Notorious fugitive who faked his own death to escape US rape charges dies in Utah prison
Phoebe Tonks
Featured Image Credit: Ewan Bootman/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Nicholas Rossi, the convicted rapist who made global headlines for faking his own death and fleeing to Scotland under a bizarre fake identity, has officially died in a prison hospital, authorities have confirmed.
The Utah Department of Corrections announced that the 38-year-old inmate—whose legal name was Nicholas Alahverdian—passed away on Thursday, June 25, 2026, at a local medical facility. Rossi, whom a judge once branded a 'serial abuser of women,’ was serving a cumulative sentence of ten years to life. He was convicted in two separate high-profile trials for the 2008 rapes of two women in Utah.
According to prison officials, Rossi's actual death was entirely his own choice. The convict had been battling a series of chronic, degenerative medical issues.
"Rossi died from complications of an existing medical condition after choosing to discontinue medical treatment," the department stated in an official release.
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The Fake Death Ruse
Rossi’s elaborate and highly calculated attempt to evade American justice originally began back in 2020.
After Utah authorities utilized advanced DNA technology to link a decade-old rape kit back to him, Rossi panicked.
In a desperate bid to throw investigators off his scent, an elaborate online obituary suddenly surfaced in February 2020, claiming that Rossi had tragically passed away from late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The notice claimed his body had been cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.
In reality, Rossi had quietly fled the United States and crossed the Atlantic to the United Kingdom. He spent time living under the radar in Bristol, England, before eventually migrating north to Scotland.
The 'Arthur Knight' Identity Crisis
His house of cards came crashing down spectacularly in December 2021 when he contracted a severe case of COVID-19 and was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. Sharp-eyed medical staff quickly noticed that the eccentric patient matched the description on an active Interpol red notice, specifically identifying him by a series of highly distinctive tattoos on his arms.
What followed was one of the most surreal, theatrical courtroom battles in recent British history. For over a year, Rossi fiercely fought his extradition back to America.
He frequently showed up to hearings in a wheelchair, wearing an oxygen mask, and speaking in a highly exaggerated, fabricated English accent.
He vehemently denied being Nicholas Rossi, insisting that the police had mistakenly targeted an innocent, Irish-born orphan named Arthur Knight who had never set foot in America.
He repeatedly fired his legal teams, alleged that he was being actively 'tortured' by Scottish prison guards, and claimed the tattoos on his arms were forcibly inked onto his skin while he lay unconscious in a hospital bed.
Ultimately, a Scottish judge saw straight through the performance, ruling that his identity was 'unquestionably' Nicholas Rossi and clearing the path for his official extradition back to Utah.
'He Died in Prison'
Following his arrival back on U.S. soil, the judicial system moved swiftly. Juries rejected his ongoing claims of mistaken identity, and he was found guilty in consecutive rape trials.
Reacting to the news of his passing in a prison hospital, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill issued a firm, definitive final statement on the fugitive's long legacy of deception.
“Mr. Rossi was a sexual predator who tried to escape accountability," Gill stated flatly. "The survivors of his heinous acts have the consolation that he died in prison with the knowledge of the crimes he committed.”