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Where Is Nicholas Rossi Now? U.S. Fugitive "Insisted He Was an Irish Orphan"
Rossi: A Fugitive Faking Death takes a deep dive into a complex international case.
Nicholas Rossi, an American fugitive who has been charged in multiple cases of sexual assault, is notorious for his multiple aliases.
After a twisty international chase leading from the United States to Scotland, Rossi is now back on American soil in the Utah County jail, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
How the 37-year-old ended up there is the subject of Rossi: A Fugitive Faking Death, a deep dive into the disturbing case now streaming on Peacock.
The gripping four-part docuseries airs November 28 at 8 p.m. ET on Oxygen.
Who is Nicholas Rossi?
Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, was born in Providence, Rhode Island.
He has been charged with the rape of a 21-year-old woman in 2008 in Orem, Utah, according to the Associated Press. Rossi pleaded not guilty during an October 2024 court hearing in the case. He is also charged with raping a 26-year-old former girlfriend in Salt Lake County, also in 2008, per AP.
Rossi allegedly faked his death to escape the Utah rape charges, as well as other sexual assault charges in Rhode Island, Ohio, and Massachusetts, per abc4.com.
In January 2020, Rossi claimed that he had late-stage, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, WJAR, an NBC affiliate, reported. About two months later, his obituary said, “he lived a warrior’s life,” per another WJAR report.
By this point, Rossi had already fled to the UK and assumed a new identity. In December 2021, he was tracked down in Scotland.
Rossi was arrested while being treated for COVID-19 at a hospital in Glasgow after staff recognized his tattoos. Images of the body art had been circulated by Interpol, according to the BBC.
In 2021, Rossi was arrested in a Glasgow hospital while being treated for COVID-19 for an unrelated incident. He was then recognized as a fugitive and the process for extradition was set in motion.
Rossi aggressively fought extradition to the United States, maintaining a defense of mistaken identity. He appeared in court multiple times.
“He insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who had never set foot on American soil,” the Associated Press reported. As he did so, he spoke with a British accent while in a wheelchair and using an oxygen mask.
Nicholas Rossi's Many Aliases
Rossi lived under several different identities. After insisting for several years that he was Arthur Knight, Rossi finally admitted to being Nicholas Rossi, AP reported in October 2024.
During a court hearing in Provo, Utah, Nicholas Rossi testified that after moving to Europe he learned in 2020 there were credible threats against his life, per the AP. He implied the threats were related to his work to reform the Rhode Island’s Department of Children, Youth and Families. As a young man he alleged in testimony before state lawmakers that he had been sexually abused and tortured while in foster care as a child.
According to the docuseries, he was described as a “master of disguise and deception,” said reporter Marc Horne. “He went by up to 16 different names, including Nicholas Alahverdian, Nicholas Rossi, Nicholas Brown, Nick Allen and, of course, Arthur Knight.”
Where is Nicholas Rossi now?
Following a three-year extradition battle, Rossi was returned to Utah, where DNA confirmed that he was indeed Nicholas Rossi, ksl.com reported.
Rossi is currently incarcerated in Utah on rape charges. He has been unable to play his $250,000 bail, per ksl.com.
Rossi’s attorney has argued the bail amount should be reduced to $10,000, while Utah County prosecutors have argued that he is a flight risk.
Rossi: A Fugitive Faking Death is streaming on Peacock. The four-part series airs November 28 at 8 p.m. ET on Oxygen.
