US convicted rapist who faked his demise and fled to Scotland to keep away from arrest dies in jail hospital
A person whose extraordinary try to keep away from arrest and extradition spanned continents, pretend identities and even a fabricated demise has died behind bars in america.Nicholas Rossi, the American convicted rapist who made worldwide headlines after allegedly faking his personal demise and fleeing to Scotland, died Thursday evening in a Utah hospital whereas serving a jail sentence for 2 rape convictions.The Utah Division of Corrections mentioned the 38-year-old died from problems linked to a pre-existing medical situation after selecting to discontinue remedy. Authorities mentioned each his household and victims had been knowledgeable.Rossi, born Nicholas Alahverdian in Rhode Island, was serving a sentence of 10 years to life after being convicted in separate 2024 trials for raping two girls in Utah in 2008.His downfall adopted probably the most weird fugitive sagas in latest reminiscence. In 2020, a web based obituary claimed Rossi had died from non-Hodgkin lymphoma. However investigators grew suspicious, significantly as he was wished in reference to rape allegations and different investigations within the US.The thriller unraveled in 2021 when hospital workers at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth College Hospital reportedly acknowledged Rossi from an Interpol discover whereas he was receiving remedy on a Covid ward. Distinctive tattoos helped determine him, regardless of his insistence that he was really “Arthur Knight,” an Irish-born orphan who had by no means set foot in America.For years, Rossi fought extradition in Scottish courts, showing at hearings in a wheelchair, usually carrying an oxygen masks and formal fits whereas sustaining he was the sufferer of mistaken id. He repeatedly denied being Rossi and dismissed proof linking him to the wished American fugitive.Scottish courts in the end rejected his claims, with a decide describing his story as implausible. After exhausting authorized challenges, he was extradited to america in January 2024 and later admitted his true id throughout courtroom proceedings.Utah prosecutors portrayed Rossi as a serial sexual predator who spent years attempting to flee accountability. One sufferer testified that Rossi turned abusive shortly after a whirlwind engagement and raped her in 2008. One other girl reported being assaulted after confronting him over cash she alleged he had stolen.Salt Lake County Lawyer Sim Gill mentioned Rossi had spent years trying to keep away from justice however in the end died in jail after being publicly convicted.“Mr Rossi was a sexual predator who tried to flee accountability,” Gill mentioned, including that his victims might take some solace in figuring out he died incarcerated and absolutely conscious of his crimes.
