Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Nicholas Alahverdian is a registered sex offender and accused rapist who remained a fugitive for the longest time. People Magazine reported that he was facing rape charges in Utah when he fled to Scotland after faking his own death. Alahverdian goes by many aliases including Nichola Rossi and Arthur Knight Brown. Last December, he lost an appeal in Scotland, after which the alleged rapist was extradited to the U.S.
The outlet stated that authorities in Glasgow, Scotland, arrested Alahverdian in December 2021. At the time, the 35-year-old was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for Covid-19 treatment, per BBC. The grounds for his arrest were that he had the same tattoos and fingerprints as Alahverdian or Rossi, a wanted fugitive. The accused has maintained that he is an Irish-born orphan named Arthur Knight Brown. He further alleged that he has never spent time in the U.S.
A Dateline NBC episode previously revisited the alleged crimes of sex offender Nicholas Alahverdian. The episode titled “Dead Man Talking” premiered in April 2023. Radio Times stated that Alahverdian featured in the said episode alongside his wife, insisted, “I am not Nicholas Alahverdian! I do not know how to make this clearer.” He has alleged that it is a case of mistaken identity and that prosecutors are trying to frame him in the case.
People Magazine stated that Alahverdian is in jail in Utah jail without the possibility of bail. The accused is yet to enter a plea to the charges he faces.
What are the allegations against alleged fugitive Nicholas Alahverdian?
According to BBC, Nicholas Alahverdian was first convicted of sex crimes in Ohio in 2008. The conviction on the counts of sexual imposition and public indecency when he was a student at Sinclair College in Dayton. Alahverdian presently faces charges in Utah from a case that happened that same year. He allegedly sexually assaulted his former girlfriend in Orem reported AP News. CBS News further stated that other charges he faces are from failing to register as a sex offender in Rhode Island.
BBC stated that Alahverdian first revealed he had non-Hodgkin lymphoma in December 2019. He claimed he was in the final stages of his life and only had two weeks to live. Just months later, an obituary surfaced announcing his death, per People Magazine. The obituary stated that he died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma on February 29, 2020. It further mentioned his last moments with family members and claimed his last words were, “Fear not and run toward the bliss of the sun.”
Months after the news of Nicholas Alahverdian’s apparent death, a Utah County prosecutor filed rape charges against him in August 2020. Then, after nearly two years, in December 2021, authorities in Scotland arrested Alahverdian while he was using his alias, Arthur Knight Brown. He was getting COVID-19 treatment from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow when the hospital noticed his tattoos. They had previously seen the tattoos of the alleged rapist through images that Interpol had circulated.
Alahverdian, whose fingerprints also matched those of the convicted sex offender, has maintained that he is Arthur Knight Brown. Additionally, he has alleged that someone from the National Health Service took his fingerprints in an attempt to frame him in the alleged rape case. His other claims alleged that authorities gave him similar tattoos to the accused after placing him in a coma. The fugitive further maintains that it is likely a case of mistaken identity.
During the accused’s extradition hearing in Scotland, his wife Miranda Knight claimed her husband was Nicholas Brown. Miranda, who also submitted their marriage certificate to the court, alleged that he showed no signs that he was Alahverdian. According to BBC, the couple married in Bristol in 2020. However, reportedly, the accused could not produce a birth certificate, claiming that a family in Ireland had adopted him. He further alleged to have moved to London while he was a teenager.
Nicholas Alahverdian, who is originally from Rhode Island, spent most of his childhood in foster homes, per People Magazine. This led to him turning into a vocal critic of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, given the abuse he faced growing up in foster homes. The obituary via which Alahverdian allegedly announced his death in early 2020 also mentions bits about his early life. When just a boy of 14, he started working for the state and, about four years later, became the “youngest lobbyist in Rhode Island history.”
All sources stated that Alahverdian has more than 10 aliases Nicholas Rossi and Arthur Knight Brown being the known two. Earlier this year, in January 2024, he made a court appearance via video call from jail after his extradition. The accused is yet to enter a plea in the 2008 rape case against him.
Per BBC, Essex authorities continue to investigate another rape allegation against Nicholas Alahverdian or Arthur Knight Brown. Authorities first received a report of his alleged rape in 2022, which dates back to 2017, stated another BBC report.
