Rapist who faked death and fled to UK to avoid jail dies aged 38

Nicholas Rossi, an American fugitive who faked cancer and fled to Scotland to avoid jail, has died aged 38.

The Utah Department of Corrections said he had been suffering from ‘chronic, degenerative conditions’ while in custody, according to the BBC.

Rossi, who was seen on oxygen and in a wheelchair at his trials, had spent years on the run after attacking a former girlfriend in Utah in 2008.

He was found guilty of raping two women at separate trials last year, but denied the allegations and claimed the women were ‘lying’.

A UDC spokesman confirmed he had died at a local hospital on Thursday night from his ongoing medical issues.

They said: ‘Rossi died from complications of an existing medical condition after choosing to discontinue medical treatment.

‘This notification follows communication with Rossi’s family and his victims.’

Rossi was sentenced to five years to life after being described as ‘a serial abuser of women’ and ‘the very definition of a flight risk’ by the judge in Salt Lake City, Utah.

After being arrested, he insisted he was the victim of mistaken identity and that he was an Irish-born orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed and had never been to the US.

Utah authorities had started searching for Rossi when he was identified through a decade-old DNA rape kit in 2018.

He faked his death in 2020 after being charged, posting an online obituary claiming he had succumbed to late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

That same year, he married a woman he met in Bristol, and the pair moved to Glasgow together.

Rossi was finally caught when staff at a Glasgow hospital recognized him from a police ‘wanted’ notice as he was receiving treatment for Covid in 2021.

Despite his claims of mistaken identity, an Edinburgh court determined he was Rossi, and an extradition warrant was signed. He was finally sent to the US in January 2024.

One victim, who gave evidence in his trial, was praised for her ‘courage in confronting [Rossi] years after the attack took place’.

‘This is not a plea for vengeance,’ she said. ‘This is a plea for safety and accountability, for recognition of the damage that will never fully heal.’

She told the court Rossi had left a ‘trail of fear, pain and destruction’ behind him.

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