Murder in Minot

Summary

Dateline NBC: "Murder in Minot" — Detailed Summary

Episode Overview: "Murder in Minot" is a gripping episode of Dateline NBC released on May 6, 2025. Hosted by Nicole Rice and Lester Holt, this episode delves into the tragic and enduring mystery surrounding the 2007 murder of Anita Knutson, a beloved college student from Minot, North Dakota. The case remains unsolved for nearly two decades, with persistent efforts by family and friends to seek justice. The episode combines in-depth investigations, personal testimonies, and the impact of media involvement in the quest to uncover the truth.

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1. Introduction to the Tragedy

The episode opens with Lester Holt setting the scene in the quiet town of Minot, North Dakota. The small community is haunted by the unsolved murder of Anita Knutson, a popular 18-year-old college student found dead in her apartment on June 3, 2007.

[02:30] Lester Holt: "The town is mostly quiet now...no one here can forget. Reminders of what this place has been through. Of a mystery that spanned nearly two decades."

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2. The Victim: Anita Knutson

Anita Knutson was a vibrant and well-loved individual, cherished by friends and family alike. Raised in the tiny town of Butte, North Dakota, Anita moved to Minot for college, where she pursued a degree in elementary education. She was known for her positive spirit, generosity, and ability to connect with everyone around her.

[10:02] Jenna Bush Hager: "What stands out to you the most about her funeral? I think just how many people were there to celebrate my sister...she truly was so well loved."

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3. The Night of the Murder and Initial Investigation

On the evening of June 3, 2007, Anita failed to return home, prompting her father, Gordon Knutson, to check on her. He discovered Anita lying face down in her bed with signs of a violent struggle. The police were immediately dispatched to the scene. Initial observations suggested Anita had been stabbed twice in the chest and sternum, with evidence pointing away from a burglary.

[07:27] Lester Holt: "Somebody is there, kind of in her face, holding the knife to her neck."

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4. Suspects and Early Leads

Nicole Thomas, Anita's roommate, was one of the first people questioned. Their relationship had been tumultuous, marked by minor arguments and tension over household items like an alarm clock and a fish tank. Nicole's alibi was inconsistent, with her stories shifting over time, raising suspicions about her involvement.

[32:05] Nicole Rice: "We learned that they had kind of a poor relationship, that there was some minor fights and some arguing between the two of them."

Another early suspect was Tyler Schmaltz, a friend who had a well-known crush on Anita. Despite his close proximity to the crime scene and initial suspicions, Tyler was eventually cleared due to alibi verification.

[36:24] Nicole Rice: "He was somebody that kind of always was in our minds. Could he have been involved?"

Additionally, Michael Vann, the last person Anita texted before her death, became a person of interest. However, his alibi and subsequent death in 2009 further complicated the investigation.

[20:04] Lester Holt: "Tyler Schmaltz was a decent guy. He was very cooperative with us."

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5. Breakthrough Attempts and Cold Case Status

Despite numerous leads and tips, including the elusive "running man" seen fleeing the scene, the case remained unsolved. DNA evidence was inconclusive, and suspects either had alibis or lacked substantial evidence linking them to the crime. Over the years, the case grew cold, with key witnesses passing away and new leads drying up.

[48:08] Nicole Rice: "She was definitely a loose end that we needed to tie up."

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6. Media Involvement and Renewed Investigation

In an attempt to revive the stagnant case, Anita's family and friends reached out to the true-crime television show Cold Justice. After several years and numerous petitions, the show agreed to take on Anita's case in 2022, bringing fresh perspectives and renewed media attention to the investigation.

[56:51] Nicole Rice: "He was so involved. It was shaping up to be something more than just another suspect."

The partnership between Cold Justice and the Minot Police Department led to renewed efforts, including revisiting old evidence and questioning long-standing suspects like Nicole Thomas Rice once more.

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7. The Arrest of Nicole Thomas Rice

A pivotal moment occurred when William May, Nicole's then-boyfriend, came forward with allegations that Nicole had confessed to killing Anita during a drunken party. Although initially dismissed, these claims were later corroborated, leading authorities to charge Nicole with Anita's murder.

[72:10] Nicole Rice: "Nicole and I were sitting on the couch...she had gotten into an argument and had stabbed her."

During the trial, the prosecution focused on Nicole's access to the apartment, the toxic relationship with Anita, and the inconsistent alibi. However, the defense argued that the media pressure and procedural mishandlings had biased the investigation against Nicole.

[73:37] Nicole Rice: "It's pressure from a TV show. They put an incredible amount of pressure to bring charges in this case."

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8. The Trial and Verdict

After six days of intense testimony, the jury deliberated and ultimately found Nicole Aaron Rice not guilty of the murder charges. The acquittal was a devastating blow to Anita's family, who felt that justice had not been served despite decades of persistence.

[83:06] Lester Holt: "We testified emotionally. We sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended, especially to Anita Knutson's family."

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9. Aftermath and Continuing Impact

The unresolved nature of Anita's murder continues to haunt her loved ones. Her sister, Anna Knutson, and other family members maintain their quest for answers, refusing to let the case fade from public consciousness. The episode highlights the enduring pain of the family and the community's desire for closure.

[85:22] Lester Holt: "If there's one thing Minot police did not lack, it was tips...who was that running man seen by Anita's apartment around the time of her death?"

Anita’s legacy lives on in the small town of Butte, where pink ribbons and memorials serve as a constant reminder of her vibrant spirit and the unsolved mystery that continues to affect the community.

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Notable Quotes with Speaker Attribution and Timestamps

• Lester Holt (02:30): "The town is mostly quiet now...no one here can forget. Reminders of what this place has been through. Of a mystery that spanned nearly two decades."

• Jenna Bush Hager (10:02): "What stands out to you the most about her funeral? I think just how many people were there to celebrate my sister...she truly was so well loved."

• Lester Holt (07:27): "Somebody is there, kind of in her face, holding the knife to her neck."

• Nicole Rice (32:05): "We learned that they had kind of a poor relationship, that there was some minor fights and some arguing between the two of them."

• Nicole Rice (48:08): "She was definitely a loose end that we needed to tie up."

• Nicole Rice (73:37): "It's pressure from a TV show. They put an incredible amount of pressure to bring charges in this case."

• Lester Holt (83:06): "We testified emotionally. We sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended, especially to Anita Knutson's family."

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Conclusion

"Murder in Minot" underscores the profound impact of an unsolved crime on a small community and the relentless pursuit of justice by those left behind. Through personal accounts, investigative challenges, and the influence of media, the episode paints a comprehensive picture of a case that remains shrouded in mystery. Anita Knutson's story serves as a poignant reminder of the enduring quest for truth and closure in the face of tragedy.

Transcript

[Lester Holt]

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[Jenna Bush Hager]

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[Lester Holt]

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[Jenna Bush Hager]

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[Lester Holt]

And a city that knows a good time. Nashville, Tennessee.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Join me on May 30th and 31st at W. Nashville and connect with fellow book lovers. Meet the authors, dive into engaging conversations, pop up bookshops, immersive experiences, surprise giveaways and more.

[Lester Holt]

This event is sponsored by Nashville Music City and you can get your Tickets now at today.com RWJBookFestival.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Come celebrate the magic of books in Nashville.

[Nicole Rice]

I hope to see you there tonight on Dateline.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She was so beautiful, inside and out. So smart.

[Lester Holt]

She might have said it more gently, but I just wrote, remember, Anita's dead. Everything kind of stopped. Your mind just goes everywhere. Like, who could do this?

[Nicole Rice]

Tyler Schmaltz was kind of infatuated with her, got a crush on him.

[Lester Holt]

She kind of friend zoned him pretty quickly.

[Nicole Rice]

Yes. Nicole Rice's name came up.

[Lester Holt]

I overheard Nicole's mom asking, how could you think my daughter did this?

[Nicole Rice]

It wasn't me. We were dispatched to a call of someone entering an apartment. There was a male. He had a knife. If there's a chance that you crawled in the window and killed this girl, you are. There were many possible suspects. If someone told you you were at a party and you said you killed.

[Lester Holt]

Him, you would they be lying.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

We've been reliving this every single day for 18 years.

[Lester Holt]

It's really scary not knowing how that's going to turn out.

[Nicole Rice]

A popular college student murdered a case that dragged on for years. Could revelations during a party finally solve the mystery? I'm Lest Holt and this is dateline. Here's Blaine Alexander with Murder in Minot.

[Lester Holt]

The town is mostly quiet now. Just a few stores line the streets. But ride through this small North Dakota community and you'll see them these weather worn pink ribbons and a faded photograph of a young woman no one here can forget. Reminders of what this place has been through. Of a mystery that spanned nearly two decades. You talk to police all the time. All the time for the whole 18 years. This story is about a young student away at college, killed in her own bedroom. And about the family and friends who never Stopped pressing for answers.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

We're not forgetting about this.

[Lester Holt]

We weren't going to give up. She wouldn't have. We weren't going to. Tell me about Butte, North Dakota.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Butte is a tiny little town. It's. I mean, when you say tiny, it's eight streets.

[Lester Holt]

Eight streets.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Eight streets, 50 people.

[Lester Holt]

Tiny. Tiny.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Tiny, yeah.

[Lester Holt]

It's where Anna Knudsen spent much of her late childhood raised with her brother Daniel and their older sister Anita. What was it like living there in a place that small?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Quiet.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. I think that's kind of all I can say. It's so quiet. My dad was a mayor for 12 years in Butte. My friends would come over and have sleepovers and like my dad, the mayor would wake us up to go, like, hang up the holiday decorations on Main Street. Like, it wasn't that fun.

[Lester Holt]

That's what you do when you're the mayor's kids.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yep, yep.

[Lester Holt]

Anna's big sister Anita left for college in nearby Minot, a bustling big city by North Dakota standards. Anita's aunt, Karen Lear, lived there, too. How excited was she for college? Very much so. And, you know, she also worked a couple jobs up here in Minot, too. Some of the weekends, she would go back to Butte and help her mom in the store.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She and my mom talked like every single day on the phone.

[Lester Holt]

Even when she went to college?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, even when she went to college. She was always, yeah, calling my mom. She was such a hard worker, but she still made time for her friends and for her family.

[Lester Holt]

So when Anita's family didn't hear from her one weekend in June 2007, they figured she was at work. At least at first. Saturday passed, then Sunday. Was it out of character for them to not hear from Anita? Very much so, Absolutely. By Monday, with no word from Anita, her dad Gordon made the hour long drive to his daughter's apartment to check on her. When he peered through Anita's window, he saw her lying face down in her bed. The apartment manager let him inside and immediately called 91 1. Is this a police department? Yes, it is. I had a father come to my apartment here to check on his daughter. We just came in the apartment. I think she's dead. And what makes you think that?

[Nicole Rice]

Or is she moving? No, she isn't.

[Lester Holt]

We came into the apartment, her dad.

[Nicole Rice]

Went over to her and he goes.

[Lester Holt]

Oh, my God, she's cold and there's blood.

[Nicole Rice]

That's what her father said. I didn't touch her, but I see.

[Lester Holt]

There'S blood on the blankets. Right away, Anita's dad called his sister Karen. He said, you've got to come here. He must have said, she's dead. When she arrived, police were already on the scene. So you drive up to the apartment, and the only thing that you know is that she's gone. Anita's gone. Right. I can't imagine Karen, him coming to check on Anita and being the one to discover that she had been killed. When you got there and saw him, how was he? Oh, in shock. I mean, it's just something you never, ever can prepare yourself for. Karen stayed on the scene as Gordon left to break the news to his wife and the rest of the family. You know, he's waiting for more information from the detectives, and yet he knows he needs to go back to Butte and talk to Sharon and the other two kids. So he stayed for a while, but then he knew he had to leave and go do that. You stayed? I wouldn't leave. What made you stay? Couldn't leave. We had to stay there for her. Yeah. You felt you were being there for her. Had to be there. She knew in that instant, everything had changed. From that day on, when it got to be dark, the doors were definitely locked, the shades were pulled, and the mystery of who killed Anita was only just beginning.

[Nicole Rice]

Somebody is there, kind of in her face, holding the knife to her neck.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It was scary. I mean, because anybody and everybody is a suspect to me.

[Nicole Rice]

There's a chance that you crawled in the window and killed this girl. You know, I didn't, bro. I married a man. It was pressure from a TV show. They put an incredible amount of pressure to bring charges in this case.

[Lester Holt]

David Goodman, a newly minted detective with the Minot Police Department, had a lot to think about as he made his way to the apartment where Anita Knutson was murdered. The sudden, unexplained death of a promising young college student was virtually unheard of in Minot, North Dakota. So as you're on your way there, what are you thinking?

[Nicole Rice]

I was new to investigations. Kind of wondered what direction we'd go in and are we going to solve this right away? Is it going to be difficult?

[Lester Holt]

On that early evening in June, Sergeant Goodman knew very little when he arrived at Anita's apartment. So when you got here to the scene that day, what did you see?

[Nicole Rice]

I believe they had police tape up already. The crime scene van was parked on the grass right out front of the door, and detectives were inside the apartment.

[Lester Holt]

Is that the front door right there?

[Nicole Rice]

Yes, that's the front and only door going into apartment number five.

[Lester Holt]

The bedroom window caught his eye. What did you notice about her window?

[Nicole Rice]

I noticed that the screen was gone.

[Lester Holt]

An important detail that remained to be seen. As police began processing the crime scene, Anita's father, Gordon, had begun the grim duty of telling his family. Anita's 15 year old sister Anna got the news from her brother.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Daniel comes to pick me up and I get in the car and I could tell he'd been crying, like something was very wrong. And I was like, well, what's going on? And he's like, anna, I can't tell you.

[Lester Holt]

Finally he spoke the words, Anita was dead.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

This is, of course, my first time with any type of grief at this level. But I learned about myself in that moment. Like, I don't want people around. I don't want people coming in to ask me if I'm okay every five seconds, especially people that don't know me.

[Lester Holt]

Daniel was also taking it hard. I understand that Daniel and Anita had a very special relationship. They did. They were very close. Gordon and his wife Sharon adopted the three siblings when they were all very young. They spent their early childhood in sunny Southern California.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

It was a fun little childhood. Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

Lauren Lessig and Anita became forever friends in kindergarten. What was it about Anita that just really drew you to her? She was just positive and happy and just the best. I mean, she always did what was right. She never, like, wavered in that. Then when Anita was almost 14, Gordon decided to move the family up north to his hometown of Butte. One day your dad comes in and says, we're moving to North Dakota.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. Southern California is such. It's obviously very different than north central North Dakota for sure. For Anita, I think it was really hard. I mean, friendship was so important to her and leaving all of her friends behind and, I mean, it was a tough age, too. I mean, we went from being, you know, like being in a school where lots of kids look like us to being in a school where we're the only three black and brown kids there is pretty jarring, to say the least.

[Lester Holt]

How did she overcome that?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

You know, I think for Anita, she was always good with challenges. Like, she. There was really nothing that she couldn't make it through.

[Lester Holt]

What was your first impression of Anita? Just this, like, teeny, tiny little ball of energy and sunshine. Amber Nix met Anita when they were freshmen in high school. Even at that young age, she thought Anita was perfectly put together. Matching clothes, matching shoes to her clothes, matching bows in her hair that matched, her purse matched, and pink was her color. She was a pink kind of girl. She was Anita was always moving school, hanging out with friends, dancing. She joined a future business leaders club. And here she is doing a weather report for a class project.

[Nicole Rice]

This is Anita Knudsen reporting live from Calvin, North Dakota. There is a ginormous tornado coming towards.

[Lester Holt]

Us in the southeast. It is getting kind of bad. Larissa Rao loved Anita's can do generous spirit. She literally became friends with anybody. Like she always went towards the people that probably never would have a lot of friends. So she always tried to be friends with everybody. After high school, it was on to college in Minot, about an hour from Butte.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She wanted to be a teacher and she loved kids. Kids loved her.

[Lester Holt]

So she majored in elementary education at Minot State. After a semester in the dorms, Anita and one of her roommates, Nicole Thomas, decided to move off campus. I think they just wanted to have their own space. So then they were both like, let's just get an apartment together. So they did. Anita's apartment had become a crime scene. Those who knew and loved her gathered outside, brimming with questions for police. And police would have questions for some of them about Anita, her life and the people who surrounded her.

[Nicole Rice]

She got any guys or anything that she's interested in or that are interested in her?

[Lester Holt]

I don't know.

[Nicole Rice]

She was gorgeous though. So a lot of interest in it.

[Lester Holt]

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[Jenna Bush Hager]

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[Lester Holt]

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[Jenna Bush Hager]

Every morning brings a fresh new energy.

[Lester Holt]

And no matter what the day holds, we come to the Today show for all of it.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

We get the best start to the.

[Lester Holt]

Day because we started together. Watch the Today show weekdays at 7am on NBC.

[Nicole Rice]

Now they had the final answer. Or did they? Nothing has more suspense than at Dateline Mystery.

[Lester Holt]

And no one wants to wait to find out what happens next. That's why everyone needs Dateline premium, where listening is always ad free.

[Nicole Rice]

You get the whole story and nothing but the story. Or do You. Yes, actually, you do.

[Lester Holt]

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or.

[Nicole Rice]

Dateline premium.com.

[Lester Holt]

The quiet apartment complex where Anita Knutson lived was now a tangle of police activity and crime scene tape. What did you need to know about this apartment?

[Nicole Rice]

Just the layout. How many bedrooms it was. Who all lived in the apartment, what was out of place there?

[Lester Holt]

In a bedroom, clothed in a pink bathrobe, he saw Anita's body still on the bed.

[Nicole Rice]

I could see that she was kind of flopped over, laying on her stomach. I noticed her room seemed to be in order.

[Lester Holt]

So it didn't seem like there had been a struggle?

[Nicole Rice]

No, there did not seem to be a struggle at all. I had also looked around her bedroom and I noticed that her purse was there. I could see that there was cash in her purse, so I didn't feel like it had been any sort of a burglary or a robbery gone bad type of situation.

[Lester Holt]

They moved Anita's body to the floor.

[Nicole Rice]

We could see that she had a stab wound to her right chest area and also a stab wound to her sternum area. And then we also noticed on the mattress that there was a 5 to 6 inch circle of blood where blood had drained from her body and soaked into the mattress.

[Lester Holt]

Anita had been stabbed in the heart, and the evidence suggested she was killed Sunday. The day before then, right by Anita's bed, investigators made a key discovery. A knife with a distinctive tribal insignia on one side. There was blood on the blade and testing would confirm it was Anita's. Investigators gathered more evidence, like the missing screen from Anita's window. The maintenance man said he had taken it to be repaired earlier that day. It had been slashed.

[Nicole Rice]

It appeared that somebody had used a knife and cut kind of a backwards l cut into the screen.

[Lester Holt]

Is that how the killer got in, or did someone come through the apartment door? That door was locked when Anita's father tried to enter. So if someone came in that way, they would need a key. This wasn't a sort of lock that you could maybe pick or get in from another way. You needed an actual key, you needed a key? Yes, a key to unlock the door and relock it on departure. Four people had keys to the apartment. Anita, her roommate Nicole, the manager, and that maintenance man, Marty Annell. Police spoke with him that first night.

[Nicole Rice]

I happened to see the screen was cut, so I reviewed the screen to take it back to repair. And I put the shade and the rod back in the apartment.

[Lester Holt]

To an apartment into the same room where Anita lay dead. He said he didn't look in. But he did call out. No answer.

[Nicole Rice]

And could you tell at all if the. If it appeared that it. Somebody had gone through that window? It appeared that somebody didn't go through it.

[Lester Holt]

It appeared somebody came out just in those first initial hours. Was he ever a person of interest for you?

[Nicole Rice]

He was a person of interest of just knowing that he had knowledge of what was going on there or what happened there. So of course the maintenance guy would have access to keys.

[Lester Holt]

Something to consider as police dove into the investigation. Are you learning more about Anita while you're there at the scene?

[Nicole Rice]

Yes, we learned that she lived there with another girl.

[Lester Holt]

Anita's roommate, Nicole Thomas, was at work when police asked her to come to her apartment, now a crime scene. She said she'd been away most of the weekend at her parents home. She was in tears when they asked her about Anita.

[Nicole Rice]

She got any guys or anything that she's interested in or that are interested in her? I don't know. She's going to still. So a lot of guys mentioned. What else can you tell me? She have lots of friends?

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, a lot.

[Nicole Rice]

Popular girl?

[Lester Holt]

Yes.

[Nicole Rice]

Nice girl, I assume. Is there anything else you want to add to the statement this time? Nicole?

[Lester Holt]

No. They talked to Nicole one more time that night and she mentioned a dance club that Anita liked.

[Nicole Rice]

Any guys from there that you can think of?

[Lester Holt]

I don't know. A lot of people that are from there.

[Nicole Rice]

A lot of the guys.

[Lester Holt]

She's a really pretty girl. So a lot of the guys like.

[Nicole Rice]

To talk with her, dance with her, socialize with her?

[Lester Holt]

Yes. When you talk to people here, especially the people who were in the same building, what are they telling you? Did they hear anything, see anything?

[Nicole Rice]

For the most part, nobody really saw or heard anything during the time frame that we believe the homicide occurred.

[Lester Holt]

And no one in the complex seemed to know Anita all that well? No one except an old high school friend, 20 year old Tyler Schmaltz, who had an apartment close by. Police found him hanging around outside Anita's apartment that evening. Like everyone there. He said he was just trying to find out what happened to her. He told police he had recently spoken with Anita, so they questioned him in the crime van.

[Nicole Rice]

Do you have anybody mad at her that you can think of? No one, male or female?

[Lester Holt]

No.

[Nicole Rice]

No, everything was going okay for her as far as she told me. Is she a college student? Yes. Are you going to college?

[Lester Holt]

Yes.

[Nicole Rice]

So you'd see her college as well as occasionally, socially.

[Lester Holt]

Tyler took Anita to prom when she was new to high school. They had stayed Close for years. We all knew that he had a crush on her. Everyone knew it, but just didn't bother anybody. Police would have more questions for Tyler down the road, but at that moment they got busy bagging evidence. Anita's hair, clothing items and a pink sheet from her bed to send out for testing. As they did, the story of a well liked young college student killed in her own bedroom was becoming big news. There are no suspects at this time as police continue to canvass the neighborhood to find out if anyone knows more details. There was one person who might. Sergeant Goodman found his name on Anita's cell phone. On the last night of her life, she had been texting with a man named Michael Vann right before she was killed. So who was Michael Vann?

[Nicole Rice]

Well, I guess the million dollar question is here. Who would want to hurt her?

[Lester Holt]

As the news of 18 year old Anita Knutson's murder spilled into the city of Minot, the fear was palpable. Police arrived at the scene shortly after 5pm yesterday and found Knutson in her bedroom. It appears at this time that her.

[Nicole Rice]

Death was caused by an unknown intruder.

[Lester Holt]

I want to ask you just from the very beginning when this first happened, how major was this news?

[Nicole Rice]

Wow, it was, it was huge news.

[Lester Holt]

Kim Fundingsland was born and raised in Minot. He covered Anita's case first for the local TV station and later for the Minot Daily News. So it was monstrous news and the.

[Nicole Rice]

Whole community was mesmerized by the story and riveted to it.

[Lester Holt]

While some were riveted, Anita's family and friends were frozen in place. Was this a scary time for you? Definitely. For us living in Minot, what we think is a safe community and who really cares if your doors are locked or not. From that day on, the doors were definitely locked. When it got to be dark, the shades were pulled.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I felt like for a long time and I still am, I'm like very hyper aware of like where I'm at, who's around.

[Nicole Rice]

People were worried. I mean that, it's just, that's the way it was.

[Lester Holt]

Meanwhile, investigators began piecing together a picture of what happened in Anita's final moments. Looking through her phone, you saw some text messages that caught your eye.

[Nicole Rice]

Yeah. She had been texting Michael Vann into the late night, early morning hours of Sunday, June 3rd. And he appeared to be the last one to have any sort of a conversation with her.

[Lester Holt]

Police wanted to talk to him about that.

[Nicole Rice]

Michael, you came down here, obviously you heard the news about what occurred, is that correct? Yeah. And you want to talk about Anita Knutson, who you said was a friend of yours, is that correct?

[Lester Holt]

24 year old Michael Vann had been a military brat his entire life, but settled for a while in North Dakota. He told police that texting Anita late at night was nothing unusual. He worked at a local Wendy's and their schedules rarely aligned.

[Nicole Rice]

We always texted back and forth because I work during the day and like I work from the morning until the evening. She works in the evening until late at night usually. And we were always trying to talk to each other, but we were never on compatible schedule. So when she would get off, I would text her and usually we talk for a couple hours and either she said good night. R say good night.

[Lester Holt]

And while they regularly texted, he told police it had been a while since he'd actually seen Anita.

[Nicole Rice]

The last time I saw her was.

[Lester Holt]

I want to say, three weeks ago. Anita and Michael often ran into one another at a local downtown dance club where he said Anita never met a stranger.

[Nicole Rice]

Well, I guess the million dollar question is here. Who would want to hurt her? I don't know anybody would want to hurt her. She was a really nice person.

[Lester Holt]

A few days after Anita's murder, Michael visited visited Minot PD for a second interview. Police drilled down into his relationship with her.

[Nicole Rice]

I cared a lot about her. Huh. She was a really good person. She was probably the most decent person I met in a while.

[Lester Holt]

Michael and Anita's texts in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 3rd ranged from the mundane to the personal.

[Nicole Rice]

I asked her what she's doing. She said, I need a parking. So you're home alone again. Usually our roommate shows up midway through our conversations.

[Lester Holt]

While her roommate didn't show up, Anita's final text messages with Mike were just before 5am she asked about his past relationships. Anita wrote, how do you move on after being engaged twice? That's a huge life altering thing. He responded, you never move. You just become jaded. Hope that you find someone who will love you for you.

[Nicole Rice]

I texted Mike, so you're not gonna answer my last text that I sent her? And she goes, I didn't know what to say. And I said, well, you didn't have to say anything. I was looking for a reply. And then I waited for the reply to that and nothing came.

[Lester Holt]

Investigators pressed Mike further.

[Nicole Rice]

Do you know anybody for any reason might have wanted done this, Anybody you suspect or anything like that?

[Lester Holt]

No.

[Nicole Rice]

Did you do anything to hurt her man?

[Lester Holt]

Michael said he had been texting Anita from a friend's house. And he stayed there the rest of the night. Police told Michael he was free to go for now. Two days after Anita's murder, the medical examiner released the autopsy report. Was there any sexual assault?

[Nicole Rice]

There was nothing that we could see that would indicate that she was sexually assaulted. It was definitely something that we were concerned about and it was on our minds.

[Lester Holt]

But the autopsy did reveal something that piqued their interest.

[Nicole Rice]

We found out that there was superficial cuts or marks on Anita's neck. So it led us to believe that somebody is there kind of in her face, holding the knife to her neck, and then. And angry. And then that just escalated to the point of stabbing her.

[Lester Holt]

Hmm. When you think about those details, does that sound like possibly someone she knew? Complete stranger.

[Nicole Rice]

We felt like it was somebody that she knew.

[Lester Holt]

And as Minot police continued talking to those close to Anita, they got a promising tip.

[Nicole Rice]

We did have one witness come forward and say that she saw somebody running early that morning.

[Lester Holt]

It was a man running near Anita's apartment. He appeared to be in his late teens or early twenties, about 6 to 200 pounds, with dark hair. And there was something more. The witness said there was a stain on his shirt, possibly blood. It was their first big lead. Now they needed to find the running man. Maybe it's running away from a crime scene.

[Nicole Rice]

That's what she thought it could be.

[Lester Holt]

About two days after Anita Knudsen's murder, police were chasing a new tip. A woman said she saw a young dark haired man running right near Anita's apartment around the time of the murder. And he looked like he was in a big hurry. So she's thinking maybe it's not running out for exercise. Maybe it's running away from a crime scene.

[Nicole Rice]

That's. That's what she thought it could be.

[Lester Holt]

Minot police released the running man description to the media, and it did generate some tips, but none of them went anywhere. Back in Anita's hometown of Butte, her presence was everywhere. And on one particular day, her friends honored her with a brilliant burst of light. In true Anita style, there was an outpouring of love in Butte after Anita died. Yeah, leading up to the funeral, a lot of us girls had gotten together and we made bracelets and pins and decorated Main street with pink ribbons.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I mean, it's such a close knit community. It's really amazing. All over town, there's all these little pink ribbons tied up. You could drive by and it wouldn't be weird to see, like a pink bow tied to a light post type of thing.

[Lester Holt]

When Anita's friend Lauren arrived from California. She was blown away. I remember the entire town was pink. Every storefront, car, light post. Everything had a pink bow on it. We will miss you, Anita. Written in pink marker everywhere. Everywhere you drove there was just pink everywhere. Were you surprised to see the whole town just painted pink for her? Yeah, I was from Southern California, so everybody doesn't know everybody. So coming out here and just. It's definitely a smaller town. And everybody was affected out here just because everybody knows each other. And on the day of the funeral, the entire community gathered to say goodbye. What stands out to you the most about her funeral?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I think just how many people were there to celebrate my sister? I mean, she truly was so well loved. I mean, the whole church was full. They ended up having to open up the gym at the school for all of the overflow people, and they watched it like, on a stream.

[Lester Holt]

Did you speak that day?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I did, yep. I got up there and just said a few words about my sister and just talked about how just effervescent she was and beautiful and perfect, really. I think I wore one of Anita's dresses to her funeral.

[Lester Holt]

To her funeral? Yeah. Yeah. Was that a way of feeling close to her?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

But in the midst of the grief, there were suspicions, rumors about who could be involved in Anita's murder. At the time, did you remember any whispers about who it could have been?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, I mean, tons of whispers all the time. That's, you know, people never stop whispering. But, yeah, constant, you know, Nicole's name, of course, has always been. Never not been in the mix.

[Lester Holt]

Police had also been hearing things about Anita's roommate, Nicole.

[Nicole Rice]

We learned that they had kind of a poor relationship, that there was some minor fights and some arguing between the two of them.

[Lester Holt]

They had roommate drama.

[Nicole Rice]

They did, yes.

[Lester Holt]

Police were there at the funeral, watching from their car as mourners arrived. At the same time, they asked Nicole to come in for another interview later that day, a move that may not have sat well with her mother. Anita's friends remember a painful exchange between Anita's mom and Nicole's. And I overheard Nicole's mom asking her rather aggressively, like, how could you think my daughter did this? I can't believe that this is the rumor going around. I'm paraphrasing, of course, because I can't remember the exact words, but something to the effect of, you know, I can't believe that people are blaming my daughter for this. This is all happening at the funeral. Yes. Before the actual funeral started. Yep.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I, like, turned around and, like, it was Just wild. It was just, it was just wild behavior for an adult.

[Lester Holt]

But the dust settled and the memorial moved on and a very close friend took over. Tyler Schmaltz, the young man on the scene that first night. He was now in the middle of Anita's goodbye. We made a slideshow for her parents. What kind of pictures did you want to pick of Anita? The prom ones where she's dancing, where she's with friends and family. Yeah, just her living her life. He also took it upon himself to arrange a send off with pink balloons we handed out to everybody, all 150 of them. Through it all, police wondered if the killer was among the mourners. And they had some very particular questions for that close friend, Tyler Schmaltz. Three days after the funeral, Tyler found himself once again talking with police.

[Nicole Rice]

Had a crush on her.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Nicole Rice]

Did she know that?

[Lester Holt]

Yes, she did. Did you have anybody that you thought that you suspected at the time back then? Tyler.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Hey everyone, I'm Jenna Bush Hager from.

[Lester Holt]

The Today show and I'm excited to share my podcast Open Book with Jenna. It is back for season two. Each week celebrities, experts, friends and authors will share candid stories with me about their lives and new projects. Projects.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Guests like Rebecca Yarros, Kristin Hannah, Ego Wodem and more.

[Lester Holt]

Like a good book, you'll leave feeling inspired and entertained.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Join me for my podcast Open Book with Jenna. Listen now on Apple Podcasts.

[Nicole Rice]

Hey everybody. I'm Al Roker from the Today show. Let's kick start your wellness journey with the all new Start Today app. Everything you need for a healthier you all in one place place fitness challenges for all levels. Meal plans that are easy and delicious and so much more.

[Lester Holt]

It's built to fit your lifestyle and our experts will guide you every step of the way. Come on, let's do this. To subscribe, download start today from the app store on your Apple device now Terms apply. Cancel anytime through Apple under profile settings. She was the victim at the heart of this case, but investigators were learning she was so much more. By all accounts, Anita Knutson was magnetic. She makes everybody around her a better person. I knew she was something special. Police learned she was an object of admiration and more than a few crushes. But she also knew how to fend them off. She doesn't like judge people, but if you were like too persistent on things, she would tell you like, no, like, leave me alone, back away. So what if someone loved her and she didn't love them back? When you think back on that time, did you have anybody that you thought that you suspected at the time back then? Tyler. You thought Tyler? Mm, me and my mom both did. Like Anita. Tyler also went to Minot's State after high school. Tyler Schmaltz actually lived in the same apartment complex as Anita?

[Nicole Rice]

He did.

[Lester Holt]

I mean, just proximity alone. Does that make you take a closer look at him?

[Nicole Rice]

He's somebody that kind of always was in our minds. Could he have been involved? Can we come up with any motive that he would have had?

[Lester Holt]

Tyler always seemed to be in the center of the tragedy. He was on the scene the night Anita died. He helped plan her funeral, launched a Facebook page in Anita's honor. And police say he checked in with them a lot. He seemed, in their view, almost too involved. If there's somebody who's calling, sometimes it may be a little too much. Right. Like wanting to know too much about the case or that can cause you to raise your antenna of, why do they want to know so much?

[Nicole Rice]

Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

Did you get any of that with Tyler Schmaltz?

[Nicole Rice]

We did, and it got to a point where it did raise some red flags with us.

[Lester Holt]

So it really kept him on your radar because he kept calling and pushing for information?

[Nicole Rice]

Yes. His name came up many times in different meetings about the case, and if there was anything further we needed to do with him or ask of him. So, yeah, his name definitely stayed on our radar.

[Lester Holt]

You knew Tyler? Yeah, knew him as your sister's prom date. What did you think when you heard his name come up? Did you think that he could have been involved?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. I mean, I think for me, anyone and everyone is a suspect.

[Lester Holt]

Even her friends?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

Even a prom date?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

Eleven days after the killing, police asked Tyler to come down to the station for another interview. And this time, their question questions were more pointed.

[Nicole Rice]

When's the last time you saw Anita?

[Lester Holt]

Thursday night. Thursday night. Okay.

[Nicole Rice]

And where did you see her at? She came over and watched a movie. Watched a movie at your place and they went for a walk?

[Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Nicole Rice]

Just the two of you? Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

Okay. He said they were just friends but got a crush on her.

[Nicole Rice]

Did she know that? Yeah, she did. She said you have boys right now.

[Lester Holt]

And you want to go home. He seemed to have a real romantic interest in Anita, but she kind of friend zoned him pretty quickly.

[Nicole Rice]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

Okay. Had you been down to the station before? No, that was my first time there. What was that like? They wanted my fingerprints and DNA voluntarily. So everyone in the complex, they asked, come down and give fingerprints and DNA. Then they asked just generic follow up. Questions. But their questions went far beyond generic.

[Nicole Rice]

Have you ever had any sexual relationship with her?

[Lester Holt]

No.

[Nicole Rice]

Have you ever kissed her? No. Have you ever tried to kiss her? No. Were you ever bothered by the fact that she didn't like you or didn't want to go out with you? No.

[Lester Holt]

No.

[Nicole Rice]

Seriously? Yeah. That didn't. That didn't hurt your feelings or anything? Okay. Because it would hurt my feelings.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Nicole Rice]

I don't want to. Did it ever make me mad? Would you ever hurt her because it made you mad?

[Lester Holt]

Tyler says he didn't find those questions particularly alarming. Did you ever think that maybe they were looking at you? Never. I never got that feeling from them. Were you ever nervous during those interviews? The first one? Yes. Yeah, I just couldn't believe what was happening. I've never been in a police van before and talking to police ever.

[Nicole Rice]

Just weird.

[Lester Holt]

Sure, sure. Anybody would be nervous. Yeah, yeah. There was just a lot happening. Yeah, there was a tunnel happening, police everywhere, crime tape everywhere. And I'm in the back of the morgue's van talking to police. It just was weird. Tyler told police he was at home that night playing video games. He gave them that DNA sample and after the questioning, they let him go for the time being. How long did Tyler remain a person of interest?

[Nicole Rice]

Tyler remained a person of interest pretty much throughout the investigation. There was different investigators that had different theories of what could have happened and who could have been responsible. His name was always somebody that. That we thought of.

[Lester Holt]

So they weren't done with Tyler Schmaltz, but there was someone else they wanted to talk to.

[Nicole Rice]

There's a chance that you crawled in the window and killed this girl. No, I didn't, bro. I'm murder, man.

[Lester Holt]

And a fresh set of eyes would join the case. Could they finally crack it?

[Nicole Rice]

They provided resources, DNA, experts, testing.

[Lester Holt]

When Cole justice came to town, word spread very quickly. Yeah, it was no secret that they were there. Since 18 year old Anita Knudsen had been found dead in her off campus college apartment, police had been working around the clock talking to possible suspects, but so far none had panned out. Then about a week after the murder, John Klug, a patrolman at Minot pd, responded to a call about a man who'd entered an apartment and was hiding in a bedroom closet.

[Nicole Rice]

We entered the apartment, searched the room. We kept ordering him out, and eventually he came out.

[Lester Holt]

The responding officers noticed the man seemed dazed, out of it, perhaps intoxicated. And then they made a discovery.

[Nicole Rice]

We searched him in his back pants pocket. He had a knife Klug realized this.

[Lester Holt]

MO A man with a knife who'd broken into an apartment, could match the profile of Anita's killer. Police identified the man as 17 year old Devin Hall. A potential new suspect was welcome news to Sergeant Dave Goodman. What do you come to learn about Devin Hall?

[Nicole Rice]

Devin hall is somewhat of a troubled teenager. He was in a facility for troubled teens. He had been involved in some break ins where he'd gone in through some windows. So that started raising some suspicion as well.

[Lester Holt]

Then Goodman got some intriguing information he needed to run down.

[Nicole Rice]

I ended up talking to somebody that works for the Family Services department. She made the comment that she hoped that Devin hall was not involved in the murder in Minot.

[Lester Holt]

And this is someone who knew Devin hall, had worked with him in some capacity?

[Nicole Rice]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

And it was enough. She knew enough about him to say, I hope he's not involved.

[Nicole Rice]

That's correct.

[Lester Holt]

You don't say that about somebody unless you think they could possibly be involved.

[Nicole Rice]

Right.

[Lester Holt]

Sergeant Goodman didn't delay. He, along with an FBI agent, crossed the North Dakota border into a remote corner of Montana, where they got in touch with one of Devin's relatives.

[Nicole Rice]

I talked to one relative. I showed her a picture of the knife that was used to kill Anita. She initially positively identified that knife as at one time belonging to her or her mother.

[Lester Holt]

So you have someone who's saying, oh, yeah, that murder weapon, that was ours, that was in the family?

[Nicole Rice]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

It was time for Goodman to go see Devin Hall. He was being held at a juvenile facility after his arrest for trespassing. Investigators wanted to know when Devin had arrived in Minot. He said he got there by train on Sunday, June 3, and met some friends.

[Nicole Rice]

So I met him over there and lineup and went to John's house and smoked some weed. And this was On Sunday the 3rd?

[Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Nicole Rice]

Okay.

[Lester Holt]

Investigators believe Anita died in the early morning hours of June 3, just after she sent that final text to Michael Vann. And while Devin did admit to the trespassing on June 11, he said he had nothing to do with Anita's murder.

[Nicole Rice]

If there's a chance that you called him the window and killed this girl. No, I didn't, bro. I married a man. He denied being involved in the murder in Minot, denied knowing Anita at all.

[Lester Holt]

But investigators thought he fit the bill, so they pushed harder.

[Nicole Rice]

There's been a murder here where it's just brutal. Oh, sometimes. Sometimes when you don't meet for something to happen. I know you got trying to send a case on me for a murder up there. I Didn't do telling me the truth. I didn't do nothing, man. I don't know that girl. I know I didn't kill no bee up there. I'm telling you guys the truth, man.

[Lester Holt]

Then Goodman pulled out a photo of the knife.

[Nicole Rice]

I showed Devin a picture of the murder weapon, and he right away showed interest in it and thought that it looked like something that he had had at one point.

[Lester Holt]

So he recognized it.

[Nicole Rice]

He thought he recognized it.

[Lester Holt]

He readily admitted, oh, yeah, I have something like that, yes.

[Nicole Rice]

Yeah. I was very surprised, too, that Devin admitted that. That he thought that he had a knife that. That I was showing him was used in a murder.

[Lester Holt]

Devin hall recognized the knife that killed Anita. But Sergeant Goodman says something wasn't right. Devin hall was so cooperative. Goodman says he started having second thoughts about him as a suspect.

[Nicole Rice]

He didn't seem to be nervous about that at all. Somebody that was involved in a murder with that knife wouldn't be so open to talk about it.

[Lester Holt]

In a sense, his honest reaction did him a favor.

[Nicole Rice]

In this case, Yes, I believe so.

[Lester Holt]

Goodman continued talking to Devin's friends and family about his whereabouts the weekend Anita was killed. One of them was actually taking home video during Devin's time in Minotaur.

[Nicole Rice]

The lady that picked up Devin and the other people from the train in Minot recorded them on video and was able to give us that video showing that they got off the train on Sunday evening about 9, 9:20 9:30pm Investigators.

[Lester Holt]

Believe that video placed Devin's arrival in Minot on the evening of June 3rd, after Anita's murder. So he's got video backing up his alibi.

[Nicole Rice]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

Sergeant Goodman also went back to Montana, where he met with Devin's family member again, who told him the knife didn't belong to Devin after all.

[Nicole Rice]

Eventually, I ended up coming back to Wolf Point to talk more with her about the knife. And at that point, she had remembered that the knife that she was talking about had a wolf medallion on it and not an Indian head dress.

[Lester Holt]

Goodman believed that the knife used to kill Anita was not Devin's. That once promising lead now felt like a dead end. At that point, that was your strongest suspect. And now he's cleared. Where do you go from there?

[Nicole Rice]

At that point, we wanted to keep an open mind and investigate everybody that. That we could think of that would be somebody that would have crossed paths with Anita.

[Lester Holt]

The investigation that once had momentum slowed to a near halt, but not for long. Remember the running man, Minot? Police are hoping to put a name to this face.

[Nicole Rice]

Now they had the final answer. Or did they? Nothing has more suspense than a Dateline mystery.

[Lester Holt]

And no one wants to wait to find out what happens next.

[Nicole Rice]

That's why everyone needs Dateline Premium, where listening is always ad free. You get the whole story and nothing but the story. Or do you? Yes, actually, you do.

[Lester Holt]

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Dateline premium.com. if there's one thing Minot police did not lack, it was tips. In the year after Anita's murder, they tracked them down by the dozens. But as they looked into possible suspects, there was a lingering question. Who was that running man seen by Anita's apartment around the time of her death?

[Nicole Rice]

It was definitely a loose end that we needed to tie up.

[Lester Holt]

In a last ditch effort to find him, police released a sketch. Minot police are hoping to put a name to this face. They came out with a sketch, and I remember we published it in the newspaper and it was on television and it worked well. They got a call anyway.

[Nicole Rice]

We had an individual come forward and say, hey, I was running in the neighborhood. And he looked like the drawing.

[Lester Holt]

He agreed to take a polygraph and give a DNA sample. Police later concluded he was just out for a jog that morning.

[Nicole Rice]

There was nothing to indicate that he was doing anything else.

[Lester Holt]

It was another unfortunate dead end in a case that seemed to be slowing down. Even the DNA found on the murder weapon offered no help.

[Nicole Rice]

There was mixtures of, of different DNA profiles on that knife, but nothing that we were able to ever turn into anything useful in the investigation.

[Lester Holt]

And all those other items sampled at the crime scene never led to a forensic profile of the killer. Investigators were growing frustrated.

[Nicole Rice]

I didn't like it, just knowing that we had this cold case.

[Lester Holt]

Are you starting to think my sister's case may never get solved?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, I definitely thought that. And I, I would certainly email, like the Minot Police Department, like, hey, where are things at?

[Lester Holt]

As years kept passing, the police were fighting against time. Investigators retired, witnesses left town. The maintenance man from the apartment complex, Marty Annell, died by suicide in 2009. And Michael Vann, the guy Anita was texting right before her death, passed away that same year. Just the sheer passage of time was taking away people who possibly knew something about this.

[Nicole Rice]

That's correct.

[Lester Holt]

Police came to believe that Marty and Michael were not involved in the murder. And the same went for Anita's friend, Tyler. Police learned he'd been playing those video games with a friend, and he struck investigators as genuine.

[Nicole Rice]

He was a decent guy. He was very cooperative with us.

[Lester Holt]

What's Tyler, like, what did you think of him? A well meaning person. So there were a lot of people who were pointing at you. Yeah. But they had no facts or evidence to back any of that up. What was that like for you, Tyler? It was hard. Did you push back? Did you speak out? There's nothing behind it all. So I didn't feel the need to confront it because my consciousness is clean. As possible suspects fell away, it did little to ease the suffering of those who had loved Anita. Not for her friends, her family, and especially not for her little brother, Daniel. One day in the spring of 2013, six years after Anita's death, her sister Anna got a call that would once again shatter her life.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

My mom calls me and she says, zach's coming to pick you up.

[Lester Holt]

Zach was Anna's then boyfriend, now husband.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

And I knew almost immediately that something was wrong. Like, this is the second phone call I've gotten where somebody's coming to pick me up is like almost like the same exact scenario. Very. And I call Zach and I'm like, what's going on? And I'm like yelling at him kind of on the phone and. And he tells me on the phone that Daniel has passed away. And I just drop to my knees.

[Lester Holt]

Her beloved brother Daniel Knudson was gone at 22.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I just felt like my whole body just kind of like fell away in that moment. Yeah. And my brother Daniel died by suicide.

[Lester Holt]

Anita and Daniel had always been close.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Danielle too. Just like Anita was so vibrant and just like a total light. I mean, the two of them. I mean, just like people could only dream of having that. Just the brilliance that they had.

[Lester Holt]

Did you see the change in him after she died?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. I mean, he got a giant tattoo on his arm of one of her senior photos. And he was just different after she passed. Just different. He just maybe didn't hold on to joy. In the same way Anna and her.

[Lester Holt]

Parents buried her brother in the grave right beside Anita's, the family couldn't help but feel that whoever killed Anita took Daniel too. Do you believe that Daniel would still be here today? Absolutely. If Anita was Anita was I? Absolutely.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Doctor, the person, whomever, you know, killed my sister also, you know, certainly was a catalyst for Daniel making the choice that he made.

[Lester Holt]

You felt that this killer struck your family twice?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Totally.

[Lester Holt]

For Anita's family, it was too much. They refused to let the killer take any more from them. So they doubled down and brought together a small army of family and friends. There were always things we thought we could do. We did everything we could think possible to keep her name alive, keep her memory alive. Tyler and Anita's aunt Karen set up billboards around Minot and Butte. We worked together a lot. He would raise money to pay for some the billboards. We keep pushing and trying and following leads and putting the billboards up, keeping her name in the media, on the news. On June 4th of every year, I put a tribute in the Minot Daily.

[Nicole Rice]

She would disseminate information and make sure that nobody ever forgot that a murderer is still out there.

[Lester Holt]

So it became almost a cadence. Every year, Clockwork, there was another story.

[Nicole Rice]

Clockwork. She always wanted to keep that case alive in everybody's mind, so nobody forgot.

[Lester Holt]

About it, and nobody did the newspaper blurbs, the media interviews. Of course, that's a way to keep Anita's memory alive. But for you guys, was it also a way to kind of signal to Minot police, hey, we're here?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I definitely think it was.

[Lester Holt]

Keep some pressure on them.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's like we're not forgetting about this.

[Lester Holt]

And that's when Tyler got an idea. Invite the true crime TV show Hold justice to Minot. So you'd seen them come in, come into towns, take a case that had been seemingly forgotten, and solve it. Maybe they could do that here. Yeah. Tyler and Anita's other friends started a petition in 2015 to convince Cold justice to take up Anita's case. You got more than a thousand signatures on that? Oh, we got, like, thousands of signatures on it. Thousands of signatures. It would take nearly seven years, but cold justice would come to town. Maybe this cold case would finally heat up.

[Nicole Rice]

She got drunk and she told you that she killed Anita.

[Lester Holt]

In 2020, John Klug became the police chief in Minot. Anita Knutson's case had been so cold for so long, he knew it needed a jolt.

[Nicole Rice]

We got the physical case files, and they were all in binders, and we got a small bookshelf that would hold all the binders.

[Lester Holt]

Klug assigned two investigators to take a fresh look. Then the real jolt. We were contacted by cold justice in 2022. Cold justice, the investigative crime program on our sister network Oxygen, offered to help with Anita's case. Klug said yes.

[Nicole Rice]

They provided resources, DNA experts, testing. They brought staff in to help keep track of information, to kind of look at everything.

[Lester Holt]

When Cole justice came to town, word spread very quickly. It was no secret that they were there. They were garnering a ton of attention. Did it feel like there was a new buzz? It had the effect that they wanted it Brought attention back to Anita and got people talking. Cold justice spent more than a week with Minot police. Together. They went over the cases files. They brought in witnesses with both Minot police and Cold justice doing the questioning. And they put people back in the hot seat, like Anita's high school friend, Tyler. You would never do anything like that, though. Along the way, the double investigative team of Cold justice and Minot PD got a bombshell tip. A man named William May came forward. He said about a year after the homicide, a woman he dated confessed to killing Anita.

[Nicole Rice]

She got drunk and she told you that she killed Anita. Do you remember that correct?

[Lester Holt]

Yes. And who was William dating at that time? Anita's roommate, Nicole Thomas.

[Nicole Rice]

I mean, she was belligerently drunk, and.

[Lester Holt]

That'S what was said.

[Nicole Rice]

And there was multiple people that heard it.

[Lester Holt]

And then I tried to get her.

[Nicole Rice]

To say it when she was sober, but she wouldn't.

[Lester Holt]

Police and Cold justice went through the files and learned the roommates were fighting about a lot of Anita's alarm clock, Nicole's aquarium. Amber Nix said she heard all about it. Nicole had a fish tank. Anita didn't like the fish tank. I think at one point, Anita unplugged it. I would imagine Nicole wasn't very happy. She was very unhappy. The tension was reaching a boiling point. I mean, it was just constant arguments between the two. So much so that Gordon, Anita's dad, installed a lock on Anita's door.

[Nicole Rice]

There had been talk about them figuring out the apartment and going their separate ways.

[Lester Holt]

So they were getting ready to split up, move out.

[Nicole Rice]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

It was that bad.

[Nicole Rice]

Yes.

[Lester Holt]

Then there were the text messages between Nicole and Anita in the months before the murder. In one, Nicole wrote, what goes around comes around. I have tried the being nice strategy. And that just obviously didn't get the point across. Amber also remembered Nicole making an odd comment after Anita's body was found. She told us that she had to go to the apartment, I believe, the next day to see if anything had been taken or moved. And then she stated that they better not have taken my pink ipod. Her pink ipod. Right. And it was just a strange thing to think about in a time like that. This wasn't hard proof of anything. And Nicole didn't seem to be living the life of someone weighed down by a violent secret. She still lived in Minot, was a wife, a mother to a daughter, and was close to her family. But still, in 2022, police and the Cold justice team wanted to question her again, and she agreed.

[Nicole Rice]

Tell me about the.

[Lester Holt]

The incident with your Fish tank. Fish tank. Oh, one of my friends poured beer in it and filled it with beer instead of water. Okay. I don't remember anything else about the fish tank.

[Nicole Rice]

Was anything missing from your room? No. Did you ever tell him an ipod was missing?

[Lester Holt]

I think my ipod was missing, but then I ended up finding it in my car somewhere.

[Nicole Rice]

If someone told you were at a party with William and you said you killed Anita, would that they be lying?

[Lester Holt]

Would definitely be lying. That would be a horrible thing for anybody to say. Nicole sensed law enforcement had heard a lot of stories about her that she said unfairly suggested she hurt Anita.

[Nicole Rice]

Why would people do that?

[Lester Holt]

I don't know. I don't know if people just were trying to put the pieces together themselves. Investigators came to doubt Nicole's alibi. At first, she said she'd spent all weekend with her family, miles away from Minotaur. But according to police, her story kept shifting. At one point, she spent Saturday night watching a movie with her mom and sister. At another, she'd gone to a bar to see her cousin. There's just a lot of things, Nicole, that over the years, your story has changed so many times. This has been 13 years ago. What do you mean? I can't remember supper. Nicole insisted she didn't have anything to do with Anita's death. I never hurt anybody. I want this taken care of and I want it solved. And I want people to know that it wasn't me because it wasn't me. After spending nearly an hour at the station, Nicole was done. I feel so attacked. I want to, like, get a lawyer.

[Nicole Rice]

We're not attacking.

[Lester Holt]

I want to get a lawyer. I can't talk anymore.

[Nicole Rice]

That's fine. And we're done.

[Lester Holt]

Done anything. Nicole walked out of the station, but Minot police weren't done with her yet. Armed with the information from William May, they presented their findings to the Ward county state's attorney. The case against Nicole might have been circumstantial, but the prosecutors felt it was enough. With cameras rolling, Anita's family gathered. Cold justice captured the big moment, the moment Anita's family had been awaiting for nearly 15 years. A Minot police detective became emotional when she shared the news.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

We are on board with moving forward.

[Lester Holt]

With criminal charges from Nicole Thomas. She's gonna be arrested.

[Nicole Rice]

It's a load off of all of our shoulders. I really had the focus to stay collected myself. There was so much emotion.

[Lester Holt]

A few days later, Chief Klug made news of the arrest public.

[Nicole Rice]

At about 3:25pm 34 year old Nicole Rice was arrested for murder.

[Lester Holt]

The next day, Nicole appeared in court virtually from the local jail.

[Nicole Rice]

Ms. Rice, is there anything you would.

[Lester Holt]

Like to say before I set your bond, ma'am?

[Nicole Rice]

No, sir.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I mean I just like felt so, I think shocked, but also so angry. There's a person who they're arresting who has gotten to live her life very normally for the last 15 years. She's done these things that are so normal and my sister didn't get a chance to do any of that.

[Lester Holt]

Anita's family felt the state's attorneys had a chance to set things right. But it would take years for Anita's case to finally see a jury. And when it did, it would be an all out fight. We are confident that you are going to find Nicole Thomas Rice guilty.

[Nicole Rice]

It was pressure from a TV show. They put an incredible amount of pressure to bring charges in this case.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Every morning brings a fresh new energy.

[Lester Holt]

And no matter what the day holds, we come to the Today show for all of it. We get the best start to the day because we started together. Watch the Today show weekdays at 7am on NBC. It was late March 2025, but winter still had a grip on Grand Forks, North Dakota. That's where Nicole Thomas, now Nicole Rice, was facing possible life in prison for the murder of Anita Knudsen. It had been three years since her arrest. Anita's little sister Anna was now 32 and bracing for the horror of once again hearing the details of her sister's murder.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Going through this the very first time as a 15 year old person and then going through this again through the trial still felt like somebody had just died, like my sister had died a second time.

[Lester Holt]

That really is why that was important. Prosecutor Tiffany Sorgan opened on a poetic note. You're going to hear whispers from the past across the void of time that led to these charges. Silent no more, she laid out the prosecution's theory. State intends to show you evidence there was bad blood between these two girls and their living situation was highly toxic. State intends to show you evidence that on the early morning hours of June 3, 2007, Nicole Thomas Rice stabbed Anita Knudsen twice in the chest, killing her. To get a conviction, the prosecutors had to convince the jury that only Nicole Rice had the motive and the opportunity to kill Anita. First, they took the jury back to that terrible day by calling Anita's 80 year old mother Sharon to the stand. How often did you speak with Anita? Oh, all the time.

[Nicole Rice]

It seemed like daily almost.

[Lester Holt]

Sharon remembered how she couldn't get Anita on the phone, how she Asked her husband to go check on her. What was the next thing you heard about where your daughter was?

[Nicole Rice]

He called one of my neighbors in.

[Lester Holt]

Butte and had her come and stay with me while he told me on.

[Nicole Rice]

The phone what he found.

[Lester Holt]

And what was that? He found Anita dead. Anita's 90 year old father, Gordon, relived that moment on the stand. What did you see when you were at the window?

[Nicole Rice]

I seen Anita.

[Lester Holt]

Where was Anita?

[Nicole Rice]

She was just lying in bed, just inside the window.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Oh. Just kind of tore me up. I just. It made me so sad.

[Lester Holt]

Was it hard for you to watch?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Nicole Rice]

I walked in and put my hand on her leg and she was cold.

[Lester Holt]

Prosecutors then turned to an essential question. Did the killer get in and out of that apartment with a key or through that slashed screen? They showed the jury an experiment conducted about a week after the murder. Minot police made an identical cut in a new screen and then tried to climb through it without tearing it further.

[Nicole Rice]

What did you learn from that? I learned that after doing that, I didn't feel that it was possible that the person that committed the homicide entered or exited out the window.

[Lester Holt]

The state suggested that cut screen was staged, a killer's attempt at misdirection, and that the killer got in and out through the door with a key. Laura Knapp, the apartment manager, testified the door was locked when she let Anita's dad inside.

[Nicole Rice]

You had to have a key to.

[Lester Holt]

Entrance and to leave the apartment to have it locked. So you couldn't just pull it shut behind you and it would lock?

[Nicole Rice]

No, you had to have the key to do it.

[Lester Holt]

Prosecutors told the jury that only four people had keys. Anita, the apartment manager, Marty the maintenance man, and Nicole. Throughout the trial, there was an elephant in the courtroom. The cold justice TV show. The prosecution had to address it because the defense certainly would. So the prosecution asked the most recent lead, detective Sergeant Carmen Asham, to clarify the program's role in her investigation. Now, Sergeant, I know there's been a lot of talk about cold justice. Yes. You were assigned to this case before cold justice came on, is that correct?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Correct.

[Lester Holt]

Was cold justice calling the shots? No. Sergeant Asham told the jury how thoroughly her own team had investigated possible suspects and then cleared them. And how Nicole's inconsistencies about where she was the night of the murder led to her arrest. What did you find that was inconsistent? Her statements about her whereabouts the weekend of the murder. Did her statements change over time? They did. What's more, according to the sergeant, Nicole was less than honest about her feelings toward Anita, Anytime an investigator brought up information that they had received about them fighting or arguing, she downplayed it. Okay. Specifically fighting about what? The alarm clock, the fish tank. Primarily, those were the issues that came up. In fact, a witness testified that Nicole blamed Anita for killing her fish just a week before Anita was killed. Nicole's own aunt, Brenda Glintz, testified that Nicole's hatred for Anita continued after her murder. What'd she say? She deserved to die. The aunt admitted to the court that she didn't want to be there, but she testified under subpoena that her niece said something that seemed to put her at the scene of the crime.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

She told me that whoever did this.

[Lester Holt]

Cut the screen. She said that it was so horrible.

[Nicole Rice]

She said to just see Anita lying.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

There, but she looks so peaceful covered up.

[Lester Holt]

The screen and Anita's body were, in fact, gone by the time police brought Nicole to the apartment. So her comments to her aunt were significant to investigators because it shows that.

[Nicole Rice]

The only other person that would know these details are people that are someone that was at the crime scene or somebody that did the murder.

[Lester Holt]

Nicole's old boyfriend, William May, told the jury what he had told Cold justice and Minot police that during a party, Nicole had actually confessed.

[Nicole Rice]

Nicole and I were sitting on the couch, and someone from the kitchen was talking about it. And that's when it was stated from Nicole Rice. It was that she had did it, that she had killed Anita. Nicole said that?

[Lester Holt]

Yes.

[Nicole Rice]

Okay.

[Lester Holt]

Then another witness testified to almost the same thing, that after a party, Nicole had confessed to her. What did she specifically state to you? I'm not 100%, word for word, but that she had gotten into an argument with her and had stabbed her. The prosecution argued with all the evidence, There was only one. One possible conclusion. In the early morning hours of June 3, 2007, Nicole Rice took this knife and plunged it into the chest of this girl and killed her. But defense attorneys would have something to say about that. They would argue that the investigation was a mess, and the presence of a TV show made it even messier.

[Nicole Rice]

How would you rate the overall investigation in this case? I hate to be critical, but not very good. You're gonna hear a lot of evidence in this case.

[Lester Holt]

Right from the start, defense attorney Rick sand made one thing perfectly clear. The evidence the state had presented against Nicole hadn't changed much over the years, although something did reignite the investigation in 2022. And it wasn't exactly evidence.

[Nicole Rice]

It was pressure from a TV show. A nationally syndicated program that came in, worked with the Minot police department didn't dig up anything of substance, but put an incredible amount of pressure on the state's attorney's office, the police department, to bring charges in this case.

[Lester Holt]

Piece by piece, the defense worked to take apart the state's case. Like the theory that the killer had to have a key and didn't go through the window. The defense suggested that for months after the murder, detectives like Robert barnard were saying the opposite.

[Nicole Rice]

That you speculated that someone exiting through that window had caught the curtain and the curtain rod. That was my most reasonable assumption at the time, yes. Okay. On their way out of the window, it would seem to me that the most reasonable conclusion on average person could reach, knowing what I knew at the time, that if they exited through the window, it was inside out.

[Lester Holt]

The defense suggested some witness accounts changed over the years, like that from Nicole's aunt, for instance, who testified about Nicole's hatred for Anita.

[Nicole Rice]

Do you recall saying you had some health issues and you have some memory loss?

[Lester Holt]

Yes.

[Nicole Rice]

Now, are you aware in these interviews you've had with detective asham, you didn't say anything about Nicole saying Anita deserved to die? This is the first time we're hearing that. Are you aware of that? Nicole did say Anita deserved to die, correct? That's what you told the detective? I did. Okay. Thank you.

[Lester Holt]

When it came time to cross examine sergeant asham, Rick sand challenged her competence, her integrity, and her judgment, suggesting she ignored viable suspects developed by the first investigators.

[Nicole Rice]

Did you ever talk to Tyler schmaltz?

[Lester Holt]

I did.

[Nicole Rice]

Had you read in the reports that they were concerned he was obsessed with Anita?

[Lester Holt]

Yes. Tyler didn't hear any of this. As a possible witness, he was barred from the trial. So that was the hardest part, not being able to watch a whole trial for a whole week where they're talking about you, accusing you and saying stuff about you, and you can't be there to defend yourself. And then came the heart of the defense case. To show the jury that the partnership between cold justice and the minot police department had skewed the investigation toward Nicole. To do that, the defense called just one witness, Legal consultant and former FBI agent Doug Koons.

[Nicole Rice]

Now, there's been some testimony from sergeant ashram about inconsistencies of. In Nicole's interviews. Yes. You heard of that? What are your thoughts about those inconsistencies? You know, I saw them, too. I don't see anything that jumps out to me is like, oh, my God, we got her. You know, it's. It's small details. It's like we went from The. The house in Velva to the family function, and then. Okay, in this first version, we left out the bar. But why is that significant? She still isn't back in Minot where she would have had access to Anita.

[Lester Holt]

He said those were minor inconsistencies. They came from multiple interviews with Nicole spanning 18 years. And Coons said the cold justice Minot PD investigation, investigation ignored a suspect that was staring them right in the face.

[Nicole Rice]

It jumped right out to me that they left out Devin Hall.

[Lester Holt]

Devin Hall. He was the teenager who arrived by train around the time of the murder. He had a record for burglary and was currently incarcerated.

[Nicole Rice]

Now, you said Cold justice came in for 10 days, correct?

[Lester Holt]

About that, yeah.

[Nicole Rice]

What day did you guys interview Devin hall on those 10 days? We did not.

[Lester Holt]

That was a big omission, according to the defense. And remember the running man tip that surfaced early in the investigation?

[Nicole Rice]

Have you seen photographs of Devin Hall? I have. Can you describe him to the court at the time? He looks fit, about 200 pounds, 6 foot 2, short hair, dark hair. I don't know what color his eyes are. It matches this description given by Becky Ehrman of a person that she saw running away from the scene that night.

[Lester Holt]

A local guy had identified himself as the running man, but he was just a jogger, the defense argued. What if another man was out that night running away from the murder?

[Nicole Rice]

What are your thoughts on that? Again, highly coincidental that a person matching the description almost to a T, of Devin hall seen running away from the area of the crime scene with a dirty or bloody shirt is something I, as an investigator, I'm going to thoroughly pursue.

[Lester Holt]

The expert also disputed Devin Hall's alibi, that police believed a videotape showed him arriving by train after the murder.

[Nicole Rice]

There's nothing to indicate on that video what the date was that it was recorded.

[Lester Holt]

As for the witnesses who testified that Nicole actually confessed to them, what sticks.

[Nicole Rice]

Out to me is there's very little context leading up to when this alleged confession was made. We know that there was this drunken party and that Nicole has been reported as being belligerently drunk. Now, was she the only one that was that drunk? How drunk were the people that allegedly heard this confession? It doesn't make sense for me. So was there no logical follow up conversation to that?

[Lester Holt]

William May said he reported all of it to police in 2008, but investigators testified they had no record of it. All in all, Coons said the state's case was flimsy.

[Nicole Rice]

How would you rate the overall investigation in this case? I Hate to be critical, but not very good. Why is that? There's a lack of attention to detail. There's a lack of thoroughness. They seem to spend a lot of attention running down dead end rabbit holes while glossing over some very important facts, details. What, if anything, about this case piques your interest? I don't think we have the correct person.

[Lester Holt]

His withering critique was just what the defense felt it needed. The question now, would the jury buy it? After six days of testimony, it was time for the jury to decide whether the mystery of who killed Anita Knutson would finally be put to rest. Was it in fact Nicole Rice? Did she enter Anita's room in the wee hours of the morning and stab her roommate to death? Ryan Chandler was on the jury.

[Nicole Rice]

She had access to the apartment. She knew where Anita was going to be. They were, you know, having their roommate differences.

[Lester Holt]

Or as the defense had argued, could someone else have killed her? Jurors began their deliberations. And as the night wore on, the seriousness of the decision weighed heavy.

[Nicole Rice]

That's quite a burden that you're putting on us, 12 jurors to decide somebody's fate and if they're gonna go to prison for the rest of their life or if they're gonna get to walk free.

[Lester Holt]

As he watched the case unfold, Ryan was able to eliminate some of the possible suspects the defense put forward, like Michael Vann and Tyler Schmaltz. And he had trouble believing some of the prosecution witnesses, like William May, who gave testimony about Nicole's alleged confession.

[Nicole Rice]

There was never a record that he had ever called the police. There was never a record that he ever made a statement.

[Lester Holt]

Jurors went through the evidence and talked about the case for four hours, well into the evening. Finally, they called it a day.

[Nicole Rice]

I think we started at 9:00 the next morning, and in about 45 minutes, we casted our first vote and it was unanimous. The court has received notification that jury has reached a verdict.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

They came in and told us, like, we have a verdict. And the state's attorney was like, you know, no matter which way this goes, like, we need you to keep your reactions under control.

[Lester Holt]

They told that to you?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

They told that to us, yes. Yeah. He was, like, very intentional. And then we all, like, kind of start walking up and I'm just like. My hands even now, I like, are so clammy. I'm, like, shaking.

[Nicole Rice]

Court will now have the clerk read the verdict.

[Lester Holt]

We, the jury, duly impaneled and sworn, find the defendant, Nicole Aaron Rice, not guilty of information. It was an unbridled, some would say unseemly show of joy, a victory, and for Anita's family, a complete gut punch.

[Nicole Rice]

Can you calm down a little bit, please?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

I want to forget how their screams sound so much like. But they're just, like, in my brain, like, burned into my mind.

[Lester Holt]

What are you feeling in that moment?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Yeah, I, you know, just remember wanting to get out of there.

[Nicole Rice]

Ms. Rice, you've been found not guilty. You are discharged.

[Lester Holt]

Like, I understand if you win a, you know, a trial like that, you. You don't want to be happy, but you got to have some courtesy to the family that's sitting next to you.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

That had to be gut wrenching.

[Lester Holt]

Nicole and her defense team declined our interview request. They issued this when the verdict was read. We reacted emotionally. We sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended, especially to Anita Knutson's family. The loss of Anita is heartbreaking, and we in no way intended disrespect. The prosecution and Cold justice also declined our interview requests. Our attempts to reach Devon hall went unanswered. You worked this case for more than a decade. You know, the information, the evidence in and out, and at the end of the day, no one has been held responsible for Anita's death. Is that tough to swallow?

[Nicole Rice]

It's. It is tough to swallow. I feel like Anita Knudsen's family did not get. Get justice. Anita didn't get the justice that she deserves. I have no regrets in how we handled the case. We arrested the suspect we believe killed Anita Knudsen. They were found not guilty. To me, it's. It's case closed.

[Lester Holt]

That's been hard for some people to accept. Tyler Schmaltz, for instance. Anita will forever live in his memory. He can't forget that magical prom night when she did something so unexpected and so kind. Anita's friends tried to get her to leave prom and go to a different party off campus. And she told him no. She wanted to hang out with me. So she chose me a second time and said, I'm going to stay at prom with Tyler and dance with him instead of leaving the party. So she chose me a second time that prom. That felt really good. If you close your eyes and think of Anita, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Just that she was so beautiful, like inside and out. So smart, brilliant, really.

[Lester Holt]

Do you feel that there are pieces of her still with you today? Sure. A lot of the time, you know, struggling with things, life, you know, getting stressed out about things that seem very insignificant. She would be so upset if she saw that I was angry or frustrated or, you know, giving up or anything like that. So when I say that she, you know, made up us, all of us friends, better people, I wasn't lying. Those pink balloons may be long gone, but those faded pink ribbons still dot the streets of Butte, a lasting reminder of an unsolved murder and a tribute to an unforgettable young woman.

[Nicole Rice]

That's all for this edition of dateline. And check out our talking DATELINE podcast. Blaine Alexander and Josh Mankiewicz will go.

[Jenna Bush Hager]

Behind the scenes of tonight's episode, available.

[Nicole Rice]

Wednesday in the DATELINE feed. Wherever you get your podcasts, we'll see you again Sunday at 10, 9 Central. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night.

[Lester Holt]

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[Jenna Bush Hager]

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[Lester Holt]

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