Nicholas Rossi, the American rapist who fled to Scotland after appearing to fake his own death to evade justice, has died in a US hospital. The 38-year-old was serving a jail sentence in Utah for raping two women in 2008, following two separate trials in 2024.
The Utah Department of Corrections stated that Rossi died from complications of an existing medical condition at 8.32pm on Thursday, having chosen to discontinue treatment. A spokesperson confirmed that his victims and family were notified.
Rossi, once described by a judge as a 'serial abuser of women', was serving 10 years to life for sexual assault. He had lived in Bristol before moving to Scotland, where he was arrested in 2021 at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow after staff recognised him from an Interpol notice due to distinctive tattoos.
He initially claimed mistaken identity, asserting he was an Irish-born orphan named Arthur Knight. After a series of hearings, a judge ruled in 2022 that he was Nicholas Rossi, and he was extradited to the US in 2024. Utah authorities had identified him in 2018 through a DNA rape kit from a decade earlier.
In 2020, an online obituary falsely claimed Rossi had died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but police, his former lawyer, and a former foster family doubted his death. His first trial heard that a victim responded to a personal ad in 2008 and was raped after a brief engagement. A second victim reported an attack after confronting him about stolen money.
Utah prosecutor Sim Gill said in a statement: '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.'
