Woman Accused of Killing College Roommate in Rage Over Alarm Clock That Wouldn’t Stop Going Off

On June 3, 2007, 18-year-old college student Anita Knutson was found dead in her bed in her off-campus apartment in North Dakota.

The Minot State University student had been stabbed twice in the chest.

The case went cold for nearly 15 years, until March 2022, when police arrested Knutson’s roommate at the time, Nichole Rice, formerly Nichole Thomas, and charged her with the teenager’s murder, Minot police said at the time. Rice pleaded not guilty.

Rice’s arrest came shortly after a team from the Oxygen TV show Cold Justice came to Minot to film an episode about the case to try to determine who killed Knutson, according to a 2022 story on the Oxygen website.

The trial for Rice, 37, began on Tuesday, March 18, with prosecutors saying they would provide evidence showing Rice killed her roommate nearly two decades ago, KFYR reports.

On Monday, March 24, after five days of testimony, the prosecution rested its case. For his part, Rice’s defense lawyer Rick Sand argued that prosecutors failed to prove his client killed Knutson or that she was even in town when Knutson died, KFYR reports.

Sand says there is scant evidence linking Rice to the crime and that the arrest was influenced by Cold Justice, KMOT/KFYR reports. (Sand did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s call for comment.)

During last week’s testimony, prosecutors argued that Rice killed Knutson in a fit of rage because Knutson’s alarm clock kept going off, the Minot Daily News reports.

Calling that claim preposterous, Sand argued, “Siblings, roommates, they fight. There’s issues about an unplugged fish tank, about an alarm clock that wouldn’t stop going off,” the Minot Daily News reports. “The evidence will show you people like Nichole don’t kill their roommates over that kind of stuff. They don’t put knives through their sternums.”

Alleged Confessions

On Friday, March 21, Rice’s friend Kristina Holler testified that Rice confessed to her, the Minot Daily News reports.

“I’m not 100 percent word for word, but that she had gotten into an argument with her, and stabbed her,” Holler said on the stand.

Rice told her they were arguing over an alarm clock and that she reported this to police, Holler claimed.

On Friday, another witness, William May, who briefly dated Rice, testified that she allegedly confessed to him at a party in 2008 when she was drinking.

“We were playing video games, and Nichole and I were sitting on the couch,” he said, according to the Minot Daily News. “Someone in the kitchen was talking about it, that’s when it was stated.”

“The comment was that, from Nichole Rice, it was that she had did it, that she had killed Anita,” May testified, KFYR reports.

May testified that Rice later said she never remembered saying that, according to the Minot Daily News.

May also testified that he called the police the next day to relay this information.

Sand argued that there are no records of his call to the police in 2008, according to the Minot Daily News. Sands said May didn’t talk to authorities again until Rice was arrested.

No Definitive DNA Determination

On Thursday, forensic scientist Amy Gebhardt testified that more than three sources of DNA were found on the knife determined to be the murder weapon, which makes it difficult to determine whose it is, the Minot Daily News reports.

On Friday, a classmate of the roommates, Michelle Moore, testified that Rice and Knutson argued, but that she did not believe Rice killed Knutson, KXNET reports.

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Marty Annell, the maintenance worker at the apartment where Knutson lived, was considered a person of interest by police. On Jan. 1, 2009, he died by suicide.

On Monday, Annell’s sister, Connie Ulland, testified that when her brother died, he was having relationship problems and was concerned about losing his job, KXNET reports.

Sand did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.