Additional Coverage:
A man charged with fabricating his own death to evade facing rape allegations is set to be tried, as ordered by a Utah judge. This decision was confirmed by District Judge Barry Lawrence during a preliminary hearing concerning Nicholas Rossi, as reported by CBS affiliate KUTV. Rossi is due for an arraignment and a bail hearing on October 17, according to the station’s coverage.
Accusations against Rossi, 37, include raping a 26-year-old ex-girlfriend following a dispute in Salt Lake County in 2008. Additionally, he reportedly raped a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, the same year, though he wasn’t implicated until about a decade later due to a backlog in DNA testing at the Utah State Crime Lab. Rossi’s representation, the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association, has not yet provided comments on these allegations.
Physically present at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, Rossi, legally known as Nicholas Alahverdian, has utilized numerous aliases and played the part of an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight, claiming he had never been to the United States and was the target of a setup. Rossi, who spent his childhood in foster care in Rhode Island, is alleged to have fled abroad after an online obituary in 2020 falsely stated his death from late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Despite doubts over his death claim, Rossi was arrested in Scotland in 2021 after hospital personnel recognized him while he was being treated for COVID-19. He later lost an appeal against extradition in December of that year.
Further allegations from police documents in Utah County include sexual assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping spanning across Rhode Island, Ohio, and Massachusetts, as noted by KTVX-TV.
Since his capture, Rossi has conducted several peculiar television interviews. In a notorious segment with STV News in 2023, he denied being the fugitive accused of rape, dismissing it as “a vicious lie.”
Another interview with “Dateline” showed him asserting his innocence due to mistaken identity, while seated next to his wife. During the interview, Rossi expressed a desire for privacy and normalcy, hindered by his health conditions.