McHenry County court records show that Nichole Rice, 34, who has been charged with the 2007 murder of her roommate Anita Knutson, 18, failed to appear in court in 2012.

Rice had been charged with one Class B misdemeanor and one infraction for issuing checks without sufficient funds or credit in January and February 2012. The checks were for the amounts of $51.19 and $29.82 respectively.

She pleaded guilty to both counts and was ordered to serve six months of unsupervised probation as well as pay court fines and fees. The court issued a bench warrant for her arrest after she failed to appear in court and had not paid the $451.01 in fines and fees by the due date.

Rice was then charged with a Class A misdemeanor for failure to appear after release – bail jumping. She pleaded guilty and was ordered to complete 30 hours of community service, one year of unsupervised probation, and to pay $380 in fees. She was sentenced to a 30-day suspended sentence.

County records show at the time, Rice’s last name was Bakken, her first husband’s family name. That marriage lasted from June 2, 2010, to March 15, 2013. After the divorce, she went by her maiden name, Thomas, until she married her current husband, Dallas Rice, on Dec. 11, 2021.

On March 17, at Rice’s initial hearing for the murder of Knutson, the state’s attorneys argued for a $1 million bail on the basis of similar cases being set at that amount, but did not mention Rice’s failure to appear in 2012. Rice’s defense argued that she was not a flight risk because of family ties and her lack of a criminal record.

After hearing the prosecutor’s and defense’s arguments, District Judge Richard Hagar set Rice’s bail at $250,000 surety and $120,000 cash. Rice’s father, Kevin Thomas, put down the $120,000 cash approximately an hour after her initial appearance, and she was released until her next hearing on April 21 at 3 p.m. She has been ordered not to leave North Dakota.

Rice is the only person ever charged in the murder of Knutson, who was stabbed to death 15 years ago. Knutson’s body was found by her father in the northwest Minot apartment she shared with Rice. Rice’s arrest affidavit states that witnesses recall that Rice and Knutson had a strained relationship and that Rice admitted to a man she dated briefly that she had “done it.”

It also states that Rice’s statements about where she was the night of the murder were inconsistent, as were her family’s statements. Rice said she was at her family’s farm in Velva at the time. A witness places her at a bar in Ruso.

Minot Police Chief John Klug said in a press conference following Rice’s arrest that “Cold Justice,” a television series featuring detectives who travel to small towns and investigate unsolved murders, had a hand in piecing together evidence that local law enforcement already had. He said that staffing issues and lack of resources interfered with achieving a breakthrough in the case in the past.

“We tried to actively investigate Anita’s case for the past few years, and finally, with the help of ‘Cold Justice,’ we were able to move forward and regain focus. Due to the resources, logistics, planning and experts they were able to provide, we were able to obtain an arrest warrant,” Klug said.