Approximately 18 years after 18-year-old college student Anita Knutson was found dead at a North Dakota apartment, her roommate at the time, Nichole Rice, is facing time in jail after being charged with Knutson's murder. During the trial, a witness testified that Rice allegedly murdered Knutson over an alarm clock.
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According to PEOPLE, Anita Knutson was found dead on June 3, 2007. She had been stabbed twice in the chest. The case went cold for almost 15 years, as no arrests were made in connection with Knutson's death. However, in 2022, a show called Cold Justice from Oxygen TV saw the show's team working to find out the truth behind Knutson's murder.
As detailed by Oxygen, through their investigation, they managed to narrow the suspects down to three. Believing the suspect had accessed Knutson's room through the front door, and given the fact that the front door could only be accessed by using a key, the team narrowed the suspects down further to Nichole Rice and maintenance man Marty Annell. The latter died by suicide a year after Knutson's death.
Investigators ruled out Annell as his sister revealed that he had recently discovered that his longtime girlfriend cheated on him. Therefore, his suicide was believed to be related to his relationship rather than to feeling guilty over murdering Anita Knutson. This left Nichole Rice as the sole suspect, with the team finding that Rice had been "badmouthing" Knutson for months.
The team even went to the extent of interviewing Nichole Rice. She suddenly stopped the conversation when confronted with an alleged drunken confession she had made to her former boyfriend, William May. Minot Police, given the evidence gathered by the evidence, arrested Nicole Rice for murder in March 2022. Her arrest came almost 15 years after Knutson's death.
Trial
During the trial, several witnesses testified against Nichole Rice. This included William May, to whom Nichole Rice allegedly confessed the murder, as per Minot Daily News. Back in 2008, as per May, both he and Rice were at a house party. There, Knutson's death was being discussed.
"We were playing video games, and Nichole and I were sitting on the couch. Someone in the kitchen was talking about it, that's when it was stated. The comment," May said. "The comment was that, from Nichole Rice, it was that she had did it, that she had killed Anita."
May said that, given his background as an Iraq veteran, he compared Rice's statement to that made by fellow veterans who commented on "taking a life." May said that he called the Minot Police Department (MPD) the very next day and cut all ties with Rice. However, during cross-examination, Rice's attorney, Richard Sand, stated that there were no records of his supposed call to MPD.
An Alarm
Similarly, another witness called Kristina Holler, one of Rice's acquaintances, said that Rice allegedly confessed to killing Knutson after a house party in 2008.
"She was crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she was getting bullied about the anniversary of her roommate's death," Holler said during the trial. Holler then offered to drive Rice home, and, once at Rice's apartment, Rice confessed to the murder. "I'm not 100 percent word for word, but that she had gotten into an argument with her and stabbed her," Holler added.
It was Holler who testified that Nichole Rice had allegedly murdered Anita Knutson over an alarm clock.
As per PEOPLE, DNA evidence was non-conclusive. According to Amy Gebhardt, a forensic scientist, there were three different sources of DNA in the murder weapon, a knife. This made it difficult to determine whose DNA it was. KMOT reported that the state has now rested its case, with the defense starting to present its case on Monday, March 24.
