Nicholas Rossi, the American rapist who absconded to Scotland after appearing to fake his own death in an attempt to evade justice, has died in hospital in the US. The 38-year-old had been serving a jail sentence in Utah after being found guilty of raping two women in 2008 following two separate trials in 2024.
The Utah department of corrections said he died from complications from an existing medical condition at 8.32pm on Thursday, having chosen to discontinue medical treatment. A corrections department spokesperson, Richard Piatt, said Rossi's victims and his family were notified of his death.
Rossi, once referred to by a judge as a 'serial abuser of women', was serving 10 years to life for crimes that included sexual assault. He had lived in Bristol before moving to Scotland and was arrested on a Covid ward at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital in Glasgow in 2021 after hospital staff recognised him from an Interpol notice due to distinctive tattoos.
Rossi initially claimed mistaken identity and said he was an Irish-born orphan named Arthur Knight. He sacked at least six lawyers and claimed to have been tortured in prison before a judge ruled he was Rossi in 2022. He was then extradited to the US in 2024. Utah authorities had been searching for Rossi after he was identified through a decade-old DNA rape kit.
In his first trial, a victim testified that Rossi raped her after they became engaged. The second victim had gone to his apartment to collect money she said he stole. After news of his death, Utah prosecutor Sim Gill said: 'Mr Rossi was a sexual predator who tried to escape accountability. The survivors of his heinous acts have the consolation that he died in prison with the knowledge of the crimes he committed.'
