A man who was accused of faking his death and escaping to Europe to avoid rape charges in the U.S. has died after being hospitalized from a Utah prison, officials reported on Friday.
Nicholas Rossi, who was serving a minimum of ten years due to two sexual assault cases set for trial in Utah in 2025, had gone through a year-long international pursuit for his extradition from Scotland. The judge had labeled him a “serial abuser of women.”
According to Richard Piatt, spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections, Rossi, 38, passed away Thursday night due to “complications of a pre-existing medical condition after choosing to discontinue treatment.”
Piatt mentioned that the victim and her family had been informed about Rossi’s death.
Details about Rossi’s health issues weren’t provided, though he appeared in court in a wheelchair and needed oxygen assistance.
“Mr. Rossi was a sex offender who sought to evade responsibility,” stated Salt Lake County Attorney Sim Gill. “Survivors of his heinous acts can take solace knowing he died in prison, aware of the crimes he committed.”
Rossi, who also went by Nicholas Alaverdian, was extradited back to Utah from Scotland in 2024. Authorities had been on the lookout for him since 2018 when DNA evidence linked him to a rape case from a decade earlier.
In early 2020, an online obituary claimed that Rossi had died from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. However, family members and former acquaintances in Rhode Island remained skeptical about his death.
He was apprehended in Scotland the following year while receiving treatment for Covid-19. Hospital personnel recognized his unique tattoos, including one from Brown University, which he never attended.
Rossi insisted he was Arthur Knight, claiming to be an Irish orphan framed for these crimes. Investigators later uncovered at least a dozen aliases he used to avoid capture.
Two women from Utah had come forward with accusations against him. One recounted being raped by Rossi in her apartment while he was allegedly returning to retrieve money he had stolen from her. Another woman described meeting him through a Craigslist personal ad, where their quick engagement led to demands he made for her to finance their dates and to borrow money, even for an engagement ring.
“I’m not guilty. The women are lying,” Rossi asserted during his sentencing hearing last October.
