Utah Sexual Assault Kit initiative leads to arrest in Scotland from 2008 case
Jan 12, 2022, 4:18 PM | Updated: 4:35 pm
FILE: Utah County Attorney David Leavitt.
UTAH COUNTY— A sexual assault kit initiative to review old cases in 2020 led investigators to arrest Nicholas Rossi, who they located hiding out in Scotland.
Throughout 2020, the Utah County Attorney’s Office worked together with the Utah Department of Public Safety and State Bureau of Investigation’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative unit to review old sexual cases where the original sexual assault kits were not tested.
Because of these efforts, a 2008 sexual assault case was reviewed and the suspect, Nicholas Rossi, 34, was identified.
In 2017, the sexual assault kit initiative submitted the original kit from 2008 for testing and the DNA found matched the suspect, Nicholas Rossi, in an alleged sexual assault case in Ohio.
The Utah Department of Public Safety working with the original investigating agency along with Utah County Attorney’s Office to locate the victim and moved forward with prosecution, filing charges.
Investigators discovered that Rossi fled the country to avoid persecution in Ohio and had even attempted to make investigators believe he was dead. Rossi was linked to a number of other similar crimes within Utah and around the country, often using aliases including: Nicholas Alahverdian, Nicholas Alahverdian Rossi, Nicholas Edward Rossi, Nicholas Alahverdian-Rossi, Nick Alan, Nicholas Brown, Arthur Brown, Arthur Knight.
Because of the dedicated efforts of multiple investigators across various states and other agencies, along with cooperation with the Utah County Attorney’s Office, Rossi was found living under an alias in Scotland.
According to a press release, Rossi has been taken into custody and the Utah County Attorney’s Office is working with both federal and international agencies to extradite Mr. Rossi back to Utah.
“Our office is grateful for the significant interagency collaboration of law enforcement to bring this suspect to justice. We credit Utah’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative grant funded through the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Assistance as playing a significant role in testing backlogged kits and ultimately identifying the suspect,” David Leavitt, Utah County Attorney said.
It is believed that there are more victims of Nicholas Rossi. Any person believed to be a victim of a crime by Rossi is encouraged to reach out to the State Bureau of Investigation at (801) 965-4747, SAKI Agents, or the Utah County Attorney’s Office (801) 851-8026.
