A sex offender who seemingly faked his own death and fled the United States to evade capture has finally been imprisoned. American Nicholas Rossi, who incredulously claimed to be an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight, has been sentenced to a five-year stretch for his vile attacks.
Nicholas Rossi has consistently proclaimed his innocence in the 17 years since he sexually assaulted two women, even suggesting before his sentencing yesterday that the victims were fabricating their stories. He was eventually apprehended in Scotland, 13 years after the assaults, having absconded from the US.
An online obituary had previously claimed that Rossi had succumbed to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer, just months before his arrest.
However, Rossi, aged 38, was ultimately jailed for five years yesterday after District Judge Barry Lawrence, presiding in Salt Lake City, Utah, heard about the “trail of fear, pain and destruction” he left in his wake following the attacks in the state in 2008. One of the survivors, giving evidence in court, 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.”
Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Brandon Simmons informed the court that Rossi, who has experienced three failed marriages, “uses rape to control women” and posed a threat to community safety.
Rossi did not provide testimony on his own behalf during his trial. Given an opportunity to speak prior to his sentencing on Monday, Rossi continued to assert his innocence.
Rossi, legally known as Nicholas Alahverdian, declared: “I am not guilty of this. These women are lying.”
The defendant was found guilty and imprisoned for one of the attacks, with sentencing for the other rape, which also occurred in Utah in 2008, set for 4 November.
It took over a decade from the time of the rapes to his convictions. The hunt for Rossi began in 2018 when Utah authorities identified him through a decade-old DNA rape kit linked to the other case.
He was among thousands of rape suspects identified and subsequently charged when Utah made efforts to clear its backlog of rape kits. Months after being charged in that case, an online obituary claimed Rossi had died, but police in his home state of Rhode Island, along with his former lawyer and a previous foster family, cast doubt on whether he was actually deceased.
Rossi was arrested in Scotland the following year while receiving treatment for COVID-19, after hospital staff recognised his distinctive tattoos – including the crest of Brown University inked on his shoulder, despite never having attended – from an Interpol notice.
Following a lengthy court battle, he was extradited to Utah in January 2024. At the time, Rossi insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed.
Investigators say they identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used over the years to evade capture.
In his first Utah trial, Rossi’s public defender denied the rape claim and urged jurors not to read too much into his move overseas. Nevertheless, the jury convicted Rossi of the rape charge for which he was sentenced on Monday.
