Ex-Roommate Arrested, Charged With Murder 15 Years After North Dakota College Student Was Stabbed to Death

Nichole Rice, 34, was arrested without incident this week and is now facing a murder charge. Anita Knutson was killed in 2007 at the age of 18.

March 17, 2022

Nearly 15 years after the murder of 18-year-old college student Anita Knutson in North Dakota, police have announced the arrest of a former roommate.

Nichole Rice was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the 2007 stabbing death of the Minot State University student, per a regional report from the Minot Daily News. Per the report, the 34-year-old’s arrest took place at Minot Air Force Base, where she worked in a civilian employee capacity.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Chief John Klug of the Minot Police Department confirmed that Rice had been arrested for murder and taken to county jail.

“Although most of the detectives who worked the original scene and the investigation have retired, we have not forgotten about this case. … We tried to actively investigate Anita’s case for the past few years and finally—with the help of Cold Justice—we were able to move forward and regain focus.”

Cold Justice is an Oxygen series focused on digging deeper into cold cases and featuring former prosecutor Kelly Siegler, who shared an article about Rice’s arrest to Twitter on Wednesday.

“Due to the resources, logistics, planning, and experts they were able to provide, we were able to obtain an arrest warrant for Nichole Rice,” Klug said when praising Sigler’s team for their assistance on Wednesday.

Anita Knutson was found stabbed to death inside her off-campus apartment on June 4, 2007. In January of this year, her sister, Anna Knutson, gave an interview to the Daily Beast during which the former roommate was mentioned.

“There was a conversation about Anita’s roommate about them just not getting along,” Anna said of Rice, who—at the time—had not been named as a suspect in the 18-year-old’s death. “Even now, there are a lot of questions about what their relationship was like.”

Ward County Jail records show that Rice is currently being held on no bond on a charge of murder. Complex has reached out to the Minot Police Department for additional comment.