MINOT, ND (KXNET) — Nichole Rice entered a plea of ‘Not Guilty’ today in a preliminary hearing regarding the 2007 murder of Anita Knutson.

A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for November 16 at the Ward County Courthouse on charges of Class AA Murder.

Rice is accused of killing Knutson, her roommate at the time, in early June of 2007 after her body and a pocketknife covered in dry blood were found in their apartment. After 15 years, police arrested Rice on March 16, 2022 for the murder of Knutson.