Man Who Faked His Death Found Alive in Scotland; Arrested on Sexual Assault and Fraud Charges

Iesha January 13, 2022 News Leave a comment

According to reports, a Rhode Island man who faked his own death to escape sex assault and fraud charges has been found alive in Scotland.

In February 2020, Nicholas Rossi, also known as Nicholas Alahverdian, 32, was supposed to die of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but he was found on a ventilator for COVID-19 at a Glasgow hospital last month.

According to the Scottish Sun, hospital staff only learned Alahverdian, who was living under the name Arthur Knight, was wanted by Interpol when authorities arrived and arrested him.

Utah County Attorney’s Office reported that the fugitive was on the run from criminal charges in Utah and Ohio and faked his death to avoid prosecution.

“He has been taken into custody and the Utah County Attorney’s Office is working with federal and international agencies to extradite Mr. Rossi back to Utah,” the agency said in a statement.

According to the Providence Journal, Alahverdian is suspected in a number of sexual assault cases in Utah and across the United States and extorting $200,000 from his former foster mother in Ohio and $60,000 from his ex-wife Kathryn Heckendorn.

In the weeks leading up to Alahverdian’s “death“ in February 2020, he encouraged local Rhode Island reporters to write about it, stating that his crusade against the child welfare system made it newsworthy.

The outlet reported that he became angry when the journalists failed to cover the story.

Alahverdian was described as a “warrior” for children in his obituary, and his dying words were “Fear not and run toward the bliss of the sun.”

A woman claiming to be Alahverdian’s wife encouraged lawmakers to participate in an extravagant memorial to honor his life. However, plans were squashed when word got out that Alahverdian might still be alive.

“At first I didn’t believe it,” Heckendorn told the outlet. “I said this has to be Nick; he probably hired someone to get in touch with me to scope out the situation, because that’s the very special kind of deception he would do.”