Her father drove an hour to check on her.
He knocked. No answer. He found her car in the parking lot. The door was locked. He got help from the building’s maintenance worker. When they finally got inside, Gordon Knutson looked through his daughter’s bedroom window first.
What he saw on June 4, 2007, destroyed the rest of his life.
Anita Knutson was 18 years old. She was face down on her bed, on a blood-soaked mattress, covered with a robe. She had been stabbed. The murder weapon — a knife — was left in the apartment sink. Nothing was stolen.
Whoever killed her wasn’t there for robbery. They were there for her.
Eighteen years later, no one has been convicted of her murder.
Bio Table
| Detail | Info |
| Full Name | Anita May Knutson |
| Born | September 22, 1988, Orange County, California |
| Died | On or around June 3, 2007, Minot, North Dakota |
| Age at death | 18 years old |
| Adopted | February 1989 (at five months old) |
| Adoptive parents | Gordon and Sharon (Fellows) Knutson |
| Raised in | Anaheim, California; Butte, North Dakota (from 2002) |
| High school | Velva High School, North Dakota — graduated with honors, 2006 |
| College | Minot State University — freshman, Elementary Education major |
| Jobs at time of death | Fairfield Inn (did not show up June 2) |
| Buried | Butte Cemetery, Butte, North Dakota |
| Primary suspect arrested | Nichole Rice, March 16, 2022 |
| Trial verdict | Not guilty — March 26, 2025 |
| Case status | Unsolved as of April 2026 |
| Featured on | Dateline NBC (2015, 2025); Cold Justice (Oxygen) |
Who She Was Before the Case Swallowed Everything
This is the part that gets crowded out by crime timelines and court documents.
Anita Knutson was not just a victim. She was a kid who published a book in eighth grade. In middle school — while most kids were figuring out how to get through lunch without embarrassment — she wrote something and saw it through to publication. No source gives the title. That detail sits in her obituary with no follow-up, which says something about how quickly her story got reduced to her death.
She played soccer. She played violin and piano. She made the Girls State program. In high school, she was vice president of her FBLA chapter. She earned state and national recognition through FCCLA for Drug Awareness work. She graduated from Velva High School in 2006 — with honors.
When she moved to Minot State University to study Elementary Education, she was working two jobs. She called her mother every single day. The Dateline correspondent who covered her case in 2025 said that the people who knew Anita described her as someone who made whoever she was talking to feel like the most important person in the room.
That’s a specific kind of person. Most people can’t do that. Anita apparently could, at 18, while working two jobs and attending college.
She’s been reduced to a cold case file. That’s the tragedy underneath the tragedy.
The Family That Raised Her
Anita was born in Orange County, California. Her biological parents are unknown — she never met them. At five months old, Gordon and Sharon Knutson adopted her. They raised her in Anaheim, California alongside a large adoptive family: sisters Anna, Evelyn, Pamela, and Patti; brothers Daniel, David, Gary, Mark, Richard, and Chris.
Patti Knutson died before Anita did. That’s listed in the obituary without detail.
In June 2002, the Knutsons packed up and moved from California to Butte, North Dakota — a small town in McLean County. Population under 100. The move put Anita in Velva High School, a small rural school where she quickly became known and respected.
What’s clear from every account: this was a close family. Sharon Knutson called her daughter every day after Anita moved to Minot for college — roughly an hour away. When those calls stopped on a June weekend in 2007, Sharon knew something was wrong before anyone else did.
That instinct was right.
June 2007: What Happened and What Is Still Unknown
What is confirmed:
- Anita’s last known phone call was June 1, 2007, when she spoke to her mother after returning home from work
- Her last known text messages were sent to a friend in the early morning hours of June 3
- She did not show up for her shift at the Fairfield Inn on June 2
- She was found dead on June 4 by her father, face down on her bed, stabbed twice in the chest
- One stab wound severed her heart. She bled to death
- The murder weapon, a knife, was left in the apartment sink
- A bedroom window screen had been slashed — from inside or outside was disputed
- There was no evidence of sexual assault
- Nothing appeared to be stolen
What is not confirmed:
- Exactly when she died — the last known contact was June 3, but the precise time of death was not publicly established
- Who was inside that apartment
- Whether defensive wounds were present — the police chief at the time declined to confirm this publicly
Four people had keys to the apartment: Anita, her roommate Nichole Rice, the building manager, and a maintenance worker. Police canvassed. DNA swabs were collected. A witness reported seeing a man running near the building around 7:30 a.m. on June 3 — dark hair, white T-shirt, dark shorts. He was never identified.
The Suspects: Every Name That Came Up
This is the part most true-crime coverage glosses over. There were multiple people of interest. Only one was ever charged.
Nichole Rice — Anita’s roommate. She claimed she was at her parents’ farm, about 20 miles away, over the weekend of the murder. Police noted her stories about her movements were inconsistent. Witnesses said the two had a strained relationship. One friend recalled Rice telling Anita: “One way or another, I’m going to get you out of this house.” Rice’s supervisor at her Minot call center job testified that on June 4, when police called the workplace, Rice refused to go back to the apartment and called Anita a “crackhead.” Another co-worker testified that Rice was noticeably less social that day.
The maintenance worker — Had a key to the apartment. Was investigated. Cleared. No further public details.
Tyler Schmaltz — Anita’s high school prom date. Had a self-admitted crush on her. Was questioned. Cleared. He later became one of the most vocal public advocates for solving her case.
Michael Vann — A man Anita had been texting in the hours before her death. Investigated. No charges resulted.
Devin Hall — A 17-year-old picked up separately for breaking into an apartment who was found carrying a knife. He came onto investigators’ radar because of the weapon. At trial in 2025, the defense argued Hall had at one point claimed to recognize the murder weapon. He was ruled out as a suspect by Minot Police based on his location. The defense challenged that conclusion.
None except Rice was ever charged. Rice was acquitted.
The Cold Case: 15 Years with No Arrest
The case went cold fast. Within a week of the murder, police had no concrete suspects. By July 2007, a reward fund of around $20,000 had been raised. No one came forward with information that led anywhere.
Then the years passed.
In 2013, something happened that doesn’t get enough attention in coverage of this case: Anita’s younger brother, Daniel Knutson, died by suicide.
His sister Anna spoke about it plainly: “What haunts me most about the death of my sister is that whoever killed her also took the life of my brother that very day. After she was killed, he was never the same.”
Daniel was 14 when Anita was murdered. He spent six years carrying that. In 2013, he was gone too.
The Knutson family didn’t just lose Anita on June 3, 2007. They lost Daniel in 2013. And they spent nearly two decades without answers.
In 2013, friends and family raised money to put up a billboard in Minot — pink ribbons, Anita’s photo — keeping the case in public view. In 2015, Dateline ran a cold case digital feature on the murder. Anna Knutson gave that interview at age 23, eight years after losing her sister.
The TV coverage eventually mattered. Oxygen’s Cold Justice — a show that assists law enforcement in cold cases — got involved. Their review of the case refocused attention on Nichole Rice, now married and living near Minot Air Force Base. Investigators had learned that in 2008, Rice allegedly made a drunken confession at a party. Her former boyfriend, William May, said she told people: “She had did it, that she had killed Anita.” When sober, Rice denied it.
On March 16, 2022 — nearly 15 years after the murder — Minot Police arrested Nichole Rice without incident at her workplace on Minot Air Force Base. She was 34 years old. Bond was set at $120,000 cash or a $250,000 surety bond.
The Knutson family had waited 15 years for this moment.
The Trial: What the Prosecution Had — and Why It Wasn’t Enough
The trial of Nichole Rice began March 18, 2025, in Grand Forks, North Dakota — nearly 18 years after the murder.
The prosecution’s case rested on:
- Rice’s inconsistent statements about her whereabouts on the weekend of the murder
- Two witnesses who claimed Rice confessed to the crime while drunk at separate parties
- Evidence of a strained, hostile relationship between the two roommates
- Sharon Knutson’s testimony that Anita was afraid of Rice and had installed a lock on her bedroom door
- Rice’s unusual behavior at work on June 4, including calling Anita a “crackhead” and refusing to return to the apartment when police called
The defense’s case rested on:
- Rice’s alibi that she was at her parents’ farm
- Challenges to the credibility of both confession witnesses — one acknowledged heavy drinking, the other acknowledged gaps in memory
- Testimony from former FBI agent James Douglas Kouns, who argued Minot Police mishandled the investigation and failed to pursue other persons of interest
- Questions about Devin Hall and other early suspects
- No physical evidence directly linking Rice to the crime
The trial lasted seven days. More than 20 witnesses testified. The jury — nine men and three women — deliberated for just under six hours across two days.
On March 26, 2025, they returned a not guilty verdict.
Rice collapsed in her chair when the verdict was read. Her defense team erupted. Their celebration was caught on courtroom cameras and went viral on social media — criticized by many for being inappropriate with Anita’s family present in the room. The law firm later issued a public apology.
Anita’s sister Anna wrote on social media: “I spent the last week reliving some of the hardest parts of the last 18 years of my life, and in those 18 years one thing I’ve learned is that a not guilty verdict does not mean innocence. I cannot say the same for many of the people in that room, but my conscience is clear.”
One juror later spoke to Dateline. He said the decision weighed heavily. He knew Anita’s parents were in their 90s. He knew they would leave that courthouse still without answers.
What the Investigation Got Wrong — and What We Don’t Know
This is the section that needs to exist.
At trial, two witnesses — William May and Kristina Holler — testified that they had told police about Rice’s alleged confessions years earlier, around 2008. Neither report was in the case file.
The Minot Police Department, when asked about the missing documentation, said only that the officers involved were no longer with the department and that the current interim chief could not speak to what was or wasn’t documented in 2007 and 2008.
That’s a significant gap. Two people claim they told police about a confession. Police have no record of receiving that information. The investigation that produced the only arrest in this case may have been working from an incomplete file for years.
The defense at trial also argued that Devin Hall — the 17-year-old with a knife who was ruled out by police — was dismissed too quickly. The retired FBI agent testified that investigators’ reasoning for ruling out certain suspects was not adequately documented.
Is Nichole Rice guilty? A jury said no. Legally, that’s the answer. But Anita Knutson’s family has made clear they don’t believe a not guilty verdict and innocence are the same thing. That’s their right, and it’s also not a legal finding.
The case remains officially open. As of April 2026, no new suspect has been named and no new arrest has been made.
What Stayed Behind: The Scholarship, the Billboards, the Pink Ribbons
The Knutson family never stopped. That’s the through-line of this story.
They raised money for billboards. They gave interviews. They pushed police. They participated in Cold Justice. They sat through a week-long murder trial and watched the jury acquit the only person ever charged.
The Anita and Daniel Knutson Memorial Scholarship Fund was established through the Velva Area Dollars for Scholars program — honoring both Anita and her brother Daniel, who died six years after her. It’s a scholarship in a small town, run by people who loved two kids and lost them both.
In Minot, pink ribbons still appear on telephone poles near her old apartment. A billboard still stands near Highway 83 south of Minot. A Dateline correspondent visiting in May 2025 described weather-worn photographs and faded ribbons — physical marks of a community that hasn’t forgotten.
The murder weapon was left in Anita’s apartment sink. It was tested. The results were not enough to convict anyone.
Final Word: The Question That Has No Answer Yet
Anita Knutson’s murder is legally unsolved. The only person ever arrested was acquitted. No new charges have been filed.
Her parents, Gordon and Sharon Knutson, are now in their 90s. They drove an hour to check on their daughter in June 2007. They have waited every day since for someone to tell them who killed her.
A juror in the Rice trial said it out loud: “They still don’t have answers. And it was — it was a rough feeling.”
That roughness is what the billboards are about. That roughness is what the scholarship is about. That roughness is what Anna Knutson’s social media post — written in the courthouse parking lot after a not guilty verdict — was about.
Anita Knutson was 18. She published a book at 13. She called her mother every day. She was working two jobs to put herself through school to become a teacher.
She would be 37 years old in September 2025. Instead, she’s a billboard near a North Dakota highway and a cold case file that no one has closed — because it isn’t.
Whoever killed her is still out there. The law has not found them.
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FAQ: 12 Real Questions About Anita Knutson
1. Who was Anita Knutson?
Anita May Knutson was an 18-year-old college freshman from Butte, North Dakota. She was adopted as an infant by Gordon and Sharon Knutson, grew up partly in Anaheim, California, and moved to Minot, North Dakota, to study Elementary Education at Minot State University. She was found stabbed to death in her off-campus apartment on June 4, 2007.
2. How did Anita Knutson die?
She was stabbed twice in the chest. The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy testified that one stab wound severed her heart and she bled to death. The murder weapon — a knife — was left in the kitchen sink of her apartment. There was no evidence of sexual assault and nothing was stolen.
3. When was Anita Knutson found?
Her body was discovered on the afternoon of June 4, 2007, by her father Gordon Knutson, who drove to Minot after family members could not reach her over the weekend. Police were called at approximately 5:12 p.m.
4. Who was Nichole Rice?
Nichole Rice was Anita Knutson’s roommate at the time of the murder. She was arrested on March 16, 2022, nearly 15 years after the murder, and charged with Class AA felony murder. She was tried in Grand Forks, North Dakota, in March 2025 and found not guilty.
5. What evidence did the prosecution present against Nichole Rice?
The prosecution presented testimony from two witnesses who claimed Rice confessed to the killing at separate parties while intoxicated; evidence of a hostile and strained relationship between Rice and Knutson; inconsistencies in Rice’s account of her whereabouts; Rice’s behavior on the day Knutson’s body was discovered (calling Knutson a “crackhead” and refusing to return to the apartment); and testimony from Knutson’s adoptive mother that Anita was afraid of Rice and had installed a lock on her bedroom door.
6. Why was Nichole Rice found not guilty?
The jury deliberated for just under six hours and acquitted Rice. The defense successfully challenged the credibility of both confession witnesses, argued the police investigation was mishandled, and pointed to other potential suspects — particularly Devin Hall — who were ruled out by police without, the defense claimed, adequate investigation. No physical evidence directly tied Rice to the crime.
7. Is Anita Knutson’s murder solved?
No. As of April 2026, the murder is legally unsolved. Nichole Rice — the only person ever arrested — was acquitted in March 2025. No new suspect has been named and no new charges have been filed. The case remains open.
8. What was the role of Cold Justice in this case?
Oxygen’s Cold Justice — a television show that assists law enforcement with cold cases — reviewed the Anita Knutson investigation. Their involvement reportedly helped refocus attention on Nichole Rice and contributed to her eventual arrest in March 2022. The defense at trial criticized the show’s role, arguing it shaped the investigation’s direction for dramatic purposes rather than investigative ones.
9. What happened to Anita Knutson’s brother Daniel?
Daniel Knutson, Anita’s younger adoptive brother, died by suicide in 2013 — six years after his sister’s murder. His sister Anna has said publicly that whoever killed Anita was also “a catalyst” for Daniel’s death, as he was never the same after losing her. He was 14 when Anita was murdered.
10. What was the Anita and Daniel Knutson Memorial Scholarship?
Former classmates and family members established the Anita and Daniel Knutson Memorial Scholarship Fund through the Velva Area Dollars for Scholars program in their memory. It honors both Anita, who was murdered in 2007, and her brother Daniel, who died in 2013.
11. Was Anita Knutson featured on Dateline?
Yes. Her case was featured in a Dateline cold case digital spotlight in 2015, and in a two-hour Dateline episode titled “Murder in Minot” that aired May 2, 2025, on NBC, reported by correspondent Blayne Alexander. The 2025 episode covered the full arc of the case including the 2022 arrest and 2025 acquittal.
12. What other suspects were investigated besides Nichole Rice?
Police investigated the apartment building’s maintenance worker (cleared), Tyler Schmaltz (Anita’s prom date who had a crush on her, cleared), Michael Vann (a man Anita had been texting, not charged), and Devin Hall (a 17-year-old found with a knife who was ruled out based on location). A witness also reported seeing an unidentified man running near the apartment the morning of June 3, 2007. That man was never identified.