Judge Determines Sufficient Evidence for Trial
A Utah judge ruled Thursday that Nicholas Rossi, a man accused of faking his own death and fleeing the United States to avoid rape charges, will face trial. District Judge Barry Lawrence made the ruling during a preliminary hearing, confirming that prosecutors had presented enough evidence to proceed with a jury trial.
Allegations of Rape in Utah
Prosecutors allege that Rossi, 37, raped a 26-year-old former girlfriend in Salt Lake County in 2008 after an argument. In a separate incident the same year, Rossi is accused of raping a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah. Due to a significant backlog of DNA test kits at the Utah State Crime Lab, Rossi was not identified as a suspect in either case for nearly a decade.
Rossi’s Claims of Innocence and Alleged Death
Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, has a history of using multiple aliases. He has claimed to be an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight and insisted that he had never been to the United States, asserting that he was the victim of a frame-up. In 2020, an obituary published online claimed that Rossi had died on February 29, 2020, from late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Arrest in Scotland and Extradition Efforts
Skepticism about Rossi’s supposed death persisted among authorities and his former foster family. He was eventually arrested in 2021 in Scotland after being recognized at a Glasgow hospital where he was receiving treatment for COVID-19. Rossi lost an extradition appeal in Scotland in December 2021, paving the way for his return to the U.S. to face charges.
Additional Allegations Across Multiple States
Court documents from Utah County reveal that Rossi is also accused of sexual assault, harassment, and potential kidnapping in several other states, including Rhode Island, Ohio, and Massachusetts. His attorneys from the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association have not responded to requests for comment.
