In a case that has gripped both sides of the Atlantic, American fugitive Nicholas Rossi—also known as Nicholas Alahverdian—was found guilty of rape in Utah after years of evading justice by faking his own death and fleeing to Scotland. The verdict, delivered by a Salt Lake County jury on August 14, 2025, closes one chapter of a saga marked by deception, courtroom drama, and international intrigue—but leaves several more yet to be written.
Rossi, 38, sat impassively as the jury of four men and four women reached their decision after more than eight hours of deliberation, according to reporting from BBC and ABC4. He faces sentencing on October 20, 2025, with a possible term of five years to life in prison. Yet even as this case concludes, Rossi is scheduled to stand trial in September for another alleged rape in Utah County, with additional sexual assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping charges pending in Rhode Island, Ohio, and Massachusetts, as noted by ABC4.
The Salt Lake County case centers on a 2008 attack. The survivor, referred to in court as MS, met Rossi online that year, and their relationship escalated quickly—they were engaged after just two weeks. But the whirlwind romance soon turned dark. MS testified that Rossi became controlling, borrowed money, restricted her driving, and criticized her clothing choices. Despite these red flags, it was only after she tried to end the relationship that Rossi’s behavior escalated to violence. In harrowing testimony, MS described how Rossi pushed her onto his bed at his apartment and raped her, as detailed by BBC and ABC4.
During the trial, MS recounted the events leading up to the assault, including an argument at the Gateway mall in Salt Lake City. After the confrontation, Rossi screamed and hit her car, then convinced her to drive him home. Once there, he refused to leave the car, threatening to call the police and accuse her of hitting him. Ultimately, MS was persuaded to come inside, where the assault occurred. “We are grateful to the survivor in this case for her willingness to come forward, years after this attack took place. We appreciate her patience as we worked to bring the defendant back to Salt Lake County so that this trial could take place and she could get justice. It took courage and bravery to take the stand and confront her attacker to hold him accountable,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said, as quoted by multiple sources.
The defense attempted to cast doubt on the prosecution’s case, likening it to a “puzzle from a thrift shop” with missing pieces, and suggested that MS was motivated by resentment over lost money on engagement rings, only coming forward after seeing Rossi in the news 13 years later. But the jury was unconvinced, finding Rossi guilty of first-degree felony rape after a three-day trial, as reported by ABC4 and BBC.
Another woman, KP, also took the stand, providing testimony about her own brief relationship with Rossi in 2008. She met him on MySpace in August of that year, and described waking up at his apartment to discover he had spent up to $400 on a computer using her credit card without her permission. After the relationship ended, KP said, Rossi admitted he could not repay her. She further testified that after this incident, Rossi performed a sex act on himself and, when she tried to leave, pulled her clothing down and raped her. Rossi is scheduled to face trial in Utah County for the alleged rape of KP in September, with the proceedings expected to last two weeks, according to the BBC.
So who is Nicholas Rossi? Born Nicholas Alahverdian in 1987, he took his stepfather’s surname. By 2020, he was under investigation for credit card fraud and facing mounting legal troubles. That’s when he orchestrated one of the more bizarre escapes in recent criminal history: an obituary published online claimed he had died on February 29, 2020, of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But police in Rhode Island, his former lawyer, and even a foster family doubted the story, as reported by the Associated Press and ABC4.
In reality, Rossi had fled the United States, married his wife Miranda in Bristol, England, and settled in Scotland. He managed to avoid detection until December 2021, when he was arrested in a Glasgow hospital’s Covid ward. Staff recognized his distinctive tattoos from an Interpol wanted notice, and his story quickly unraveled. Rossi insisted he was Arthur Knight, an Irish-born orphan who had never set foot in America, and claimed he had been framed. He even appeared in court in a wheelchair, wearing a three-piece suit and an oxygen mask, maintaining his innocence and mistaken identity. Despite his claims—and a lack of documentation to support his alias—a Scottish sheriff eventually declared his story “implausible” and “fanciful.”
Legal proceedings in Scotland dragged on, in part due to Rossi’s antics, including the dismissal of several lawyers and his refusal to provide a birth certificate or passport. In September 2023, Scotland’s justice secretary signed the order for his extradition, and Rossi was flown back to the US in January 2024 after losing his final appeal. During a bail hearing in Salt Lake City in October 2024, Rossi finally admitted for the first time that he and Arthur Knight were one and the same, though he denied fleeing the US to escape arrest, claiming instead that he was evading threats.
Rossi’s conviction has been seen as a victory for the survivors who came forward and for law enforcement agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet the story is far from over. With another trial looming in Utah County, and additional charges pending elsewhere, the legal odyssey of Nicholas Rossi will continue to unfold in the months ahead.
For now, the verdict offers a measure of closure for MS and a powerful reminder of the resilience required to seek justice, even after years of evasion and denial by the accused. As the sentencing date approaches, all eyes will remain on the courts—and on Rossi, whose attempts to outrun accountability have finally come to an end.