspects who had been investigated and interviewed included the apartment’s maintenance man, her roommate Nichole Rice, roofing workers, the mysterious jogger, dance partners, college students and a group of Spanish-speaking men, among many others.

The unresolved case generated a great deal of public speculation, including a theory that serial killer Michael Gargiulo was responsible, but investigators said no evidence placed Gargiulo in North Dakota at the time of the murder.

Dave Goodman, a Minot Police investigator, is quoted in the article saying the MPD were just as frustrated as Knutson’s family and the surrounding community with the state of the case.

“It is something that haunts you,” Goodman said in the article. “There’s a constant daily reminder in our office. There’s a case file on a bookshelf with Anita’s picture on it. We walk by that several times a day and are reminded that this is a major case, a major unsolved case. We don’t like that. We don’t want to retire with the Knutson case unsolved. It bothers a lot of us.”

Then Minot PD Capt. John Klug and Goodman remained tight lipped about possible suspects, motives for the murder, and DNA evidence collected from the crime scene to not compromise the investigation.

“As people get older they start thinking, ‘I don’t want to die with this on my conscience.’ Maybe it’s a dying declaration,” said Klug in the article. “There are a number of things that could break the case. It might be somebody that hears a story or a friend that confides in them. The important part for us is keeping it out there front and center.”

2018-2021

In 2018, the Minot Police Department brought fresh eyes to the investigation in Detective Mikali Talbott, who began re-examining evidence and statements from the accumulated possible suspects and witnesses.

In 2021, Minot Police partnered with “Cold Justice,” in the hope that the cable documentary series’ resources and expertise could reinvigorate the investigation. The 100th episode of “Cold Justice” wouldn’t air until Oct. 8, 2022, but behind the scenes, the investigation eliminated several suspects, including Knutson’s friend Tyler Schmaltz, a man named Michael Vann who sought to date her, and maintenance man Marty Annell.

The investigation honed in on inconsistent statements from Nichole Rice, as well as an alleged drunken confession reported to police by Rice’s ex-boyfriend. According to court documents, Rice allegedly confessed to killing Knutson while “belligerently drunk” at parties between 2008-2009, saying, “I did it.” The ex-boyfriend said he did not pursue it further at the time.

March 16, 2022

Nearly 15 years after Knutson’s murder, Minot Police announced the arrest of her former roommate Nichole Rice at a press conference on March 16, 2022.

Then Minot Police Chief John Klug said Rice had been arrested without incident at her workplace as a civilian on Minot Air Force Base and charged with Class AA felony murder in the stabbing death of Knutson.

According to an article in The Minot Daily News, Klug credited the help of “Cold Justice” with finally bringing the case forward to at long last make an arrest. Klug highlighted the work of Minot Police Detectives Carman Asham and Mikali Talbott, along with then Capt. Dale Plessas. Klug said the information that heated up the 15-year-old cold case wasn’t new, but refocusing and paying attention to the fine details finally put it all together.

Nichole Rice

March 18, 2022

Rice made her initial appearance in North Central District Court in Minot on March 18, 2022.

The Ward County State’s Attorney argued for a bond of $1 million based on bonds in other murder cases, but Judge Richard Hagar is quoted in an article from The Minot Daily News at the time saying that was “not necessarily relevant because each individual crime or circumstances is different.”

Hagar set her cash bond at $120,000 or a corporate surety bond of $250,000 after Rice’s attorney Philip Becher argued his client wasn’t a flight risk, rarely left the state and had a husband and daughter at home.

Rice’s father would later post the $120,000 cash bond, and Rice has been out of custody ever since while awaiting trial.

Charles Crane/MDN
Nichole Rice is shown with her attorney, Philip Becher, at an April 4, 2024, hearing finalizing juror questionnaires at the Ward County Courthouse in Minot.

September 2022 -March 2025

Rice’s preliminary hearing would be postponed two times before it was ultimately convened on Sept. 8, 2022.

According to the affidavit of probable cause against Rice, the case was largely based on evidence found at the apartment ruling out a break-in had occurred and Rice’s alleged drunken confession reported by her ex-boyfriend, identified in court documents as William May. According to court documents, May told police he was unable to persuade Rice to admit it again when she was sober, saying she instead became angry with him.

The affidavit also noted reported inconsistencies in statements from Rice and her family regarding her alibi for her whereabouts the evening of June 2 and the early morning of June 3. According to a Sept. 8, 2022, article in The Minot Daily News, Detective Mikali Talbott took the stand at the preliminary hearing and noted a number of other individuals said there was a lot of tension between the two roommates.

Talbott said despite the pair being very close when they were younger, their relationship had grown toxic since they moved in together. Knutson’s reputation was kind, friendly and likeable, while Rice was known to be hot-tempered and reactionary. A friend of Rice’s reportedly told investigators they heard Rice tell Knutson, “One way or another I’m going to get you out of this house,” prior to her murder.

Hagar ruled there was enough evidence to proceed to trial, and Rice entered a plea of not guilty.

The next three years were littered with postponed hearings and motions by both parties, including a motion by Rice to dismiss the charge, which was denied, and a requested gag order from the prosecution after Rice’s attorney’s circulated targeted social media surveys to shore up arguments to seek a new venue for the trial.

Rice’s trial was initially scheduled to occur in July 2024, but further delay was created after juror questionnaires revealed a pervasive prejudice against Rice in the Ward County juror pool.

Both parties filed a joint motion requesting the change of venue, saying Knutson’s murder had been a topic of speculation for more than a decade and received extensive local press coverage and increased attention due to the broadcast of the “Cold Justice” episode. Hagar would order for a change of venue, and the trial was moved to Grand Forks County in January 2025.

A spaghetti meal and silent auction fundraiser were held in Butte on Sept. 29, 2024, to raise money for the Knutson family to help alleviate the costs of attending the trial in Grand Forks. Knutson’s sister, Anna Knutson-Toedter, said the three week trial was likely to be “really difficult,” but she and her family were “blown away by people’s willingness to give.”

The January trial date was not to be, however, after a final delay was created in November 2024 by the resignation of Rice’s lead attorney Becher, and her new counsel William Sand’s desire to secure additional evidence for his client’s defense.

Hagar acquiesced to the request and scheduled Rice’s trial for March 17 in Grand Forks, three years and a day following her arrest. Hagar closed discovery in the case after a hearing on Feb. 27, saying he would not tolerate any further requests for a continuance without a compelling reason, given the numerous delays for the trial of the woman accused of Knutson’s murder.

Rice’s trial is scheduled to run from Monday, March 17, through Friday, April 4.