A man who was accused of faking his own death in 2020 and fleeing to Europe to evade rape charges in the U.S. has died after he was taken to a hospital from a Utah prison, authorities said Friday.
Nicholas Rossi was serving at least 10 years in prison for two sexual assault cases that went to trial in Utah in 2025, following a yearslong global saga to find him and then extradite him from Scotland. A judge had described him as a “serial abuser of women.”
Rossi, 38, died Thursday night from “complications of an existing medical condition after choosing to discontinue medical treatment,” said Richard Piatt, a spokesperson at the Utah Department of Corrections.
His victims and his family were notified, Piatt said.
Piatt said he couldn't disclose details about Rossi's health problems. But during court appearances, he had appeared in a wheelchair and used oxygen.
“Mr. Rossi was a sexual predator who tried to escape accountability,” Salt Lake County prosecutor Sim Gill said. “The survivors of his heinous acts have the consolation that he died in prison with the knowledge of the crimes he committed.”
Rossi, also known as Nicholas Alahverdian, was extradited to Utah from Scotland in 2024. Authorities had been searching for him when he was identified in 2018 through a decade-old DNA rape kit.
Months after he was charged, an online obituary claimed Rossi died on Feb. 29, 2020, of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But police in his home state of Rhode Island, along with his former lawyer and a former foster family, cast doubt on whether he was dead.
He was arrested in Scotland the following year while receiving treatment for COVID-19. Hospital staff recognized his distinctive tattoos, including the crest of Brown University inked on his shoulder, although he never attended.
Rossi insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed. Investigators say they identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used over the years to evade capture.
Two women in Utah had accused him of sexual assault. One said Rossi raped her in an apartment after she had gone there to collect money that he had stolen from her to buy a computer.
Another woman said she met Rossi through a personal ad that he had posted on Craigslist. They began dating and were engaged within a couple weeks. She testified that Rossi asked her to pay for dates and car repairs, lend him $1,000 so he wouldn’t be evicted, and take on debt to buy their engagement rings.
“I am not guilty of this. These women are lying,” Rossi said at a sentencing hearing last October.
This photo provided by Utah Department of Corrections shows Nicholas Rossi. (Utah Department of Corrections via AP)
FILE - In this image taken from video, alleged U.S. fugitive Nicholas Rossi speaks during a hearing livestreamed on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (KSTU via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - In this image made from pool video footage, Nicholas Rossi, accused of faking his death and fleeing to Europe to avoid rape charges, appears at a jury trial in Salt Lake City, Aug. 11, 2025. (Firecrest Films via AP, Pool, File)
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans took the search for missing loved ones into their own hands Friday in the aftermath of back-to-back earthquakes, citing the scarcity of government rescuers, as the human toll of the disaster climbed to at least 920 dead and more than 3,300 hurt.
Citizens digging through the rubble of their homes said they have seen few state rescue teams in the areas hit hardest by the devastating 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes that struck late Wednesday, despite authorities projecting an image of a robust government response.
The lack of help compounded families' desperation as the pressure to find buried survivors increased with each passing hour. The South American nation on Friday marked nearly two days since the disaster. Aid agencies consider the first 48 to 72 hours to be a crucial time frame to retrieve people alive, though that period increases if they have access to food and water.
Meanwhile, an broad international aid effort accelerated, with more than two dozen rescue teams from around the globe arriving in Venezuela or due to arrive there soon.
“Each person saved is a miracle,” said Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the country’s National Assembly. “We are not going to hide absolutely anything about the magnitude of this tragedy."
Desperate families across northern Venezuela searched in the ruins of buildings for family members and whatever remained of their lives.
Nazareth Jimenez sobbed into the shoulder of a loved one as she watched neighbors try to cut through slabs of concrete with hammers and power tools in a building reduced to a mountain of debris. “My god, how are we going to get them out of there?" she murmured.
She was in the northern state of La Guaira, just north of the capital of Caracas, where some of the worst destruction unfolded. Jimenez was wracked with anxiety as she waited to see if her siblings, nephews, nieces and friends would emerge from the debris alive.
“We're making a call for help to governments of countries across the world,” she said, pleading for machines that would be capable of moving collapsed structures. "There are still people alive in there.”
Government forces distributed food and water to survivors in La Guaira as acting President Delcy Rodríguez said her government was “working tirelessly” to mount a full response. She welcomed the arrival of rescuers and humanitarian aid from all over the world. She said La Guaira had been militarized and that more help was on the way, even as residents said it was just a fraction of the aid they needed.
The disaster poses a huge challenge for Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after the capture and removal of then-President Nicolás Maduro by the United States. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodríguez represents.
The number of dead was expected to climb, with thousands of people reported missing. Venezuelan authorities said Friday afternoon that they had rescued 243 people.
The International Organization for Migration said that up to 6.76 million people in Venezuela could be affected by the quakes, some 2 million of them in Caracas alone. Loyce Pace, the International Red Cross’ regional director for the Americas, said “people are still terrified to reenter what were their homes.”
Buildings across northern Venezuela were reduced to skeletons, with furniture hanging out of windows and helicopters circling overhead.
Desperation started to sink on Friday as many families still had not found their missing loved ones, had minimal equipment for rescue efforts and continued to sleep on the street.
In Catia La Mar, a community adjacent to the country's main airport, people swarmed a civilian pickup truck that was giving out loaves of bread and water. A soldier intervened to allow the vehicle to leave. People turned the parking lot of a pharmacy into makeshift shelter by setting up tarps, hammocks and tents.
Omar Reyes walked through the remains of what was once his home, calling out the names of wife and children. He received no response.
Around 20 family members have died. Two of his four children are buried in the debris.
“I've been left alone in this life,” he said quietly.
Venezuela authorities said Friday that 861 international volunteers from Mexico, the U.S., El Salvador, Switzerland, Colombia and beyond were working in Venezuela. Many more from other countries were expected in the coming hours and days. The U.N. said 1,000 emergency responders in 25 search-and-rescue teams from across the globe were on their way.
On the country’s main highway, caravans of state forces, emergency personnel, dump trucks and heavy machinery moved in the direction of the tragedy. A civilian pickup truck carrying thin mattresses had its windows marked with “Help from Trujillo.” Venezuela's government said it had diverted emergency services to La Guaira state.
Firefighters from the state of Tachira, which borders Colombia, were among those being deployed in La Guaira.
Firefighting Gen. Antonio Briceño said 45 firefighters and a trained dog, aptly named Rescue, expected to reach affected sites in the coming days.
“We are bringing shovels, picks, hydraulic tools, drinking water, which are needed at the site,” Briceño said.
On Thursday night, the U.S. Treasury moved to waive sanctions until Oct. 23 to allow transactions related to earthquake relief efforts in Venezuela that would otherwise be prohibited.
Media reports have shared notable moments of hope, including a young man brought out on a stretcher in the San Bernardino district of Caracas to the applause of onlookers as his tearful mother said, “Leandro, I love you.”
Venezuelan TV broadcast video of a girl covered in dust and wrapped in a sweatshirt as she emerged from rubble with the help of rescuers. Caracas metropolitan rescue team head José Luis Núñez said she was found in a 10-story building in La Guaira that collapsed and flattened “like a pancake.”
“We want to highlight this girl’s strength, determination and will to live,” Núñez said.
The U.S. Geological Survey said both earthquakes were centered near Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas. The one-two punch of the quakes, combined with the shallow seismic movements, amplified the destruction, said Marcos Ferreira, a geophysicist and researcher at the Geological Survey of Brazil.
Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalists Clara Preve in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Julie Watson in San Diego; Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Geir Moulson in Berlin; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; and Teresa Medrano in Madrid contributed to this report.
Residents search through the rubble two days after an earthquake struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A covered body lies in front of a damaged building a day after an earthquake and several aftershocks struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
People search for missing relatives at the collapsed building where they lived two days after an earthquake struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Police carry a body recovered from the rubble of a building in La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026, a day after successive powerful earthquakes struck the country. (AP Photo/Javier Campos)
Franklin Fuentes searches for missing relatives in the collapsed building where they lived two days after earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
People attend a mass to honor the victims of the earthquakes in Venezuela, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A man walks over the fallen walls of his home in Moron, near the epicenter of two earthquakes that struck Venezuela the day before, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacinto Oliveros)
Residents walk among the rubble of building damaged in earthquakes the previous day in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
People camp in the street the night after the earthquake struck Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Neighbors carry a man rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building the day after earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
