“A long time has passed, but (the victim) never forgot what he did to her during their month-long relationship,” Prosecutor Brandon Simmons, who is a deputy district attorney at the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office in Utah, said in court on Monday. “A long time has passed, but there’s still evidence that supports her memory of what happened.”
Rossi, who also has gone by the name Nicholas Alahverdian, was arrested in Scotland after allegedly faking his own death and moving to the U.K. in 2020, where he went by the name Arthur Knight and claimed to be an Irish orphan. Rossi was arrested by Scottish authorities after he was hospitalized with COVID and officials were able to match his tattoos to Rossi, who was a fugitive.
Rossi for a while spoke in a British accent and claimed this case had nothing to do with him until after he was extradited to Utah to face rape charges, Simmons said. Rossi finally admitted his real identity under oath in October 2024, Simmons said.
Samantha Dugan, Rossi’s defense attorney, during opening statements said the prosecutor’s case is an incomplete collection of puzzle pieces that do not fit together. She said the accuser’s story has changed over time and can’t be verified.
“At the end, when you try to put this puzzle together, you’re going to have big gaps,” she said. “You’re going to have pieces from different puzzles. You’re not going to get a complete picture.”
Dugan said the alleged victim in the case made the rape allegations 13 years after she was in a relationship with Rossi that ended badly, after she saw him arrested on the news.
Rossi’s ex-fiancée said in court on Monday that she met him on Craigslist, a personal ads website, and it was a whirlwind romance and they became engaged within weeks. But she said after their engagement, his personality and demeanor changed, and he was abusive and controlling.
She said he became angry when she decided to end their relationship. She said Rossi held her down and sexually assaulted her at his home.
The woman said she told her parents Rossi had raped her, but they did not do anything about it and seemed not to care.
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