Kelly: Previously on "cold justice,"
Steve and I arrived in north dakota
To help the minot police department
Investigate the 2007 murder
Of 18-year-old college student anita knutson.
I don't think she was struggling.
This is two quick stabs.
Anita was a smart, kind, beautiful young woman,
And her murder shook this small town,
Drew national attention from true crime podcasts,
And may have played a role in her brother's tragic suicide
Just a few years later.
-Were you in love with anita? -Yes.
You would never do anything like that, though?
-Not me, no. -We determined that her friend
Tyler schmaltz's crush on her was harmless,
And we have eliminated him as a suspect,
Which leaves us with three--
The last person to text with her, michael vann,
The maintenance man who discovered her slashed window,
Marty annell,
And nichole thomas, her allegedly jealous roommate
Who argued with her just a few weeks before.
And while we struck out with our dna testing,
We did get a promising new lead
And a clue that we're on the right track.
There were some people that went to a party with her.
She was drunk. She just all of a sudden out of nowhere,
"oh, yeah, I [bleep] did it."
We'll have to do some research and see if we can find
The names of the couple of people that were there.
These people talk about her being the same kind of drunk
And saying the same thing, and they're credible,
Golly, that'd be nice.
♪♪♪
♪ catch you, you best believe ♪
[vocalizing]
You and abby always want these cases that are, like,
More investigative instead of these circumstantial
Husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend cases
That I like, so you got your-- you got your choice.
It's just sad, you know? And this is a true victim.
This is one of those things that you are gonna lay in bed for
For years and remember her, you know?
Just someone so young and so kind of alive.
-She was a nice girl. I mean... -Yeah.
-Great future. -Didn't do anything wrong.
Right. Kind of how you want your kids to turn out.
I know. It's crazy.
There are still so many unanswered questions.
But anita's family has gone on
Too long without answers and justice.
We're gonna do everything we can to fix that.
She was...Joy, beautiful and fun,
And everybody loved her.
Smart, artistic.
She took up violin, piano, ballet, writing.
Independent. She was a person that always looked out
For the ones that are being bullied.
There's nothing bad you could say about her ever.
The moment we lost her, everything changed.
I want that person that did it to realize what they did
And to who they did it to.
Hoping things move quicker than I know that they will.
I mean...It's kind of all there is, is hope, right?
Man: According to the family, anita expressed concern
And even fear about her roommate who she alleged had been
Sending her threatening text messages.
The messages themselves were apparently never seen,
At least not by anyone other than anita.
But it was enough for her mother sharon to acknowledge
That anita may have been in fear for her life.
How are you all? Eric devlin. Nice to meet you.
-Mikki. Nice to meet you. -Carmen.
Eric devlin. Nice to meet you.
While we work on tracking down the party witnesses
Who may have heard our suspect nichole thomas confess,
We wanna review anita's text messages.
-Ready to get going? -Yes, sir.
We know that anita texted with michael vann,
Also known as "money mike"
In the early morning hours before she was murdered
And that she allegedly had
A heated exchange in the past with her roommate nichole.
Our digital forensics expert is here to help us lay it all out.
First thing we got is anita's cellphone that was found
Inside of her apartment.
It is an old-fashioned motorola phone.
We recovered 161 calls, 101 photographs,
Uh, 48 different text messages.
The question is since anita's physical wounds
Didn't suggest a crime of passion,
Are there digital clues into her killer's motive?
The last time that we think that she was communicating,
There's an outgoing message from anita's phone
We've identified with a contact as "money mike."
"how do you move on after being engaged twice?
That's a huge life-altering thing."
Next message for that number associated with "money mike"--
"you never move. You just become jaded.
Hope that you find someone who will love you for you."
She responds, "good night."
4:39:53, mike responds, "oh, good night."
-Okay. -Then he sends another message
At 4:43:53 a.M.--
"nice. I thought you were gonna reply to last text,"
To which she replies, "I didn't know what to say to it."
Reply incoming message, uh-- "you don't say anything."
That one shows "received." it does not show "read."
She never read. Okay.
From the looks of it, on the morning of her murder,
Anita was getting advice from michael vann
About having a broken heart.
We know that she had an ex-boyfriend
She was still talking to out in california.
Maybe that's what that was all about.
There doesn't seem to be anything to indicate
Any animosity between anita and michael,
But what about her roommate nichole?
The next one I was asked about-- text message with nichole.
So 4/21/2007, there was a message 7:49:15 a.M.
It was an incoming message.
"k, so next time you leave and don't plan
On coming back in the morning and lock your door,
'cause god knows I'm dying to get in there,
Shut the [bleep] alarm on
So I don't have to listen to it all morning
When I can be sleeping."
-Six weeks before. -Correct.
Next message-- 4/21/2007 from nichole.
"and just for the heads up, my dad and I are going to talk
To the landlord asap and see what we can do
'cause honestly I have no idea what I did to you
To make you all of a sudden be all weird on me,
But I'm gonna tell you right now I sure as hell
Ain't gonna put up with it until December.
This sucks! And I may sound like a bitch,
But what goes around comes around."
I think that sums up their relationship right there.
-Mm-hmm. -Yeah.
At 8:21:36 a.M., incoming message,
Again from nichole.
"things shouldn't have gotten like this in the first place.
I didn't do [bleep] to deserve it.
But whatev. I am done discussing this.
Oh, and by the way, I really don't feel like
Talking on the phone,
So I guess we're both [bleep] out of luck, aren't we?"
We don't have any reply, so we don't know what she--
What she replied to, what she said.
We don't know if she replied at all.
1:31:10 p.M. At 4/22/2007, from the phone number from nichole,
"are you gonna move out or am I,
If we can get out of this lease if one of us leaves?"
-Hmm. -Message, 4/22/2007--
Incoming message from nichole.
"this is causing me problems with my family
Because my stress level is very high on this subject.
Seriously, what did I do to you? I ain't ever home.
You pretty much have the effin' place to yourself,
For christ sake."
And this is the one last message.
This message is sent 6/4/2007, 5:34:16 p.M.
"what does your mom want my phone number for?"
The notation on this one is this message
Was never actually read.
That is Monday. I believe her body was found
About--almost right about this time, right?
Yeah, okay. These messages paint a pretty clear picture
Of escalating tension between anita and nichole.
What's most surprising is that initially,
Nichole told the investigators that she and anita
Did not have any serious issues.
Nichole's text messages seem pretty damning,
Except for the last one
She sent a few hours after the murder.
Was nichole really unaware anita was dead,
Or was she just trying to appear like she was?
Well, thank you very much, eric.
Good luck.
♪♪♪
Man: There are a number of things
That could break this case.
It might be somebody that hears a story
Or a friend that confides in them.
-Okay, so I did look these up... -Okay.
...On our gis map. This one looks like a good address.
According to a rumor from one of our witnesses,
Anita's roommate, nichole thomas,
Sometime after anita knutson's murder,
Actually got drunk at a party and confessed to killing her.
She was supposed to be at that party as well?
Yeah.
We got leads on three people who may have been there
And heard her say it.
If so, that would be a big piece of circumstantial evidence
And would give us something to confront nichole with
When she comes to talk to us.
I am working a case back from around 15 years ago.
Anita knutson. Do you know who that is?
Oh, I've heard about her. Like I've seen--
Okay, so your name was brought up for being at a party,
And there was mention of nichole thomas being there.
Yeah, that name sounds familiar.
[baby crying]
What? You want help?
So you don't know any parties or statements were made
That might have been concerning or...
-Mnh-mnh. -Thank you. I appreciate it.
-That was a huge bust. -I still think all killers talk.
It's just a matter of who they talk to.
I mean, you can't hold it in for 15 years...
-Nah. -...Without a shred of guilt.
[line rings]
Do you remember the anita knutson homicide?
Did you know her?
Nichole thomas-- do you remember her?
Okay.
Okay. You have a good day.
-All right. -Okay.
Hello.
-Y'all have any luck? -Not really.
He didn't even remember nichole at all.
See, and that's the same. She couldn't remember nichole.
Okay. We are 0 for 2 in finding someone at this party
Who might have heard nichole confess.
Is it just because it's a rumor,
Or will we have better luck with the third person?
I don't remember nichole.
Maybe she was at a party I was at,
But I couldn't put a face to her or anything, so...
Okay.
It sounds like there's nothing to this party rumor after all.
-Thanks a lot, sir. -Yeah.
-Take care. -Okay.
If nichole actually did confess, we have no way of proving it.
♪♪♪
♪ look me in the eye ♪
♪ tell me what you see ♪
♪ is it do or say die? ♪
Dr. Pinneri's over here waiting for us to get there
Along with carmen and mikki
So y'all can talk through everything.
Today we are re-examining the actual apartment
Where anita was killed back in 2007.
We hope that recreating the killer's actions
Will shed light on the likelihood
That they entered and exited through the cut window screen.
♪♪♪
-This was their living room? -Yep.
-Mm-hmm. -So straight ahead, that's
Gonna be anita's bedroom. Okay. -Anita's, yeah.
-Well, it's tiny. -Yeah.
Wow.
That's exactly where her bed was, just like this?
Yep, bed was up against the wall over here.
She had a dresser next to the bed.
The way her body ends up-- can you be her?
-Absolutely. -And then we'll talk about how
She got there, but start with where she ends up.
The left leg is bent up like this.
This leg is down like this. And she's just...
And where's the knife?
The knife was here at the corner foot of the bed.
It was kind of under the blanket.
Okay. Now, carmen, if you're marty,
I can kinda see now why he didn't see her, right?
Well, especially when the lights are off in here,
And you stand outside and look in,
It's very dark in this room.
There's no lights in here that were on
'cause gordon turned them on.
And there's a big blanket right here.
Yeah. So I can absolutely see why he didn't see her.
Maybe marty was telling the truth
About not being able to see anita's body
Through the open window.
Okay, now do your thoughts on how she ends up that way.
So she's laying here propped up.
Got a bathrobe on, no panties, no bra.
Texting. Her phone's kind of right here.
Whether she's texting or asleep, the killer entered the room.
She's kind of propped up just like dr. Pinneri is.
And he's gonna do one...Here.
Comes across and fatally right in between the breasts.
She sits up and then just collapses forward.
So that's a fast collapse, huh?
Pretty fast. Her heart is...Cut.
So the muscle can't contract at all.
See, I always thought that
Anita hops up, and there's more of a struggle.
And then she falls like this.
But there's nothing in this room that's tipped upside down.
On her dresser was a lot of delicate stuff.
I mean, that stuff would all-- look at how small this room is.
Yeah.
She didn't have a chance to scream or defend herself.
You would think that if the killer
Actually crawled through anita's bedroom window,
She would have been alerted.
There was a lot of stuff that she had
Just piled on the floor underneath the window.
It would've been just disheveled.
-Okay, and it wasn't messed up? -Didn't look to be.
Marty admits with the screen, he removed it.
You're gonna go out, this screen,
I can tell ya, from the pressure,
It's gonna pop. -That's gonna pop out.
It's gonna pop, and there's gonna be bends in it.
-I mean... -For the metal itself.
-Yeah. -And what's gonna happen
To your cut "l" when you go out?
-Well, it's gonna rip. -Okay.
Show us the cut.
-[squeaking] -oh, my god.
-That goes through so easy. -And that makes a lot of noise.
She's laying back just texting her friends...
I'm gonna see it. I'm gonna hear it.
If you're hearing somebody,
And you have that much time to prepare,
You either run, you call 9-1-1.
You don't just lay here casually with your feet.
You'd have defensive wounds, too.
-Absolutely. -You'd have some sort of
Broken fingernails, something. -Yeah.
-Try to go out it, steve. -[squeaking]
Oh, sh--. No, I ain't going out here.
What else do we need to appreciate about the window?
There's gonna be marks again on the wall from--
From when you grab here, you can see the dust.
We have that...Picture. Like, you can see all the...
I mean, look at that. So nobody went out that way.
Not messed up.
Her blood was--was on it.
Her blood's on the string for the night. Okay.
The evidence suggests that anita's killer
Never entered through this bedroom window.
Plus anita's blood was found near the cut in the screen,
Suggesting that the screen was cut
With the knife after it was used to stab anita.
I've seen a lot of crime scenes in my day,
And this was clearly staged, but more importantly,
If anita's killer didn't enter through the bedroom window,
They must have come through the front door.
And when her body was discovered,
That door was actually locked.
What if anita let our killer in?
-Mm-hmm. -Okay? So the murder happens.
And I'm the killer, and the door's unlocked,
'cause anita let me in 'cause she knows me,
And now I can lock this door by turning the knob,
And I can pull it, too, and it's gonna lock you.
-But you...Open it. -Does that make sense?
You can get right back in. This is not a push-to-turn lock.
-Right. -And you would have to use
A key to unlock that deadbolt. -Yes.
-Okay.
This door and lock are exactly the same as it was back in 2007,
And the door can only be locked or unlocked with the key.
So if it was locked after the killer left,
They had to have a key.
So if the killer locked the door when they left,
In the whole wide world, who has a key?
Anita, her roommate, and the maintenance man.
This is a huge piece of evidence and a big deal.
That was very, very helpful. Thank you.
We already cleared tyler schmaltz as a suspect,
But it looks like there's no way or he or michael vann
Could have possibly killed anita,
Which leaves us with marty and nichole.
♪♪♪
Based on our examination of anita knutson's apartment,
We have all but eliminated michael vann as a suspect
Because he did not have a key.
That leaves her roommate, nichole thomas,
And the maintenance man, marty annell.
Woman: The property's maintenance man--
Many suspect him because he did commit suicide.
Man: The problem here seems to be that
We don't know his history,
We don't know his mental health situation,
And we don't know the unfortunate series of events
Which led to his death.
[line rings]
-Hi. Is this connie? -Yes, it is.
This is detective asham.
I'm calling from the minot police department.
We are looking into an old cold case,
And it kind of relates back to your brother marty.
Since marty's deceased, we're reaching out to his sister.
The question is, what was going on in marty's world
Where he decided to end his life?
And was it possibly guilt over killing anita?
I don't know if you remember there was a homicide
Here in minot back in 2007.
And it was in that apartment complex...
Yeah, where marty worked.
Yeah, so do you remember him
Talking about that happening at all?
Okay.
Right. Yeah. We just kinda wanted to get
A little background on what else was going on in his life
At that time that may have led to his suicide.
Do you remember how long they were in a relationship for?
When you found out what happened with marty,
Was that a shock to you?
Okay.
And just to confirm, like, you don't remember marty
Ever mentioning anita's murder to you at all?
-Okay. -With marty being dead,
Connie doesn't have a big motivation to lie for him,
And according to her,
He was losing his long-term relationship,
His job, and his place to live.
We talked for six hours.
He said that something was wrong.
On top of that, it was new year's day,
So maybe he was just reflecting on his own life and not anita's.
-Thank you, connie. -Bye-bye.
-Nice! Nice. -Ahh.
Ooh, that makes me feel so much better.
♪♪♪
With marty looking more and more like he's not our killer,
It's time to refocus our attention back
On nichole thomas.
So let's see if we can try to find donna bjelland.
Now she was the boss at etelecare of nichole.
I think nichole even talked to her about the murder itself.
Nichole's former co-worker has spoken to police in the past
About nichole's temper.
We wanna learn more about that, and if it was so bad,
It could have led to this murder.
-Hi. How can I help you? -Donna?
-Yeah. -Hi, donna.
I'm detective talbott with the minot police department.
-Oh, hello. -Hi!
-I'm steve. How are you? -Nice to meet you, steve.
-Mikki. -Mikki. Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
We're kind of looking into anita knutson's case
Back in 2007. -Oh, yeah, I'm glad to tell you
Anything about her. -Okay, yes.
-She sat next to me. -Nikki did?
And I heard her, uh, the girl whose roommate was killed
Sat next to me, and I heard her bitching about that roommate
For months to the point where I told her--
I said, "you guys gotta-- you can't live together."
Did she ever talk about if it got physical?
No. All I know is it was a very volatile situation,
One that I thought was gonna explode.
Because what happened toward the end there
Is she had actually, um, her roommate and her
Were arguing about her aquarium running.
Anita didn't like the sound of the aquarium,
And so she kept turning it off.
And then she came back from a weekend,
And the girl had turned it off completely,
And all her fish were dead.
And she just went completely bananas over it.
And, uh, it was like that following Monday or something,
It was right after that that she comes in
And said that her roommate was killed.
She came after the homicide and was telling me
And just wasn't--she said,
"as long as I keep my mouth shut, I'll be fine."
We knew about nichole and anita's strained relationship,
But this is the first time we've heard
That anita killed nichole's pet fish.
As silly as that sounds, you have to wonder
If that may have been the tipping point
In their relationship.
Do you think she was sorry about what happened to anita?
-[bleep] no. -You didn't--she never--
"that girl got what she deserved after the way she acted."
That's not who--that's not-- those are her words.
She's capable of murder. That's what I think.
♪♪♪
Man: Anyone who's ever had a roommate knows
It isn't exactly uncommon to get on one another's nerves.
But this situation seemed to be becoming more volatile
And even threatening.
At this point, we've heard from witnesses
That nichole thomas had a temper,
Was jealous of anita, and became enraged with anita
Just days before the murder.
[line rings]
Hi. Is this willy?
Hey, willy, it's detective asham calling from minot p.D.
We tracked down nichole's ex-boyfriend willy may,
Who dated her after the murder.
We're wondering what she may have told him
About the death of her old roommate.
So we're kind of trying to relook
At the anita knutson murder from back in 2007,
And it's my understanding that at some point after that,
You had dated nichole thomas for a while. Is that right?
Okay.
Do you remember when that was you dated?
So not long after anita knutson was murdered?
Right.
Mm.
She told you that she killed anita?
Did she say how she did it or any specifics?
Okay.
Yeah.
Sure.
Do you still have any contact with her?
Nothing?
We've heard about rumors where nichole attended a party
And actually confessed to stabbing anita.
And now we found her ex-boyfriend, willy may,
Who was actually at the party
And heard her make those statements.
That's our best piece of evidence yet.
He said that nichole was belligerently drunk,
And she straight out told them that she did it.
He said he tried to get her
To say it again when she was sober after that,
But she wouldn't.
But how did she say it?
Smart-ass and facetious,
Or slipping up 'cause she's drunk?
No, I think it was more of a slipping up
'cause she was drunk is how I-- the impression I got from him.
Really? And he's a credible guy.
He seems like a very credible guy.
-Damn. -Yeah.
Obviously, when people get drunk,
It influences what they say and do.
But there's not enough alcohol in the world
That would make me confess to a murder I didn't commit.
Wow. Okay, that's why you're acting so smug.
-Me? -Yeah.
Wow. Wow.
♪♪♪
When nikki shows up, somebody can text that she's here,
And we'll wait until you have her,
And then we'll go knocking on the parents' door.
Hope you all visit for two hours or longer.
They'll probably try to rush it, stop couldn't be done by 10.
I still feel she has to show up.
-Not if her dad told her not to. -Well...
If she called her dad. What are you thinking about
When mom--mom or dad answers the door out there in velva?
What are you gonna say?
Well, I don't think they'll talk to us, but maybe just--
They're not gonna invite us in, huh?
-I doubt it. [laughs] -maybe over all these years,
They've talked about it so much, they forget what they told you.
They don't have the benefit of all this.
-And no one's ever asked gae... -Mnh-mnh.
..."where was nichole early Sunday morning?"
Nikki has agreed to come in and talk.
Our plan is while carmen and steve handle that,
Mikki and I are gonna try and approach her parents,
Kevin and gae, at their house.
They are her alibi for that weekend.
The hope is that if we get them being questioned
At the same time, we can better compare their stories
To see if there are any inconsistencies.
Maybe you'll have good luck.
According to her ex-boyfriend,
Nichole has slipped up in the past.
We're waiting to see if she does that again today.
I'd be kind of surprised if she actually did show up.
If I was her, I don't care. I wouldn't show up.
♪♪♪
Woman: As for an alibi,
Anita's roommate said that she'd been home all weekend,
A detail that her parents corroborated.
Man: A lot of people feel the alibi isn't strong,
As most people would expect someone's parents
Would be willing to cover for them.
But no one in the media has ever been able to obtain
An interview or even a statement from the roommate or her family.
-She did show up? -No, she didn't.
-Wow, she showed up. -Wow.
Is she all by herself, or did her husband come?
She brought her dad. Wow. We'll go get gae.
Our prime suspect showed up at the police department,
And it looks like her dad kevin gave her a ride.
That's your dad, right, I'm assuming?
My dad is very close with me, so, yeah.
That means that her mother gae is home alone,
And we have the perfect opportunity to talk to her.
She has never been interviewed by the police before.
This is playing nicely into our plan to divide and conquer
Before nichole and her parents can get together
And compare notes.
Okay, tell me a little bit about how you guys meet
And how was school like.
So we didn't hang out a lot in high school
Anymore after, like, ninth, 10th grade.
Um...I mean, we--we didn't not-- not like each other,
But we just-- we had different friends.
We both went to the same college.
Neither of my roommates ended up working out,
And then we decided that we were gonna move in together.
We were, like, inseparable. We were together all the time.
I went from college 'cause I didn't really know
What I wanted to do, so I just got a job,
And then my job schedule
And her school and work schedule--it just clashed.
I was coming when she was going. She was going when I was coming.
We just didn't talk much.
How would that make the living arrangements?
Was there any problems between the two of you?
The only problem I really had,
And I know there's so many stories.
There's so many stories, but we had a disagreement
Over her alarm clock.
Her alarm clock was going off at 5 a.M. For, like, an hour,
And I'm trying to sleep because of--
So I texted her, and I was like,
"dude, I'm gonna smash your door down."
I was like, "dude, next time you need to make sure you shut
Your alarm clock off, 'cause, like, that's respectful."
Tell me about the--the incident with your fish tank,
'cause we had heard that anita had unplugged
Your fish tank at one point, and that killed your fish.
'cause she didn't like the noise. It made too much noise.
No, I know all my fish died because my friend poured beer
In the fish tank.
-I don't remember anything else. -So that didn't happen?
No. I...No.
Nichole was downplaying her arguments with anita
And denying that anita killed her pet fish.
She's answering our questions
But is clearly trying to paint a picture of her own innocence.
Let's go down to that weekend as much as you can remember.
You went to your parents' farm that Friday night?
I think I went Saturday morning, actually,
Because my cousin was leaving
For, like, basic training for iraq or something.
We were having a party for him in sykeston.
I think I picked up my cousin, and she rode with me.
I think we came back from the party, like, 5 or 6.
She owned a... A bar in ruthville.
Her husband did, and that's-- we came back and stayed there,
And I helped her serve, like, food.
And we--I stayed at that-- at ruthville for--
Till probably 11 or 12.
And then what did you do then?
Went back to my parents' house and went to bed on the couch.
So you got back to the farm...
About 11:30, midnight, somewhere around there.
Okay. Do you remember what time you got up on Sunday?
Usually so when I sleep on the couch,
My dad's up at 5 a.M., making breakfast.
You know, he's watching tv.
You spend the whole day at the farm,
Or did you go anywhere else? -Yeah, I stayed there again.
I stayed that night again, um,
And then I went straight to work,
So I didn't even stop at home. I just went straight to work.
Nichole's entire story about that weekend
Has been inconsistent, and it's even more inconsistent today.
We've heard stories that she was at home
With her mother and her sister watching a movie.
Then we hear that it's actually with her aunt and her cousin.
But today there's no mention of a movie at all.
It's like she isn't keeping tracking of the alibi witnesses
She's coming up with.
It's a good thing we are.
Do you remember what they told you?
[voice breaking] um...They just had told me--
They said that anita was dead and that she had been murdered.
I was just like--I guess I just was in shock
'cause, like, I grew up here. This is my home,
And--and I never heard of stuff like this.
I felt like I should've stayed home
And I should've been there,
And what if I would've been there?
So I live with a lot of regret.
In all reality, you weren't that close to anita.
In fact, you were planning on moving out at some point
At the end of the year?
Yeah, we thought about getting just--
You know, 'cause with our different schedules and stuff,
It just--it was hard.
People said you called anita a bitch and a whore
And a [bleep]. -Oh, my gosh.
People can say that. I would never do that.
I have nothing against her.
People, like, are making up stories about me,
And that's hard. That's not fair.
That weekend, you never came back into minot at all?
So you never told your aunt that you came back to minot
On Saturday to get clothes? -No.
So if she told us that, she would be a liar?
Well, I would assume she's confused
Because I never came back to minot to get clothes.
Didn't go watch a movie at alyssa's house or joyce's house?
No, 'cause I was with alyssa at the farm.
Do you know a william may?
Yeah.
If someone told us you were at a party with william,
And you said you killed anita, would that--they be lying,
Or would that be true? -They would definitely be lying.
You guys, listen, this has, like, rocked my whole life.
Like, I want the person found, too,
'cause I want my life back.
I mean, all these people have no reason
To say horrible things about you.
I don't know why they are.
You guys, I didn't say any of this stuff.
There's so many stories out there.
-All of these people are liars? -Okay. [sighs]
-I wanna, like, get a lawyer. -We're not attacking you.
-I want to get a lawyer. -Not trying to attack you.
-I don't wanna talk anymore. -That's fine.
-Then we're done. -I didn't do anything.
[crying]
Nichole is denying everything, and now guess what.
She's the victim in this case, not anita,
Wrongly accused by everyone around her.
She's not crying for anita. She's crying for herself.
[continues knocking]
The lights are all off.
It seems like nobody is at nichole's parents' house.
We're thinking that maybe that's because
Her mom went to nichole's house to watch nichole's kid
While nichole went down to the station.
Let's go to nichole's house to see if gae's there.
As long as we get there before they get back,
We can knock on the door and see what happens.
To talk to gae alone, we need to get to nichole's house
Before nichole and her dad get back from the station.
Is that kevin's truck?
Oh.
Well, he's on the phone. You think that's--
That's kevin right there? -I know it is.
We pull up to nichole's house right next to her dad kevin.
This is about to get interesting.
Here he comes.
Howdy.
-Hi. -Hi!
I know who you are. I've seen you on tv.
Well, we're here to try and talk to gae.
-Gae? -Uh-huh.
-Gae's my wife. -I know.
-Well, we live in velva. -Yeah, she's not home.
-She's home. -Well, she didn't answer.
Well, why should she? She's hysterical.
-She should be. -Well, yeah.
Our daughter's being charged for something she didn't do.
My daughter was on the farm the whole time with me.
-No, she wasn't. -I'm no goddamn liar.
I'm not saying that you're a liar or anything,
But we know that she was in sykeston that day, too.
-Yes. -Okay, and then we--
-She rode down with me. -No, that's not the statement
We have either, but we know that she also went to the bar,
So we wasn't with you the entire time.
No. No.
I swear I'm not calling you a liar.
-The [bleep] you ain't. -No, I'm not.
-Yes, you are. -Kevin, you're a dad
That loves your daughter. We understand that.
-Yeah. -The only person
Who could've killed anita had a key.
The killer had a key.
The window on her bedroom was pushed out.
-If she's got the key... -'cause the person faked it.
...Why she'd go out the first door--around the front door?
They did go out the front door, and then they locked it.
-The door was locked. -I don't know.
All right, I'm gonna...
-Yeah, we will. -I got it.
No, we will, we will.
Nichole's husband came outside and asked us to leave.
Nichole and her dad are probably panicking now.
Well, he was talking to gae on the phone when we pulled up,
And then when he saw you,
He jumped out of the car to stop us,
So gae's useless now.
Fortunately, I think we've heard enough.
He messed up when he said nikki rode with him to the barbecue.
'cause that's not even nikki's statement,
Is that right? -Oh, his either.
She took her own car. That's everywhere.
She took her own car. Now she's riding back with her cousin.
♪♪♪
Woman: Chief klug told the "minot daily news"
"ultimately, we asked what can be done to solve this case,
Not just for us, but for the family?
We don't care who solves it. We just want it solved."
Good morning, girls. Last day.
I know y'all are excited about that.
[laughter]
We started this case with four suspects
With various potential motives
And a slew of unanswered questions,
The biggest one being
Who would murder such a vibrant and beloved young girl?
First, michael vann.
He was the very last person to be talking to anita.
We can't talk to him because he passed away in 2009.
Now sitting here today, what all do we know about michael vann?
It just sounds like they were really good friends.
They communicated quite often via text and phone call.
She responds to her buddy mike, "good night."
He's got no violent crime history at all.
Michael vann may have had a crush on anita,
But his text messages show no evidence of a motive.
As far as we know, he did not know where she lived,
And he did not have a key.
Which is how the evidence showed
Anita's killer entered the apartment.
That takes care of "money mike."
Let's talk about
The maintenance man, marty annell.
The main point for marty is he has a key.
Takes the screen off and doesn't see anita,
It was awfully difficult to see inside of that room.
Absolutely plausible that he didn't notice her.
There's no lights in here that were on
'cause gordon turned them on.
And there's a big blanket right here.
I can absolutely see why he didn't see her.
We circled up here, "why did he commit suicide?"
And then when we found marty's sister...
They lived together,
So marty was gonna have to find a new place to live.
He would also lose his job.
He would probably have to move in with his mother
Because he had nowhere else to go.
People commit suicide for any one of these reasons,
And he had all of 'em.
I mean, the only evidence you have about marty
Is that he happened to commit suicide a year and a half later,
And now you know why.
Marty annell may have had a key,
But we have found no evidence that he was involved
Or even knew who anita was before she was murdered.
He had no known history of violence
And no reason in the world to kill her.
So marty annell once and for all is off the suspect board.
Everybody's in agreement.
And that leaves one suspect on our board
With motive and a key.
Nichole over the years has been the only one
Who's consistently inconsistent about what happened.
The first version it was, "I went home and watched a movie
With my mom and my sister." then it was "I went to the bar."
Then it was, "I went to the bar, and then I left the bar
And went and watched a movie with my cousin and my aunt."
So it's changed.
"and then I went back to the farm."
One incident, she had mentioned
That she had actually left the bar
And come back to minot and went to her apartment
That Saturday night to get clothes.
What a slip-up, right?
It's completely different from anything else she said.
She's got this strained relationship with anita.
She wants her out of the apartment.
We've got text messages.
"my dad and I are going to talk to the landlord asap,
And I may sound like a bitch,
But what goes around comes around."
She was completely bananas about the fact that anita
Unplugged the fish tank and killed her fish.
She just went completely bananas over it,
And, uh, it was like that following Monday or something.
It was right after that that she comes in
And said that her roommate was killed.
And then you found willy may. What did she say to willy may?
She said to him, "I did it."
Brand-new witness. Never had that before.
Heard nichole admit it.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
The truth never changes, but nichole's story has.
And the key to this case is that key.
We know that the deadbolt was locked.
You needed a key to open that door.
This is not a push-to-turn lock.
-Right. -So if the killer
Locked the door when they left,
In the whole wide world, who has a key?
If you have a staged crime scene,
The only person who needs to stage something
Is the one that everything is gonna be pointing at
Unless they stage something, and that's nichole.
-Everything points to her. -It all points back to her.
By all accounts, the only person in the whole world
That didn't like anita was nichole.
And we've uncovered enough circumstantial evidence
In this case to present it to the prosecutor
That nichole killed anita.
♪ what lies ahead? There's no way of ever knowin' ♪
♪♪♪
♪ inside's a beauty that's not showin' ♪
♪♪♪
♪ and all those things you said you couldn't do ♪
I think anita's whole family will be there again--
Her mom, her dad, her aunt, and her sister.
And they're gonna see you pulling up
Along with your captain and your chief.
I mean, I just want them to be able to--I don't know--
Get peace of mind. -Yep.
Carmen and mikki met with our prosecutor.
Oh, they're gonna be so excited to see y'all.
And now we're on the way to meet with anita's family
To give them some good news.
Hello, anna.
-Hi. Morning. -Good morning.
The chief and the captain wanted
To meet with anita's family, too.
These are the kind of conversations
Cold case investigators live for.
-Okay. -So...
[voice breaking] I'm sorry. I'm gonna get worked up
For you guys, but, um... -Okay, all right.
-I don't know if I can do this. -[laughs]
So we were able to, um, speak to our d.A.,
And we are on board with... [sobs] moving forward
With criminal charges for nichole thomas.
-My word. -She's gonna be arrested.
Okay.
Everywhere we went, your whole community
Was so excited.
Everybody was cooperative, and I think it's wonderful
To see a world that is so appreciative
Of what a special, special person anita was.
Well, we know that.
I can't believe you're doing this. It's great.
'cause we didn't seem like we were just ever, ever
Gonna get to any-- any point of anything.
Having the resources come in to support us
And to get us over that threshold
So we could get to this point,
It's a load off of all of our shoulders.
We'd always hoped to get to this day, and...
-Yeah, great. -Yeah.
-...We're finally there. -It's unbelievable, yeah.
Because anita was such a special person,
The people in ward county and minot and velva,
Them wanting to make this case be solved along with your
Police department's investment, that is what made it work,
And I wish it happened everywhere we go.
But it does not, and that's what did it.
Very thankful for you guys, all of you.
Yes, thank you.
It's been 15 years, and there's such a relief right now
In my feelings to think that we can proceed.
I am absolutely overwhelmed today.
I am so grateful.
[voice breaking] very grateful.
[sniffles]
Thank you very, very, very much.
♪ hold on to hope ♪
♪ you know that you got me in your corner ♪
♪ 'cause I will fight for you ♪
♪ oh, I will fight for you ♪
♪♪♪
Chief klug: A young girl with a great future
Was taken away from her family way too soon.
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.
At about 3:25 p.M., 34-year-old nichole rice
Was arrested for murder and taken to ward county jail.
My heart goes out to the family.
I wish we could have solved this sooner,
But at the same time, I'm glad to say that we have
The person responsible for the murder
Of anita knutson in custody.
♪♪♪