Nicholas Rossi, a convicted rapist who faked his own death and fled to the United Kingdom, has died in a Utah hospital. Rossi, 38, passed away on Thursday night due to "complications of an existing medical condition," according to state officials. The Utah Department of Corrections stated that Rossi died after he "chose to remove himself from the case that was being provided."
Rossi, originally from Rhode Island, was sentenced last year in Utah for the 2008 rape of two women. His legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian. He was first identified as the attacker in 2018 when a decade-old DNA rape kit was re-examined. However, in February 2020, shortly after being charged in one of the cases, an online obituary falsely claimed he had died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
In reality, Rossi had been living in Bristol, England, before fleeing the U.S. The exact date of his departure is unclear. He later moved to Scotland, where he lived under assumed identities until his arrest in December 2021 at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. While receiving treatment for COVID-19, hospital staff recognized his tattoos and reported him to authorities.
Rossi initially claimed he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight and that the wrong man had been apprehended. However, in November 2022, it was confirmed he was Nicholas Rossi. Following a lengthy legal battle, he was extradited to the U.S. in January of the previous year.
During the investigation, it emerged that Rossi had used more than a dozen aliases to evade detection, including the name Arthur Brown, under which he married a British woman. He is believed to have met her in Bristol before they relocated to Glasgow.
During his trial last August, one of his accusers testified that Rossi left a "trail of fear, pain and destruction." She stated, "This is not a plea for vengeance. This is a plea for safety and accountability, for recognition of the damage that will never fully heal." Prosecutor Brandon Simmons described Rossi as someone who "uses rape to control women" and poses a threat to public safety. Rossi maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings, stating at his sentencing hearing, "I am not guilty of this. These women are lying."