Who is Nicholas Rossi? the rapist who faked his death

NEWS DESK: For years, Nicholas Rossi lived behind a shifting cast of names and lies, a self-spun myth designed to keep justice at bay. But the elaborate facade finally collapsed this week, as the 38-year-old American was sentenced in Utah to a term of five years to life for raping his former girlfriend nearly two decades ago.

Born Nicholas Alahverdian in Rhode Island, Rossi once presented himself as a political advocate and survivor of abuse within the foster system. But behind the self-styled image of a reformer lay a trail of violence and deception. In 2008, he raped two women in Utah. When investigators later matched his DNA to the unsolved cases, Rossi faked his own death, claiming to have succumbed to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and vanished across the Atlantic.

His obituary, complete with tributes and a supposed burial at sea, was published online in 2020. Months later, “Arthur Knight,” an Irish orphan with a posh accent and no ties to America, appeared in Scotland. That was Rossi’s newest invention.

In December 2021, the charade began to crumble. Hospital staff in Glasgow, where “Knight” had been admitted for Covid-19, recognised tattoos matching an Interpol alert. Even then, Rossi doubled down, insisting the tattoos had been placed on his body without his consent and that his fingerprints had been swapped.

Appearing in Scottish courts in a wheelchair, dressed in a three-piece suit and wearing an oxygen mask, Rossi claimed frailty and mistaken identity. But doctors described his legs as “strong and athletic,” and the courts ruled in 2023 that he was indeed Nicholas Rossi. He was extradited to the United States in early 2024.

On Monday, Judge Barry Lawrence described Rossi as “the very definition of a flight risk” and “a serial abuser of women.” Utah’s sentencing laws mean the duration of his imprisonment will be determined by the state’s parole board, but the judge made clear that Rossi’s years of manipulation were an aggravating factor.

Even now, he refuses to accept responsibility. “These women are lying,” he told the court before sentencing. But for his victims, one of whom said Rossi left a “trail of fear, pain and destruction”, the verdict marks the long-delayed unmasking of a man who built his life on deceit.

Rossi faces sentencing in a second rape conviction next month.