Man found in Scotland and brought back to US on rape charges dies months after convictions

A man accused of faking his own death and escape to europe He died after being taken to a hospital from a Utah prison to escape U.S. rape charges, authorities said Friday.

Nicholas Rossi, 38, was serving at least 10 years in prison in Utah after their convictions In two sexual assault cases in 2025.

Utah Department of Corrections spokesman Richard Piatt said Rossi died Thursday night from “complications of an existing medical condition after choosing to forgo medical treatment.”

Piatt said the victims and their families have been notified.

Piatt said he could not disclose details about Rossi’s health problems. However, during his court appearance, he appeared in a wheelchair and used oxygen.

Rossi, also known as Nicholas Alahverdian, was extradited from Scotland to Utah in 2024.

Utah authorities were searching for her when she was identified through a decade-old DNA rape kit in 2018.

Months after he was charged in the case, an online obituary claimed that Rossi died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma on February 29, 2020. But police in his home state of Rhode Island, along with his former lawyer and former foster family, cast doubt on whether he was dead.

he was arrested in Scotland The following year while being treated for COVID-19. Hospital staff noticed his distinctive tattoos, including the Brown University crest on his shoulder, even though he never attended.

Rossi insisted that the person accused was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight. Investigators say they have identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used to evade capture over the years.