A woman has been accused of fatally stabbing her roommate, Anita Knutson, in 2007. After 15 years, Nichole Rice was charged with Knutson’s murder, to which she pleaded not guilty. Nearly 20 years later, her trial begins in Grand Forks, North Dakota. After so long, it could be hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she committed this crime. However, the prosecution is determined to convince a jury and sentence Rice to prison.
The Fatal Stabbing
On June 4, 2007, Anita Knutson was found dead with multiple stab wounds to the chest in her off-campus apartment in North Dakota. Knutson was 18 years old at the time of her death and roomed with Nichole Rice, formerly known as Nichole Thomas. Friends say the two had a strained relationship, and one recalled hearing Rice tell Knutson, “One way or another, I’m going to get you out of this house.”
On the day of Knutson’s murder, her father became concerned after she did not show up for work and was not answering his phone calls. He went to check on her and found her lying dead on her bed. The police arrived and, despite the evidence at the crime scene, they were unable to make an arrest. The case went cold for 15 years until March 2022, when they arrested Nichole Rice, citing her inconsistent statements to the police about her whereabouts.
Key Trial Updates
Nichole Rice’s trial began on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, and is ongoing. On day 1 of the trial, the prosecution argued Rice stabbed Knutson to death while the defense attempted to point in the direction of other possible suspects. They also argued the charges against Rice are due to the media sensationalism since her arrest came shortly after the Oxygen TV show Cold Justice premiered an episode on the case, trying to figure out who killed Knutson.
On day 5 of the trial, the prosecution rested its case. They were determined to prove that Nichole Rice murdered her roommate, and they felt justified after calling several witnesses to the stand. April Alyea was the first to testify on March 21. She was friends with both the victim and the accused. She said a group of them gathered at a friend’s house after hearing about Knuston’s murder, and Rice was the last to arrive.
Alyea testified, “When she arrived at the house, we all walked over to go talk to her because she had just come back from the police station. We went over to find out what happened and what she knew.”
She continued, “The first thing she told us was she’d just gotten back from the police station and that they wanted her to go up to the apartment to look around and see if she knew anything was missing up there and that her pink iPod better not be missing. I found it very funny that that was what she was concerned about. The rest of us were concerned about Anita being dead, and she was concerned about an item being missing from the apartment.”
The following witnesses who testified recounted the times they heard Nichole Rice confess to stabbing her roommate. A former boyfriend of Rice, William May, said, “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.” He continued, “The comment was from Nichole Rice; it was that she had done it. She had killed Anita.”
Kristina Holler, another acquaintance, said she gave Nichole Rice a ride home after a party. When they arrived at her apartment, Rice allegedly confessed. Holler said, “I’m not 100 percent word for word, but that she had gotten into an argument with her and stabbed her.”
Thoughts on Nichole Rice’s Arrest
After almost two decades, an arrest was finally made in the murder of 18-year-old Anita Knutson. While it is not abnormal for a cold case to get hot again, it does raise some concerns. The defense believes this case was only brought back to life because of the Oxygen episode, and that could be true, but it does not mean the evidence against Nichole Rice was not already there.
It is not clear whether the jury will find Nichole Rice guilty of murder. The prosecution never attempted to confirm or present evidence of Rice’s whereabouts on the day of the murder. They also do not have DNA to back their arguments. However, witness testimony and alleged confessions can sometimes be enough to sway the jury in the prosecution’s favor.
