Nicholas Rossi, 38, died Thursday night in a Utah prison after discontinuing medical treatment for an existing condition. He was serving a sentence of at least 10 years following his 2025 convictions in two sexual assault cases.
Rossi had been extradited to Utah from Scotland in 2024 after a yearslong effort to locate him. He was identified in 2018 through a DNA rape kit and arrested in Scotland in 2021 while receiving treatment for COVID-19.
Authorities said Rossi had used at least a dozen aliases to evade capture and had faked his own death in 2020 via an online obituary. During court proceedings, he claimed to be an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed.
Salt Lake County prosecutor Sim Gill stated that Rossi was a sexual predator who tried to escape accountability. Gill added that the survivors of his crimes could take consolation in the fact that he died in prison aware of his offenses.
Rossi had appeared in court in a wheelchair and using oxygen. His victims and family were notified of the death, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.
