Nicholas Rossi, a man whose name once appeared in an obituary describing his tragic death, now sits in a Utah jail cell, convicted of a crime that he spent years—and a continent—trying to escape. On August 13, 2025, an eight-person jury in Salt Lake County found Rossi, who also goes by Nicholas Alahverdian, guilty of raping a former girlfriend in 2008. This verdict marks the end of a bizarre international manhunt and the beginning of justice for the victim who waited more than a decade for her day in court.
The saga began in earnest in 2018, when Utah authorities, in a push to clear their backlog of untested rape kits, identified Rossi as a suspect through DNA evidence collected a decade earlier. That breakthrough would set off a chain of events that reads more like a crime thriller than a typical court case. Months after he was charged in Utah County, an obituary appeared online in February 2020, announcing that Nicholas Rossi had died of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The obituary, posted on February 29, 2020, painted a picture of a man lost too soon. But from the outset, police in his home state of Rhode Island, along with a former lawyer and foster family, raised doubts about whether he was truly dead.
Those doubts were confirmed in 2021, when hospital staff in Glasgow, Scotland, recognized Rossi’s distinctive tattoos from an Interpol notice while he was being treated for COVID-19. According to The Associated Press, Rossi was arrested and, after a lengthy extradition battle, was returned to Utah in January 2024. Throughout the ordeal, Rossi insisted he was not the man authorities claimed, but rather an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed. Investigators, however, identified at least a dozen aliases he had used over the years in his attempts to evade capture.
Rossi’s trial began on August 11, 2025, at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City. The proceedings lasted five days, with the jury ultimately reaching its verdict after three days of testimony. The prosecution and defense agreed on several key facts: that Nicholas Alahverdian and Nicholas Rossi were the same person, that he had lived in Utah in 2008, and that he had a month-long relationship with the victim, who knew him as Rossi.
The victim, whose name is being withheld, took the stand alongside her parents. She recounted how, in 2008, she was living at home and recovering from a traumatic brain injury when she responded to a personal ad Rossi had posted on Craigslist. Their relationship moved quickly—they were engaged within about two weeks. But the romance soon soured. She testified that Rossi asked her to pay for their dates, cover his car repairs, lend him $1,000 to avoid eviction, and even take on debt to buy their engagement rings. After their engagement, his demeanor changed, growing increasingly hostile. One night, after she drove him home, he raped her in his bedroom.
Initially, the woman did not report the assault. She told the court that her parents’ dismissive comments convinced her to stay silent. It was only about a decade later, after seeing Rossi’s name in the news in connection with another rape accusation from the same year, that she decided to come forward. Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Brandon Simmons told jurors, “This is not romantic, this is not her mistaking things.” The prosecution painted Rossi as an intelligent manipulator who preyed on a vulnerable young woman.
Rossi’s defense team, led by public defender Samantha Dugan, denied the allegations. Dugan urged jurors not to read too much into Rossi’s decision to move overseas or use different names, stating, “You’re allowed to move, you’re allowed to go somewhere else, you’re allowed to have a different name.” She argued that the accuser’s claims were motivated by resentment over footing the bill during their brief relationship and that she had accused Rossi of rape to get back at him years later when he was receiving media attention. After the verdict, Dugan declined further comment.
Throughout the trial, Rossi appeared in a wheelchair, wearing a suit and tie and using an oxygen tank. He declined to testify on his own behalf. The jury, however, was presented with “stipulated facts”—agreed upon by both sides—making it clear that the man before them was indeed the same Nicholas Rossi accused of the 2008 assault.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill praised the courage of the survivor, saying in a statement, “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.”
The story doesn’t end with this conviction. Rossi will be sentenced on October 20, 2025, and faces a potential sentence of five years to life in prison—a standard penalty for first-degree felony rape in Utah, as confirmed by District Attorney Gill. He is also set to stand trial in September 2025 for another rape charge in Utah County, involving a different former girlfriend. In that case, the accuser reported to police at the time that Rossi had attacked her at his apartment in Orem in September 2008, after she came to collect money she said he had stolen to buy a computer. When initially questioned by police, Rossi claimed that she had raped him and threatened to have him killed.
Rossi’s legal troubles extend far beyond Utah. He faces additional charges in Rhode Island, Ohio, and Massachusetts, including sexual assault, harassment, and possible kidnapping. The FBI has stated that he also faces fraud charges in Ohio, where he was previously convicted of sex-related offenses in 2008. Authorities have described a man adept at using aliases and deception to stay one step ahead of the law. His background includes growing up in foster homes in Rhode Island and a previous warrant in the state for failing to register as a sex offender.
As the legal process continues, the case stands as a testament to the persistence of law enforcement and the courage of survivors. The years-long pursuit across continents, the unraveling of a fake death, and the eventual conviction of Nicholas Rossi have drawn international attention—not just for the sensational details, but for what they reveal about the resilience required to bring a fugitive to justice. With more trials ahead and a sentencing date set, the story of Nicholas Rossi is far from over, but for now, one survivor’s long wait for accountability has reached a pivotal moment.