A convicted sexual assailant who spent years evading American justice by faking his own death and fleeing across continents has died while in custody at a Utah correctional facility, state law enforcement officials confirmed Friday.
Thirty-eight-year-old Nicholas Rossi, also known by the alias Nicholas Alahverdian, passed away Thursday night due to complications from a pre-existing chronic health condition, according to Richard Piatt, public information officer for the Utah Department of Corrections. Piatt confirmed that Rossi had made the personal decision to discontinue ongoing medical treatment prior to his death, and that both his surviving family members and the victims of his crimes have been formally notified of his passing. Details of Rossi’s specific health issues have not been released per privacy regulations, but court observers noted he appeared throughout his 2025 trial in a wheelchair and required supplemental oxygen during proceedings.
Rossi’s death closes out a years-long, international manhunt that began in 2018, when investigators matched Rossi’s DNA to a decades-old unprocessed rape kit collected from an earlier assault. Following the 2018 charges, a staged online obituary was published in early 2020 claiming Rossi had died from non-Hodgkin lymphoma on February 29 of that year. But investigators and people close to Rossi—including his former legal counsel and a former foster family—immediately raised doubts about the claim of his death, launching a cross-border search that would span multiple years.
After faking his death, Rossi fled the United States for Europe, eventually settling in Scotland where he was arrested in 2021 while receiving treatment for COVID-19. Hospital staff recognized him from the international arrest warrant by his unique tattoos, including a forged Brown University crest inked on his shoulder—Rossi had never actually attended the Ivy League institution. Even after his arrest, he continued to obstruct justice, claiming he was a innocent Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who had been wrongfully framed for crimes he did not commit. Investigators ultimately confirmed that Rossi used more than a dozen separate aliases over decades to avoid detection and evade law enforcement.
Rossi was finally extradited back to the United States from Scotland in 2024 to stand trial for two sexual assault charges brought by Utah prosecutors. In 2025, he was convicted on both counts and sentenced to serve a minimum of 10 years in state prison. During the trial, details of his abusive pattern of behavior emerged: one victim told the court Rossi raped her in her apartment after she confronted him for stealing money from her to purchase a computer. A second victim, who met Rossi through a personal advertisement posted to Craigslist, said the pair became engaged within weeks of meeting, during which time Rossi pressured her to cover all of his living expenses, lend him $1,000 to prevent eviction, and take on personal debt to purchase their engagement rings. The trial judge ultimately labeled Rossi a “serial abuser of women” during sentencing.
At his October 2024 sentencing hearing, Rossi again maintained his innocence, claiming “I am not guilty of this. These women are lying.” Local prosecutors noted Wednesday that despite his continued claims of innocence, Rossi never escaped accountability for his crimes. “Mr. Rossi was a sexual predator who tried to escape accountability,” said Salt Lake County prosecutor Sim Gill. “The survivors of his heinous acts have the consolation that he died in prison with the knowledge of the crimes he committed.”