Rhode Island man arrested in Scotland after faking his own death to flee rape charge

Jezebel reported that a fugitive Rhode Island man was arrested in a Scotland hospital after he faked his own death to run from a rape charge in Utah.

"Last January, a 35-year-old orphan from Ireland named Arthur Knight was arrested in a Glasgow, Scotland, hospital," reported Audra Heinrichs. "Only the man wasn’t Knight, nor was he an orphan from Ireland. He is Nicholas Rossi, a Rhode Island fugitive who’d faked his own death and fled the U.S. to avoid prosecution for a sexual assault in Orem, Utah, per a statement from the Utah County Attorney’s office."

"Ever since his incarceration, Rossi has reportedly attempted to convince authorities that he was, in fact, Arthur Knight (a reference to King Arthur and the knights of the round table? Unclear.)" the report continued. "This week, an Edinburgh court ruled that Rossi had hatched an elaborate plan — one that even included an obituary on a memorial website, claiming he’d died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in February 2020 — to escape charges. Rossi’s true identity was confirmed via his tattoos and fingerprints after he was apprehended 'for obstructing the course of justice and allegedly behaved in a threatening or abusive manner' at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital."

Rhode Island man arrested in Scotland after faking his own death to flee rape charge