Going West: True Crime - Anita Knutson // 410

Episode Date: June 1, 2024

In June of 2007, the family of an 18-year-old woman in North Dakota was having trouble reaching her over the weekend, leading her father to visit her apartment for a check-in. When he arrived, he saw his daughter dead in her bedroom, with police quickly determining that she had been murdered. But when they looked through her texts and interviewed those close to her, multiple people seemed suspicious of the act: including a man with a crush on her, her roommate, a neighbor, and a local maintenance worker. But with a shocking update years later, police feel confident that they know which of them killed her. This is the story of Anita Knutson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host T and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going west Hello, everybody today's case was recommended by Katie, Orianna and Emily. So thank you guys so much for sending this one in. Yes, we appreciate the recommendation and for anybody that's looking for more episodes, we just dropped a new bonus episode called the murder at Neuschwanstein Castle and it happened just this last June in 2023. I still can't believe that wasn't bigger news over here in the US because it's about two American girls that went to go visit the Bavarian castle that inspired Sleeping Beauty's castle.

And while they were there, another American assaulted one of them and pushed them both off a nearly 200 foot cliffside. It is such a shocking story. Yeah, and you can go listen to that one over on Patreon or on Apple subscriptions right now. So go over and do so. Yes, please. But anyway, let's dive into today's story. Alright guys, this is episode

410 of Going West, so let's get into it. The end. Coca-Cola products featuring your favorite Marvel characters. Collect them all and scan for a chance to win prizes and unlock powerful AR experiences. No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of Canada 13+. Ends 11.59 p.m. Eastern on June 9th, 2024. 4,053 prizes available with approximate retail values from $2,000 to $13,000 Canadian dollars. Mass skill tests required.

Visit coke.com slash marvel24rules.ca for official rules. Gifting dad can sometimes hit the wrong note. Oh. Instead, gift the Glenlivet, the single malt whiskey that started it all, for a balanced flavor and smooth finish. Just sit back and listen to the music. This single malt scotch whiskey is guaranteed to impress dad this Father's Day. The Glenn Livet. Live Original. Please enjoy our products responsibly. In June of 2007, the family of an 18-year-old woman in North Dakota was having trouble reaching her over the weekend, leading her father to visit her apartment for a check-in. When he arrived, he saw his daughter dead in her bedroom, with police quickly determining that she had been murdered.

When they looked through her text messages and interviewed those close to her, multiple people seemed suspicious of the act, including a man with a crush on her, her roommate, a neighbor, and a local maintenance worker. But with a shocking update coming years later, police are confident that they know who killed her. This is the story of Anita Knudsen was born on September 22, 1988 in Orange, California, but it's unclear who her biological parents were because at 5 months old, she was adopted by Gary and Sharon Knudsen from Anaheim, California. Around the time that Anita was adopted, she joined two siblings who were also adopted by the Knudsen family, Anna and Daniel.

Anita attended Glenel Elementary School and then Bernardo Yorba middle school right there in Anaheim, and she was known by everyone as popular, intelligent, and kind. Her mother Sharon described Anita as very tidy and put together, as well as artistic and creative. So much so, in fact, that Anita had written and published her first book in eighth grade. Her sister Anna said of her quote, Anita was the coolest girl. Everybody at school loved her. I was really lucky to have her as my sister. After middle school, Anita attended Esperanza High School, but after her freshman year in June of 2002, her parents decided to move the family to the state of North Dakota, more specifically Butte, North Dakota.

Now back then, Butte had a population of just around 100 people and it is much lower today, so it's a very rural farming town surrounded by wide open plains. So this was a huge change from the very populated city of Anaheim, California but Anita took the move in stride and was happy to be with such a loving family. She later wrote a poem in which she stated quote, getting adopted was like a gift from heaven. There in North Dakota she attended Velva High School in the very small town of Velva with about 200 other kids at her school.

While attending Velva High School, Anita was very active in extracurricular activities. Like she was a part of the FCCLA or the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America where she received state and national recognition for drug awareness. She also played soccer, the violin, and piano as well, and in her junior year, Anita was the vice president of her school's Future Business Leaders of America.

So like I said, she was very smart and super career driven. In June of 2006, Anita graduated from Velva High School with honors, and she had her sights set on going to college to obtain her bachelor's degree. And she really wanted to study elementary education with the hopes of one day becoming a kindergarten teacher. So with a clear goal in mind, Anita made the decision to attend Minot State University located in Minot, North Dakota. And this city has a population of 35,000 people, so it's a lot bigger than her tiny town of

Butte. And this would be really great for her because Minot is only about a 50 minute drive northwest of Butte, so she would be close to her family still, and she would be able to visit them basically anytime she wanted. Now on top of this, Anita's close friend from high school, a girl named Nicole Rice, formerly known as Nicole Thomas, was also planning to attend MSU. So the girls decided to move into an off-campus apartment together in Minot, located on 4th Street

Northwest. So this apartment is only a three-minute to campus, and I really want to give you guys a better description of these apartments, because they're a major focus of today's story. So all the units at this complex are single stories situated just off the road, and it looks like there's 5 buildings that make up the entirety of the complex, and they're spaced about 20 feet from one another. And all the buildings face each other in a square and there's like a courtyard in the middle of them.

Yeah, we're going to post a photo if you guys want a visual because I've never seen an apartment complex like this. But the important thing to know is just that it's not in this building where there's multiple floors and all the apartments are next to each other in that way. It's like they had their own private entrance, right? Yeah, yeah. And it kind of seems like they're just a bunch of like duplexes in a row because again, they're single story. There's there's no levels to this complex. Well, a listing that we found on realtor.com states, quote, A comfortable and convenient living space for anyone looking for a cozy home.

With two bedrooms, one bathroom, this apartment provides ample space for your needs. As you enter, you'll appreciate the private entry, ensuring your privacy and a sense of security. The shared coin laundry facilities make it easy to take care of your laundry needs without leaving the comfort of your home. Parking is a breeze with off-street parking available, providing you with a designated spot for your vehicle. No more worrying about finding a parking space when you come home. We understand that emergencies can happen at any time, which

is why we offer 24-hour emergency maintenance. So that kind of makes it a little bit easier to understand and also just know that each unit is around 700 square feet for the two bedrooms and you know everything else so pretty compact but anyway this was going to be a very exciting new chapter in Anita's life so in the fall of 2006 she moved to Minot with her roommate Nicole Rice. She attended her freshman year of college at MSU and was reportedly super happy, and she even found employment at two different places in the city. One at a local hotel working as a housekeeper, and another working for a retail clothing store at a mall in Minot.

Now Anita's first year of college was nearly over, and she had really big plans for her summer break that included a big fishing trip with her father. But on Saturday, June 2, 2007, Anita's mother Sharon called her daughter just to kind of check in because they spoke on the phone nearly every day. But to Sharon's surprise, Anita didn't answer the phone. So Sharon wasn't too alarmed by this because she knew that Anita was busy with school and work, just kind of assumed that Anita would call her back when she got the chance. But that never happened. So Sharon

tried to call again the next day, which was Sunday June 3rd, and she received no answer yet again. She began to have this kind of sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. It really wasn't like Anita to go so long without calling her mother back. So she called Anita one last time on Monday June 4th, but again no answer. So fearing something bad may have occurred, she asked Anita's father Gordon to make the one-hour drive to Minot to check on her. Gordon arrived just before 5pm that Monday to Anita's apartment, and found his daughter's car parked near the unit. He walked up to the front of Anita's apartment and found that the front door was locked.

He could see the window to Anita's bedroom just to the left of the front door, but something very odd stuck out to him. The window to Anita's room was open, and the screen was missing. So he peered inside to take a look, and there on the bed he saw his daughter lying face down covered in a blanket. So initially, basically, he thought that she was sleeping. The window was situated right up against Anita's bed, so Gordon reached through the window to shake her awake. But she wasn't moving, and she was cold. That's when the Knudsen family's worst fears had come to life.

Anita was dead. So after Gordon's discovery, he went and found this landlady who was able to open the front door to Anita's apartment, and she let him inside. And it was a weird thing for him to come upon anyway, that she's sleeping, because it's just before 5pm and she hasn't been heard from in days. So obviously him seeing her laying down, like you said, he thought she was sleeping, but her sleeping wouldn't have really made sense at that time of day anyway. And now they have to wonder how long has Anita been dead? So police were called right away and arrived to the crime scene at 5 12 p.m. And when they made it into Anita's room, they found her lying face down on her bed, just like her dad had, because basically the side of her bed was against the wall where the window was,

and her head was actually towards the foot of the bed, with her left leg bent and her right leg hanging off the bed. She was wearing a pink bathrobe with nothing underneath, and when detectives rolled her over, they discovered two separate stab wounds to her chest, they discovered two separate stab wounds to her chest, one of which had punctured her heart and was determined to be the cause of her death. It was also determined that she had not been sexually assaulted and that she had been deceased for at least a few days.

Now remember, her mother called her on Sunday, so the day before, and got no response. So this is connecting with her being deceased for a few days. But the scene of Anita's murder was very confusing to detectives. So she and Nicole's apartment was clean and appeared to be very normal without any signs of a struggle. Anita's purse was lying on the floor next to her bed and officers could see cash inside. So this indicated to them that a robbery didn't seem to be the motive and

it also didn't appear to be a sexually motivated crime. Meaning that it was most likely that Anita's murder was related to a crime of passion or pure hatred. But Anita didn't have any known enemies and she was loved by just about everybody who knew her. So who would carry out such a brutal attack, and why? Well, looking closer at the crime scene, a foldable pocket knife was discovered in the sheets of Anita's bed with blood on it, so police knew right away that they had their murder weapon.

They also found Anita's cell phone lying on her bed that also had their murder weapon. They also found Anita's cell phone lying on her bed that also had blood on it. But where was Nicole Rice, Anita's roommate? Well, when Anita was killed, Nicole told police that she'd been back at her family's farm in Velva about a 25-minute drive from Minot, and she said that she was at the family farm and her father did confirm that she was there that weekend. Anita's sister Anna, who was just 15 at the time farm, and her father did confirm that she was there that weekend. Anita's sister Anna, who was just 15 at the time, recalled, quote, My dad and I were at the North Dakota State baseball tournament watching my brother play,

and my dad, my mom, or I hadn't heard from Anita all weekend. It was so strange that she hadn't answered any phone calls. When I got the call, I was at a friend's house. My dad called and said that my brother was going to come and pick me up, and that I hadn't answered any phone calls. When I got the call, I was at a friend's house. My dad called and said that my brother was going to come and pick me up, and that I wasn't to ask any questions. She saw her brother Daniel crying and begged him for answers, but Daniel wouldn't budge. was gone. Coca-Cola and Marvel are releasing limited edition Coca-Cola products featuring your favorite Marvel characters.

Collect them all and scan for a chance to win prizes and unlock powerful AR experiences. No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of Canada 13 plus. Ends 1159 p.m. Eastern on June 9th, 2024. 4,053 prizes available with approximate retail values from 2 to 13,000 Canadian dollars. Mass skill test required. Visit coke.com slash Marvel24 24 rules.ca for official rules. Back at the crime scene, police taped off the area as they continue to investigate Anita's murder. But strangely, someone immediately popped onto their radar when a young man showed up to Anita's apartment and started asking questions. A classmate of Anita's from her high school in Velva, who also happened to be her prom date and was also attending MSU named Tyler Schmaltz, seemed to be a little too interested in Anita's case. Now he was the first person on the scene

and he had even moved into the very same apartment complex that Anita had right after high school. Yeah, basically he and his brother lived in this apartment complex. Like he lived like two buildings down from Anita. Yeah, so a lot of people thought that this was a little bit suspicious, especially after he created a Facebook page

dedicated to memorializing her death. Yeah, so he was doing a little bit too much, and I actually heard that he was one of the people that helped put up the billboards for Anita originally. Which obviously you can also look at this like, oh, this is an old friend of hers that is still close to her and he cares a lot. It's not bad to care Sure, sure, but from a different standpoint you can say hmm

Is this is this something else right? So he said in an interview quote she was my best friend back in high school and the beginning years of college We went to high school together. We went to our senior prom together, not dating. I just had a crush on her, but we were just friends. Police interviewed me the very second I got there. When they first interviewed me, it was actually at the crime scene in the van. They were concerned because I knew exactly

when I last talked to her, and they kept asking me about that. But that's because when I got up there, the first person I saw was her aunt. And her aunt asked me when the last time I talked to her was. So, I went on my computer and checked my chat logs. They just kept hounding me on that. But then they just asked general questions. They were interviewing everybody in the apartment complex, including me and my brother, who lived with me. They took DNA samples from all of us.

She was just so amazing. She just meant that much to me. Back in my first days of college, all my high school friends moved away, and she was my only friend I had then. I'm a quiet, shy guy, and I'm not that much outgoing, so at the time she was my only friend. She was just the most amazing person in the world, and she didn't deserve any of this." So obviously, as Daphne mentioned, you know, this kind of looked a little bit suspicious to police, but they really didn't have enough to arrest Tyler, so they just kept him on

their radar and continued to push for answers. But then, the maintenance man of the apartment complex, Marty Lee Annell, came forward with some pretty interesting information. He said that the day before Anita was discovered, he had walked by Anita and Nicole's unit and noticed that there was a large L-shaped cut in Anita's window screen, and the window was open. Now, he told investigators that he took the screen off the window was open. Now he told investigators that he took the screen off the windows so that he could get it fixed, but if this was the case

he would have surely seen Anita's lifeless body lying on her bed just as her father had. Well and it's weird because even if he also thought that she was just asleep, if her window is open like she's sleeping and unwarranted he's just gonna pull the screen off and replace it like did diddy while she's sleeping and unwarranted, he's just gonna pull the screen off and replace it like did you do while she's half a foot away on the other side of the wall? Yeah, like maybe you could just come back at another time and grab the screen, you know what I mean?

Leave a note. Sure, yeah. But Marty maintained that he had not seen Anita and that he was not involved in her murder. But what made detectives even more suspicious of Marty was that a year and a half after Anita's murder, on January 1st, 2009, Marty Annell committed suicide. It was later revealed that he took his own life because his girlfriend broke up with

him and basically he had to move out of the apartment that they shared together. So, you know, it's kind of hard to determine whether or not he was involved here. But then there's people who are saying, oh, was he, you know, holding, harboring guilt about something else? Right. I.E. possibly Anita's murder.

Yeah, I mean, even Marty's good friend admitted in an interview, quote, "'I have a gut feeling that Marty did it.'" So interesting. Yeah, but we are gonna a gut feeling that Marty did it. So interesting. Yeah, but we are going to circle back to this in a moment. A few days before Anita was found, witnesses from her apartment complex reported that they had seen a man running away from the property around the time that Anita was said to have been killed, which was sometime early Sunday morning.

So with the help of these witnesses, police were able to put together a composite sketch of this suspect and they almost immediately got a hit. But it wasn't really the hit that they were expecting, because apparently the man that was seen running saw the composite sketch of himself and came forward to clear his own name. He explained to police that he was a jogger and that his normal route ran past the apartment complex during that time.

And when this jogger was looked into further, police were basically able to confirm that his story was legitimate and that he was not involved. So it's kinda... It's kinda strange that he was the one to come forward like he saw his face in a composite sketch and was like,

Holy shit, that looks like me. I mean, it's good that people were aware That he was the one to come forward like like he saw his face in a composite sketch and was like holy shit That looks like me. I mean it's good that people were aware and saying yeah I saw a guy running in that area of where her apartment is on that morning But yeah, it's like also very normal to go for a jog on a Sunday morning So good thing he at least came forward to rule that out Well in one of the witnesses that actually saw this guy said that he was sprinting away from the apartment complex, not just like jogging or leisurely running. So that was kind of an interesting detail

that I think police were kind of like, maybe we should look into this a bit more. But of course, it turned out to be nothing. So we've already got a few interesting characters in this case, but let's throw in one more that police originally thought could have been involved. A man named Michael Van, also known as Big Money Mike. Michael Van happened to be the last person to text Anita just before she was murdered.

So the very last text message that Anita sent was at 4.43am onm. on Sunday, June 3rd, telling Michael Van good night. So she stayed up very late that night into the morning and was going to sleep about an hour before sunrise that day. So basically the two of them had met and began a friendship and would text each other pretty often and eventually Michael developed feelings for Anita and wanted to pursue her romantically. Now Michael had been partying with friends on Saturday night and it lasted until the early morning hours of Sunday so that is why he was awake and he actually started texting Anita at about midnight but then

at 430 his friends decided to go to McDonald's for food and Michael wanted to stay behind. So basically we know that Michael Vann was by himself around 430 a.m. Exactly. And when he was questioned by investigators, Michael said that he knew Anita was home alone that evening, but that he did not kill her. Michael texted Anita back at 4.58 AM, so about 15 minutes after she texted him, but that text message was left on read.

So obviously even though Minot is not very big, 15 minutes is a pretty short window of time, but weirdly Michael had also allegedly told a friend that he had killed Anita because she turned him down so this has not been confirmed, this is just kind of hearsay, but that rumor was definitely going around for a while so he was a person of interest to investigators. But get this, so we just talked about another guy who died in 2009 via suicide, you know, Marty the maintenance man, but Mike also died in 2009, but his death was related to an asthma attack.

So, it's just so bizarre that two potential suspects in the case died shortly after Anita's murder. Yeah, and I mean, what are the odds here? But now that you know who the persons of interest were in this case, let's go back to the crime scene for a moment. So, Anita didn't show up to work on Saturday, and we're not really sure why she didn't go to work on Saturday because it was believed that she was murdered on Sunday morning, but she also missed Sunday and Monday. Meaning that she was killed sometime between 4.43am her last text and 9am on Sunday when her scheduled work shift began.

Well, police had the idea that bringing her roommate Nicole back to the apartment would help aid in the investigation because basically she'd be able to give them you know any insight on whether or not anything was missing or looked out of the ordinary. But when Nicole entered the apartment, she led detectives back to her room where she audibly gasped before stating that her iPod was missing. Now this was kind of strange because her roommate was just murdered and she seemed more concerned about her stupid iPod. And interesting to notice right away like walking into your room and saying

oh it's missing instead of thinking it could be in a drawer or I left it in my car or I left it in my backpack or my pocket. Like it's, it's definitely weird on a lot of accounts, but yeah, it's like priorities here. Yeah. And they were kind of thinking that maybe this pointed to her trying to explain that there was some sort of robbery that happened, but nothing else in that apartment was missing. Yeah.

So it's like somebody came in to take an iPod and then kill Anita, even though there was cash right next to her body. It just, it's not making sense. Not at all. And Nicole also told police that she and Anita had known each other since high school and that they got along with each other very well, painting this picture-perfect friendship. But text between the two revealed that that wasn't entirely true, and that Nicole was actually trying to get Anita to move out of the apartment. On top of this, Nicole's story for the weekend of the murder was pretty inconsistent. She

first told detectives that on Saturday night, she was in Velva watching movies with her mom 25 minutes away from Minot, and that she stayed at the family farm from Saturday night through Sunday. Very convenient timing also. Yeah, absolutely. And then she told them that she was at a bar in Russo, North Dakota, which is about 40 minutes from her apartment, and then afterwards she went to her aunt's house to watch a movie. But a witness who had seen her at this bar said that Nicole mentioned that she was going back to her apartment to grab some clothes. So it's like, what is the truth here? Why is there so much inconsistency? Which means that she would have been at her apartment in Minot on Saturday night slash early Sunday morning,

but she is claiming that she wasn't there at all that weekend and in fact, went straight from her family's home to work on Monday and didn't even go back to her apartment until after Anita was pronounced dead. But unfortunately, without any physical evidence and with the DNA at the scene being collected but not matching to anybody, investigators really struggled to find Anita's killer, especially because there didn't even appear to be any clear motive in the case. Anita's family were absolutely devastated at the loss of their daughter and sister,

and a funeral was held for Anita back in Velva. So many people from her community showed up to the local church that they had to use the high school's gymnasium in Velva, where Anita had attended, as a second location where her funeral could basically be like live streamed essentially. Yeah. Her classmates created pink bracelets in her memory because pink was her favorite color that read, rest in peace Anita.

Nobody could understand who would want to kill a person who was loved and adored by everybody. And police were feeling the same way with one of the detectives working on the case at the time saying, This is one of those cases that hangs over your head. It's frustrating and it would be nice to get closure for the family. But unfortunately, even after billboards were put up in the area, and tons of tips came in and a reward was put in place, Anita's case went cold. Anita's mom Sharon said, quote, It's the same thing day after day, year after year.

It's very tough. We go to the cemetery a lot and keep wishing it's not what it is. We're still waiting. I feel absolutely helpless, but she's with me every day It's never off my mind Sadly another tragedy occurred in the family when on April 9th 2013 Anita's brother Daniel took his own life at the age of 22 So this was about six years after Anita's murder and their family said that her death took a huge toll on him

And he was laid to rest in the same cemetery as his sister Years continued to pass and investigators in Minot kept working on the case But didn't feel any closer to solving Anita's murder But slowly rumors began to swirl in the small community that someone who knew Anita very well was likely her killer. Classmates who were friends with both Anita and Nicole said that they knew the roommates had bad blood between each other. In fact, one witness told police that in 2008, Nicole referred to Anita after her death as

a quote, fucking death as a quote fucking bitch and a quote little fucking cunt. Close friends also said that Anita was annoyed with Nicole who would regularly bring guys back to the apartment then leave while the guys just kind of lingered behind at the apartment. Police found out that there were also some very specific incidents that led to even more tension. One when Anita's alarm clock went off for an hour at 5 a.m. and Nicole texted her, quote, I'm going to kick down your fucking door.

And another when Anita unplugged Nicole's fish tank because it made too much noise, which resulted in Nicole's fish dying. Another witness said that Nicole told her, quote, I'm going to get her out of this apartment one way or another. But the most damning piece of evidence actually came from one of Nicole's ex boyfriends. He claimed that during a party in 2008, Nicole drunkenly told him that she had killed Anita.

Yeah, she reportedly just said the words, I did it. So with all of this new information coming to light, that she had killed Anita. Yeah, she reportedly just said the words, I did it. So with all of this new information coming to light, investigators decided that it was time to take a closer look at the case and re-examine all of the details. In 2016, the knife that was used to kill Anita was tested and it was determined that male DNA

was not found on the knife. And when tested against Nicole Rice, she was actually also excluded. But 15 years after Anita's murder in 2022, the case saw a major resurgence. Nicole was re-interviewed that year and this is what she told detectives. So she said that she went to her parents' farm on Saturday morning, but that there was a going away party for her cousin who was being deployed to Iraq. She said that she picked her cousin up,

went to this party in another town, and then returned around five or 6 p.m. And this is her parents' house that she's returning to. And then she claims that she went to a bar in Russo, which we already mentioned because a witness described this, but said that she didn't return to her apartment and instead made her way back to her parents farm in Velva around 11.30 p.m. and went to sleep on the couch.

She then told them that she woke up at 5.30 a.m. because that's when her dad usually gets up and she was awakened by him because she was out on the couch She said that she stayed there all day and spent the night on Sunday as well and then left for work the next morning Without stopping at her apartment in Minot first So like we said earlier her story was really inconsistent originally, and now, 15 years later, she's essentially mixing these stories together to still maintain that she did not go back to her apartment that weekend at with her mom or her aunt like she said originally when she was first questioned. So things just weren't adding up. Again, her story to that day was still super inconsistent. And remember when we told you that a witness at the bar said Nicole stopped at her apartment

on Saturday night, early Sunday morning ish to get clothes Well that witness was her own aunt and she owned this bar in Russo So her aunt is saying yeah She was at the bar and she told me as she was leaving that she was gonna go home and get clothes But Nicole is denying that imagine your own aunt like fucking up your fabricated story for you. Yeah, exactly. That is what's happening. And detectives knew it, so they're kind of starting to turn up the heat in the interrogation room and point these things out, which causes Nicole to cry and kind of break down a little bit and finally ask for a lawyer.

Yeah, I mean, she's sitting there in the interrogation room and She's crying basically saying that oh like everybody's made me out to be a victim These are all rumors and stuff and they're like guys. I didn't do it. I didn't do anything guys And it's like they're basically just catching her and lies left and right and she's finally kind of freaking out She's like fuck. I need a lawyer. Yeah, because at that point she's finally kind of freaking out she's like fuck I need a lawyer yeah because at that point she's like wait are you saying that I did this then I need a lawyer because she again she is claiming that she is innocent well even Nicole's parents maintained that she had been at the farm with them the entire weekend but Nicole herself said that that wasn't true

police also revealed that they believe the killer also staged the break-in by cutting Anita's screen, but that they entered and left through the front door and then locked it by using a key. And who's the only other person that would have a key to the apartment? Nicole Rice. So they basically determined this because I guess it had something to do with the deadbolt being locked, so they knew that the killer had not gone in through the window but it actually unlocked the door went in through the front door and left going out of it which is huge because if they're able to prove that the killer did not enter and

exit through that window then the only possibility is that someone used a key and then it would have to be Nicole. Exactly. So, also, a text message that was recovered from Nicole's phone back in 2007 revealed some very interesting messages to Anita. One that said quote, And just for the heads up, my dad and I are going to talk to the landlord ASAP and see what we can do, because honestly, I have no idea what I did to you to make you all the sudden be all Weird on me, but I'm gonna tell you right now

I sure as hell ain't gonna put up with it until December this sucks And I may sound like a bitch, but what comes around goes around So I mean it was pretty clear that there was a ton of animosity between the girls and old friends of Anita and Nicole Admitted that Nicole was super jealous of Anita and all this attention that she was getting from guys. Right, and it seemed like they then had six months left on their lease and Nicole is saying, I'm not going to live with you for the next six months. You need to get out of here, which then coincides with what you told us earlier, Heath, is that

she said to a friend that she was going to get Anita out one way or another. Exactly. So with the hard work of the Minot Police Department, a two-part series of the investigative show, Cold Justice, and the witnesses who came forward to reveal what they knew and saw, the district attorney's office found that there was enough circumstantial evidence

to arrest 34-year-old Nicole Rice, meaning she was about 19 years old at the time that Anita was killed. So on March 16, 2022, detectives charged her with the murder of 18-year-old Anita Knudsen. So back when Anita was murdered, Nicole had dropped out of college and joined the workforce, and at the time was attending anger management classes. She went on to get married, twice, and became a hairdresser on the Minot Air Force Base, and that is exactly where she was arrested. The new police chief of Minot said, quote, Although most of the detectives who worked the original scene and investigation have retired, we have not forgotten about this case.

Nicole's trial for murder is being held on July 15th of this year 2024 and will run for three weeks until August 2nd. At a preliminary hearing in September of 2022 after her arrest, Nicole's defense team raised suspicions regarding DNA evidence stating that it had excluded her, but the following year in 2023, the DNA evidence was retested because you know technology is getting better every single day. And this time around, it was inconclusive. So Nicole could not be excluded like she was previously,

meaning that she could not be ruled in or ruled out. Her defense also argued that, quote, much of the supposed evidence that the state is relying on amounts to nothing more than petty gossip and speculation and certainly does not provide an adequate basis for the finding of probable cause in a murder case. Well right now Nicole Rice is out on bail, even though she pled guilty to jumping her bail in 2012 for a separate case for writing bad checks and

failed to show up in court. Her bail for this case was set at $250,000 and her pre-trial conference is being held on June 29th, 2024. So just a few weeks from now. In a Facebook post, Nicole wrote, It's hard being the person everyone looks at. I wouldn't hurt anyone. All of this has been very hard on me. But police refute this by saying, quote, Nicole's reputation is that she was hot tempered and reactionary. For Anita's family, the arrest was a complete shock after waiting 15 years for answers and praying each day that good news was on the way. It's been

a heartbreaking struggle for them, but they finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. With no sexual assault, no robbery, and no other reason to murder such a bright and talented young woman, we're left to follow the trail of evidence that is available. And it seems that all roads lead back to Nicole Rice. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and we are going to try and keep you guys updated on the verdict of Nicole's trial that's going to be coming up here pretty soon. Yeah, and if there's more information that comes out, like if she is guilty,

we'll definitely go ahead and do an update episode on this altogether. So stay tuned because that is only like a month and a half away. Well, actually, when it ends, it'll be like exactly two months. Absolutely. So hopefully you need his family gets some justice. And I also want to remind you guys that we do have bonus episodes available. You can find those over on our Patreon or you can subscribe on Apple podcasts. Yes, we just came out with the absolutely unbelievable story of the murder at Neuschwanstein

Castle. And that happened only last year. We just released that episode. It is wild. So go check that out. And over 110 other full length ad free bonus episodes of cases across the world and in the US. Alright guys, I think that just about settles it. So for everybody out there in the world, Don't be a stranger. Thanks for watching!