Utah Inmate Dies in Hospital After Choosing to Stop Medical Treatment

Nicholas Rossi, 38, died Thursday night after being taken from a Utah prison to a hospital. The Utah Department of Corrections said he died from complications of an existing medical condition after choosing to discontinue medical treatment. Rossi was serving at least 10 years in prison for two sexual assault convictions that resulted from trials in Utah in 2025.

Rossi had been extradited to Utah from Scotland in 2024. Utah authorities identified him in 2018 through a decade-old DNA rape kit. An online obituary published in 2020 claimed he had died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma on Feb.

29 of that year, but investigators continued to search for him. He was arrested in Scotland in 2021 while receiving treatment for COVID-19. Hospital staff recognized distinctive tattoos, including the crest of Brown University on his shoulder.

Investigators identified at least a dozen aliases he had used, and he also went by the name Nicholas Alahverdian. Two women in Utah accused Rossi of sexual assault. One said he raped her in an apartment after she went there to collect money he had stolen from her.

The second woman met him through a Craigslist personal ad, began dating him, and became engaged within weeks; she testified that he asked her to pay for dates and car repairs, lend him $1,000 to avoid eviction, and take on debt for engagement rings.

Rossi said at a sentencing hearing last October, "I am not guilty of this. " During court appearances he had appeared in a wheelchair and used oxygen.

Richard Piatt, a spokesperson for the Utah Department of Corrections, said he could not disclose details about Rossi's health problems.