Nichole Rice

The trial of Nichole Rice reconvened Wednesday afternoon in Grand Forks, where multiple investigators testified regarding the initial stages of the investigation into the murder of Anita Knutson.

The State used the afternoon to build the foundation for the hours after Knutson’s body was found in her apartment, and Rice’s attorney Richard Sand spent his cross examinations honing in on other possible suspects considered by investigators over the years.

The third witness called by the State was Laura Knapp, resident manager of the Northgate Apartments in Minot at the time of Knutson’s murder. Knapp testified regarding the events of June 4, 2007, when she was approached by Knutson’s father Gordon Knutson, who asked her to unlock the door of his daughter’s apartment. Knapp confirmed the door was locked, and that she unlocked it for Gordon.

Apartment manager

Knapp also testified regarding her boyfriend Marty Annell, who was also the maintenance worker for the apartment complex. Annell had observed a slashed window screen outside Knutson’s bedroom window earlier on June 4, 2007, and brought that fact to Gordon Knutson’s attention after he arrived to find his daughter’s apartment locked and her vehicle still parked outside. Knapp said Annell had found the screen after doing a walkaround of the property, and had taken it to the maintenance shop to repair it. Annell later showed Knapp the screen, which she said had a slash in it.

Knapp said she and Annell lived together for 10 years, and were engaged at the time. Annell would die by suicide on New Year’s Day 2009. Knapp became emotional while relating what was going on in his life at the time, saying he possibly had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and struggled after the death of a niece a few months before.

Knapp confirmed during Rice’s attorney Richard Sand’s counter that Annell didn’t drink much or do drugs, and didn’t own a knife similar to the alleged murder weapon. Knapp said she didn’t discuss Knutson’s murder with Annell.

Knapp testified only two keys were given to Knutson and Rice after they signed their lease for the apartment, and that at the time additional copies could only be made by the apartment’s locksmith. Sand reviewed the transcript of an interview Knapp later gave at the Minot Police Department, and Knapp confirmed she had tried to open the door without a key, but that she heard a click when she unlocked the door.

Minot Police investigators

The State’s next witnesses were Minot Police investigators who were involved with the initial stages of the investigation into Knutson’s murder.

The State then called Interim Minot Police Chief Capt. Dale Plessas, who was the first officer on the scene on June 4, 2007. Plessas testified that he was dispatched for a report of an unattended death at 5 p.m., and made contact with Knapp who was the reporting party. Plessas said he entered the apartment alone, and found Knutson’s body. After a firefighter on scene confirmed Knutson was cold to the touch, Plessas guarded the scene until investigator Bob Barnard arrived.

Plessas said he was directed to hand the case over to another officer as his shift was over, and that his association with the case ceased until he took over the Investigations Division years later. Plessas said former Minot Police Chief John Klug directed him to readdress Knutson’s cold case, and that previous regimes in the investigations division had been limited by manpower issues.

Plessas testified that between the Souris River flood in 2011 and the Bakken oil boom, crime in Minot had evolved and increased, which hampered the Minot Police Department’s (MPD) investigation of Knutson’s murder. Plessas said the true crime documentary series “Cold Justice” had reached out to the MPD regarding the case and offered their support. Plessas said “Cold Justice”‘s involvement allowed the investigation to move a lot quicker.

” ‘Cold Justice’ reached out to us and indicated they had some things they could provide us that were attractive to us. Logistics was a major one. DNA experts, forensics experts and cold case investigator assistance – we reviewed all that, and made a decision that with their logistics we would be able to move forward with this investigation a lot smoother than on our own,” Plessas said.

Sand asked Plessas to clarify the staff struggles the MPD has faced, which Plessas said was related in part to public perception. Sand raised the recent resignation of former MPD Police John Klug, which prosecutor Christopher Nelson objected to due to relevance. Hagar overruled the objection, and allowed Sand to work toward a connection.

However, as Sand continued to press forward regarding the recently released McLeod Report, Nelson once again objected to the line of questioning, and Hagar stopped Sand from going forward, calling the parties to the bench for a conference. Plessas testified further after the bench conference regarding his awareness of the slashed window screen, but eventually was released.

The next witness was former MPD Lt. Dan Strandberg, who was the original primary investigator of Knutson’s murder. Strandberg said he spent nearly 30 years at the Minot Police Department, where he retired as captain of Investigations. Strandberg said he responded to the residence and began taking photos outside the residence as he and his fellow investigators awaited a search warrant.

Strandberg testified that upon entering the apartment, investigators began taking additional photos of the crime scene and collecting items for evidence. One of the items Strandberg noted was a knife with blood on it. Strandberg was also questioned about a number of possible suspects who were investigated, including a male friend of Knutson’s she had been texting with in the early morning on June 3, 2007, and a male jogger seen running near her apartment around the time the murder occurred. Strandberg indicated that these possible suspects “were ruled out as much as anyone else.”

During Sand’s cross examination, Strandberg was queried regarding an investigation into a man named Jaron Vivier, who was convicted in 2008 for gross sexual imposition in Minot. It was later established that Vivier and another alternative suspect Devin Hall were friends, and were from the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana.

Alternative suspects

Former MPD Sgt. David Goodman testified next, who said the scene didn’t indicate a robbery or scuffle had occurred. Goodman said investigators asked Rice to view the apartment at one point to help identify anything that was out of place or shouldn’t have been there. Goodman testified that Rice said her iPod was missing, which he thought was a strange comment that she immediately made upon entering her room.

Goodman recalled the moment that a knife was located, which he said was just after he finished interviewing Annell outside the apartment. Goodman said he showed a picture of the knife to an employee of Wally’s World of Knives, who told him the knife was cheap and very common at flea markets or powwows due to an Indian chief image.

Goodman provided testimony regarding a reenactment he performed to see if it was possible for someone to enter or exit the apartment through the window. Goodman said he didn’t think it was possible that the window was a viable ingress or egress point for whoever killed Knutson, as there was no stretching or deformities of the screen which were created during the attempted reenactment.

Goodman said a number of individuals were eliminated over the course of the investigation, saying none of them rose to the level of being a suspect. However, Goodman said Rice was never eliminated as a suspect, and that he was suspicious of her from the very beginning due to contradictory statements she gave in interviews which signaled to him, “that she was hiding something.”.

“Just because of her demeanor when she went into the apartment. Some of the information she was giving, she was contradicting herself. I just wasn’t buying what she was telling us,” Goodman said. “My first interviews with her, I told her, don’t tell me any lies. Don’t be untruthful. In that interview she did lie. She lied about what she did that Saturday night. Where she was at, and what she did.”

Sand cross examined Goodman, asking him about the text messages between Knutson and Rice which included arguments over a fish tank and an alarm clock. Sand also questioned Goodman about an interview of alternative suspect Devin Hall on June 22, 2007. Goodman said he recalled asking him about the knife recovered at the scene, and whether he recognized it.

“I learned at that point that he identified that as a knife that he thought he once had. That was followed up on at a later date,” Goodman said. “I learned from him that the medallion, if you will, was missing on the other side from a knife he thought he had.”

Sand confirmed with Goodman that the knife recovered from the scene was missing an Indian head medallion, but Goodman said it was later determined that Hall was confused and mistaken his knife for the murder weapon.

Sand questioned Goodman regarding a trip he took to Wolf Point, Montana, during his investigation of Hall. Goodman said several women called him, reporting a rumor that Hall had said he had killed a woman in Minot. Goodman testified he traveled to Wolf Point with an FBI agent to interview Hall and the individuals who reported Hall’s alleged statement. Goodman said when he showed Hall’s aunt a picture of the knife, she acted shocked.

On redirect, Nelson clarified with Goodman that apart from Knutson and Vivier being at Club 101 in Minot on the same night, they had no other connection. Goodman said he interviewed Hall due to his reported comments, but indicated the lead was a fruitless one.

Hagar ended the proceedings for the day after Goodman’s testimony concluded, and asked the jury and parties to return at 8:30 a.m. today.