American faked his own death to avoid rape charges and got caught
Photo: Dado Ruvic / Reuters
In one of the hospitals in Glasgow (Scotland), an American was found who pretended to be dead to avoid accusations of rape. Nicolas Rossi faked his own death but got caught when he contracted COVID-19, reports The Guardian.
Rossi was accused of rape back in 2008, and later became aware of his involvement in kidnappings. He hid from justice for years, and in 2020 faked his own death and disappeared. In 2020, several media outlets reported that he died of lymphoma, his body was cremated, and his ashes were supposedly scattered at sea.
However, in 2021, Rossi ended up at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where he was hospitalized with the coronavirus. Due to complications that arose during the illness, he spent several weeks in the intensive care unit, notes KSL-TV.
He called himself Arthur Knight to the doctors. The American used at least eight pseudonyms, the police found out. He called himself Nicholas Alakhverdyan, Nicholas Alakhverdyan Rossi, Nicholas Edward Rossi, Nicholas Alakhverdyan-Rossi, Nick Alan, Nicholas Brown, Arthur Brown and Arthur Knight. Utah Attorney David Leavitt admitted that if it were not for Rossi's hospitalization, he might not have been found, reports Complex. Now the issue of his extradition to the United States is being decided.
A similar story happened in the US in 2019. Then the police arrested the Scotsman Kim Vincent Avis, who was suspected in his homeland of at least 24 cases of rape. Like Rossi, he faked his own death, hoping to avoid deportation.
