Utah judge rules that man accused of faking death and fleeing US to avoid rape charges must stand trial

Nicholas Rossi, also known as Nicholas Alahverdian, is accused of faking his own death and fleeing the U.S. to avoid rape charges. Prosecutors claim he raped a former girlfriend in Salt Lake County in 2008, and another woman in Orem, Utah the same year. Due to a DNA test kit backlog, he was not identified as a suspect for about a decade. Rossi, who claimed to be an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight, was recognized in Scotland in 2021 and subsequently arrested after being treated for COVID-19. He lost an extradition appeal in December. His former foster family doubted his death, as an obituary claimed he died of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2020. Utah court documents also accuse Rossi of sexual assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping in Rhode Island, Ohio, and Massachusetts. During a preliminary hearing, the judge ruled there was enough evidence to proceed to a jury trial. Rossi’s attorneys did not comment when reached out to by the Associated Press.

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