Uncle of US fugitive rape suspect Nicholas Rossi who faked his own death and fled to the UK reveals how he discovered his nephew had been found alive in a Glasgow Covid ward on the same day of his father’s funeral
- Nicholas Rossi, 36, claims he is an orphaned Irish man called Arthur Knight
- He faked his own death in 2020 and fled to Scotland to escape prosecution
The uncle of fugitive rape suspect Nicholas Rossi has revealed he discovered his nephew was still alive on the same day he buried his brother – one year after the runaway faked his own death and fled to the UK.
Michael Alahverdian, the brother of Rossi’s biological father, lost contact with Rossi in 2017 after the suspected rapist stopped returning his calls.
Already a convicted sex offender, Rossi, 36, faked his own death in 2020 and fled from the US to Scotland to escape prosecution.
He was then traced to a Covid ward in Glasgow in 2021 where he was arrested.
His uncle, Mr Alahverdian, told the BBC he did not hear of his relative again after they lost contact, until he received the news of his death.
Nicholas Rossi, 36, (pictured) faked his own death in 2020 and fled from the US to Scotland to escape prosecution for rape
Michael Alahverdian (pictured), the brother of Rossi’s biological father, lost contact with Rossi in 2017 after the suspected rapist stopped returning his calls. He has now revealed he discovered Rossi was still alive on the same day he buried his brother
One month earlier Rossi told the media he only had weeks to live after being diagnosed with late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
‘It was tough, it was hard, because I never said goodbye to him,’ Mr Alahverdian said.
Mr Alahverdian’s brother Jack, Rossi’s biological father, died in 2021. On the same day he buried Jack the uncle discovered his nephew was still alive.
‘I get home and on the news is that Nick [Rossi] was found alive,’ Mr Alahverdian said.
‘And I’m like wait a minute, is this a dream or nightmare, these two things happening together the same day.’
He added: ‘It hurts that someone that supposedly loves you and cares about you will just go out there and deceive you.’
Describing him as a ‘great’ child, Mr Alahverdian said he first lost touch with his nephew when Rossi was about seven, shortly after his parents split. Rossi went on to take his stepfather’s name.
Rossi claims he is an orphaned Irish man called Arthur Knight, but Scottish courts have ruled he is actually Nicholas Rossi, an American wanted in the US. Pictured: A mugshot from the arrest of Nicholas Rossi by police in Massachusetts in 2010
Mr Alahverdian’s brother Jack, Rossi’s biological father, died in 2021. On the same day he buried Jack, the uncle discovered his nephew was still alive
READ MORE: The many faces of wheelchair-bound fugitive Nicholas Rossi as judge rules he CAN be extradited to US: How wanted rape suspect ‘faked his own death and fled to UK’ before being arrested in Covid ward and claimed to be Irish orphan Arthur Knight
They reconnected 15 years later via Facebook, according to the BBC, when Rossi told Mr Alahverdian he had been taken into care as a child and abused.
When Rossi launched a high-profile bid to sue the people involved un his care in Rhode Island, the state’s child welfare agency denied liability but reportedly settled eventually for around $70,000.
Mr Alahverdian helped Rossi with the case until 2017 when his nephew no longer returned his calls.
He next heard about him when he was reported dead in 2020, one year before he would be found alive on the same day his father was buried.
The pervert claimed he was an orphaned Irish man called Arthur Knight, but Scottish courts ruled he is actually Nicholas Rossi, an American wanted in the US.
Yesterday Edinburgh Sheriff Court ruled the fugitive can be extradited to the US to face charges.
Rossi was branded ‘dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative’ by a sheriff.
He is wanted by authorities in Utah for allegedly raping a woman in 2008. He also faces accusations of domestic violence.
The 36-year-old – born Nicholas Alahverdian before changing his surname to that of his adoptive stepfather, David Rossi – claimed he had been diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in late 2019 and told friends he was dying.
An obituary appeared online for Rossi in early 2020 saying he had died and that his ashes had been scattered at sea.
Rossi is wanted by authorities in Utah for allegedly raping a woman in 2008. He also faces accusations of domestic violence
But the following year he was arrested on a Covid hospital ward in Scotland, where he was registered as Arthur Knight, an Irish orphan, which he continues to insist is his real identity, claiming to have never set foot on American soil.
It was then ruled that the fugitive – who appeared throughout his court dates in a wheelchair, using an oxygen mask – is indeed Rossi after he was identified through DNA and distinctive tattoos, which were described in an Interpol alert.
He also spoke with an unconvincing accent in a notorious interview with NBC’s Dateline, in which he angrily denied his name was Rossi or Alahverdian, and theatrically collapsed into his wife’s arms after trying to stand in a bizarre effort to prove he could not walk.
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