Nicholas Rossi: False names, a fake death and the flight from justice

0:00Hello, Ed Conway here. Here is what might sound like a slightly random question. What do AirPods, bananas and a pair of shoddily made running trainers from the 1970s have in common? On the surface, not very much. But on my podcast, Stuff Matters, I will uncover the deeper stories behind each of them. You will see how together they tell a fascinating new story about the world we live in. The first full series of Stuff Matters is out now. Just search for it on your podcast app and follow. Coming up on the daily, false names, a faked death, and a flight from justice. Now, Nicholas Rossi is finally standing trial for rape.

0:39So who is he? Paying for college doesn't have to be complicated. With Earnest private student loans, there are no surprises, just low rates and zero fees. Check your eligibility at earnest.com slash go. Loans made by Finwise Bank, member FDIC, and are subject to credit approval. Terms apply. Hello, Ed Conway here. Here's what might sound like a slightly random question. What do AirPods, bananas and a pair of shoddily made running trainers from the 1970s have in common? On the surface, not very much. But on my podcast, Stuff Matters, I will uncover the deeper stories behind each of them. You will see how together they tell a fascinating new story about the world we live in.

1:19The first full series of Stuff Matters is out now. Just search for it on your podcast app and follow. Has it been proved that you are in fact Nicholas Rossi? The fingerprints would suggest so. That will be proved in court. Is the game up for you? The game has just started. The game is afoot. What do you mean the game has just started?

1:45He called himself Arthur Knight, an orphan from Ireland now living in Scotland. In reality, he was Nicholas Rossi, a registered sex offender born in Rhode Island, wanted on charges of rape back in the United States. You just heard him outside court in Edinburgh, where he fought and failed to prevent his extradition. The reporter you heard there, well, that was Sky's former Scotland, now US correspondent James Matthews. He will soon be covering Rossi's trial in Utah, where he faces two separate charges of rape. And as befits a man who lied about his identity, the story that leads to that trial is itself almost the stuff of fiction.

2:22James got to meet him on a number of occasions during the trial in Scotland, and he's back on the podcast. James, let's start at the very beginning. What do we know of Rossi's childhood? Yeah, born in Rhode Island, Neil. He had a troubled childhood, was beaten by his stepfather, and was in and out of foster care. He got a break, aged 14. He became a page in the Rhode Island Statehouse. That's where the local government is situated. And a page, that's like an assistant. As one representative said to me, you know, a lot of these kids, they'll be staring at the ceiling picking their nose. This guy, this Nicholas Aliverdian, as he was called at the time, he read up on the politics, the bills.

3:05He was tuned in to the political process and, you know, clever. So a smart kid and one who went on to college, but it is there that we do have evidence of his sexual offending. There were signs of the dark side of Nicholas Aliverdian actually before he left for college. I spoke to Brian Coogan. He was a representative in Rhode Island. And like most of the politicians, you know, he knew the young Nicholas, liked him, admired him. he was around 14, 15 at the time, came to Brian Coogan and he said, look, I'm in trouble here. I go to these foster homes. I go into social care and, you know, I'm being beaten up.

3:47And he said, can you adopt me because they want to send me away. Brian Coogan, because he liked the kid, he said, yeah, okay, I'll do that. He went to an adoption judge. While Nicholas was out of the room, he said to Brian Coogan, listen, this kid is a bad seed. I'm not going to allow you to adopt him. I'm telling you, you adopt this kid and it will ruin your life. And when I speak to Brian Coogan today, you know, he thanks his lucky stars because the way he describes Nicholas Aliverde, knowing what he does now, he says, this kid would ruin my life. He would ruin my family's life. What happened subsequent to that non-adoption was that the young Nicholas was sent away.

4:29He went to Rhode Island. He became a campaigner for child welfare, having been a victim of the downside of the welfare process and programme in Rhode Island. And he was prominent, had a profile, again, appeared to be well-liked. Did his complaints ultimately come to anything, these accusations of abuse within the social service system? Yes, he sued the authorities locally and ultimately came away with a settlement of tens of thousands of dollars. So this was a kid who was switched on and extremely capable, knowledgeable, intelligent. And indeed, that was the basis for a college career. He moved to Ohio.

5:17He met online a woman by the name of Mary Grabinski. They met for coffee, to chat, and he asked if he could escort her to her class on that day that they met. He did so. She found herself in the basement of a building with him in a corridor on her way to class. And there he sexually assaulted her. He was convicted for that. That matter did not end with his conviction. He did everything he could to smear Mary Grabinski online. He tried to sue her for damaging his reputation, but that legal action didn't progress. Some pretty reprehensible behaviour. And, you know, as often is the case, you do not find incidents like that occurring in a vacuum.

6:04Other allegations and indeed instances of inappropriate behaviour by Rossi. Indeed, Neil. Yeah, he married several times. His second marriage was to a woman by the name of Catherine Heckendorn. They met via a church group, and I think that was the context of trust that encouraged her to like him. They married very quickly and upon that marriage she immediately regretted it. She found herself pretty much a prisoner in her own home. He abused her, was violent towards her, would lock her in the bathroom sometimes for two days at a time. And indeed Catherine Heckendorn, she recorded some of the abuse that she suffered.

6:47but it is a chilling tape of essentially her trying to fight him off. Give me your phone. Give me your phone. Stop ignoring me! I'm getting the impression, of course, of someone with some pretty evil tendencies, but there must be a degree of charm to this individual to find himself in multiple marriages, multiple relationships. There was. I mean, he was and is a master manipulator. You know, he would target women. And the pattern that we see over time is of an individual who ultimately would attack women. And he would do it by earning their trust. Ultimately, that first attack that he committed against Mary Grabinski, that has essentially reeled in Nicholas Rossi.

7:40because at that time a DNA sample was taken in connection with that attack. Police, when they looked at that sample, they realised there was a connection to a separate rape in Utah in 2008. That's what turned their attention towards Nicholas Rossi. And of course, that's what triggered his reaction, which was to fake his own death. And the police ended up being alerted to this fake death somehow. Around 2020, a local priest, Father Bernard Healy, who had come across Nicholas Rossi in the past, he took a call from a woman calling herself Louise, said that she was Nicholas Rossi's widow and that he had died.

8:19Could he arrange a memorial mass for him? and you know being the local priest you know he agreed and set about starting to arrange this mass there was email contact with what appeared to be the widow louise father healy is in no doubt today that he was actually exchanging emails with nicholas rossi a man who was faking his death the way the priest describes it you know he was being asked for a memorial mass fit for the queen of England, he said, you know, with the music, the tributes. At that point, Father Healy took a call from the police to say, Father Healy, see this memorial mass? Don't arrange it, because we think Nicholas Rossi is not dead.

9:02He's very much alive and is in hiding somewhere in Europe. So where had he ultimately ended up? Do we know that? Well, he went to Ireland initially, Neil, and, you know, true to form, he started an online chat, an online relationship with another woman, Michelle Menard. She was in Essex. And she tells a story of, you know, having had positive engagement online. And then this individual suddenly turned up at her door with large suitcases at her house in Essex, immediately demanded sex, and she couldn't get rid of him. And it just was a very traumatic experience. and subsequent to that, we know that he went to Bristol.

9:46He certainly ended up there because that's where he married another woman by the name of Miranda Knight. And we've seen the wedding photos, very content. Miranda, she's all smiling, confetti, flying around. The happy couple with nothing to conceal except their love for each other. Of course, there's much more to the story. A hell of a lot more, James. So at this point, he is claiming that he is dead in order to avoid charges in the United States, incredibly, incredibly serious charges. So how on earth did he end up in handcuffs then? Well, Miranda and Nicholas Rossi or Nicholas Brown, as he called himself on the marriage certificate, they moved to Glasgow.

10:29They were living in a tenement flat, West End. He drank in the Arlington Bar. an aristocratic figure, the way he dressed, he would wear a hat, fedora style, you know, waistcoat, and sit at the end of the bar regaling people with tales of himself. He claimed to have been an Irish orphan, said that he was an academic, and life, I suppose, for Nicholas Rossi there, felt safe, happy, comfortable, and he was in Glasgow, far from his criminal background and far from the investigating authorities that wanted to speak to him about rapes in Utah. Things turned for him on catching COVID. It was the height of COVID.

11:17It was 2021. But the difficulty for him was that investigators in the States, the FBI, they were looking for him and they were following his digital footprint. The FBI accessed his iCloud. There were clues that they were able to follow that led him to the front door of Nicholas and Miranda. Two officers went to that address and what they found there was Miranda. He wasn't at home because he was in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital across town suffering from COVID. So what happened was the police officers went to the hospital and arrested him there. So he's in hospital. How on earth do these nurses identify him as a suspect wanted by the FBI?

12:05Yeah, good question, Neil. And ultimately that came down to the medical staff in conjunction with the police because of course he was in a hospital ward. He was in a coma for some of his stay and they had eyes on the tattoos, the identifying tattoos. There is an Interpol red notice that was circulated and that shows his arms, distinctive tattoos on biceps and on left forearm. So basically it came down to nurses, doctors, medical staff saying, that is your man. And what was his explanation for the fact that he possessed those tattoos? The explanation, Neil, I have to tell you, came out in court and it was jaw dropping.

12:47There were audible gasps when he rolled out this story. He said that, I'm a man who was in a coma. I didn't have tattoos before I went into hospital. When I woke from the coma, I did. His suggestion was that while he was in a coma, he was stitched up by whoever who put tattoos on him. So literally, as he lay in his hospital bed, he suggested that somebody had got the kit out and put tattoos on his arms. He clearly was in a panic. What he did was to try to discharge himself from hospital at that point. The police had found him. And that essentially was the start of the Glasgow criminal experience for Nicholas Rossi.

13:34Well, and this is perhaps the most curious aspect of what is an incredibly curious story. this was the stage at which he pretended that he was not Nicholas Rossi. He did, Neil. And, you know, I had quite an involvement with him and indeed with his wife, Miranda. I got a telephone number for her, rang it, didn't answer, but that same number rang me back immediately. And it was this breathless, it was a kind of comedy Irish accent on the other end of the phone. And he seemed, you know, he was very genial. I said, Luke, we'd be keen to do an interview if you felt willing, able and he said, yeah, sure he said, I'm appearing in court the next day he said, the difficulty I have is it's in Edinburgh and we've hired the security firm to try to get us to the court they've actually cancelled on us because they didn't want the publicity the circuits so I said, well, okay, well you're doing an interview with us to facilitate that I'll come to Glasgow and pick you up During that journey, Glasgow to the Edinburgh court, I got the first sense of a con man with a cover story, Neil.

14:49He presented himself as somebody, you know, very much an innocent. He told me he knew nothing about TV. You know, what is this concept? And I thought, well, I'd been in his front room. He had a big plasma screen on his wall for one thing. He then said, he said, look, you're not going to nail me to the wall with Kay Burley, are you? how did he know if this guy knew nothing about TV how did he know who our presenter and colleague and friend Cabe Early was so you know so that raised a flag James what name was he going by then if he's not Nicholas Rossi then who on earth was he Arthur Knight that's what he was calling himself that's how he insisted on being referred to and addressed by the court and then we arrived at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and this reluctant participant who was shy of the media.

15:38He wandered into this collection of media and instantly started speaking to everybody. And then I'm thinking, this guy is, this is a real publicity seeker. He sees the value in the court of public opinion, getting his story out there. Once the interview started, consistent red flags throughout. out. There was that comedy Irish accent. He kind of dropped that in at regular intervals, only when he was reminded that he was an Irish orphan. And, you know, paperwork. Who are your parents? Oh, I don't know. They put me up for adoption. Do you have paperwork to support that? He said, no, no birth certificate.

16:18And you know what? Because I was adopted, if I sought out my adoptive parents, that would be a criminal offence in Ireland, which wasn't the case. The law had actually changed, but that was a hole in his story. What single piece of paperwork do you have that would back up your claim to be Arthur Knight? He said, well, bank statements. I said, well, do you have bank statements? He says, well, doesn't everybody? Throughout, there was that business of the busy eyes, you know, that concentrated deceit from him. And it concentrated particularly when you were homing in on elements of proof, proof that he clearly didn't have.

16:58And James, there was, wasn't there, at one point during one of your conversations with Nicholas Rossi, an opportunity for him to reconnect with that local government representative, representative Brian Coogan. Explain what happened there. That's right, yeah. Remember, Neil, Brian Coogan was the man who knew him for 21 years. He wanted to adopt the young Nicholas Rossi. You know, there was an element of doubt, clearly. This guy said he was Arthur Knight. We were keen to verify his identity. Who was this guy? Who would know? So we called up Brian Coogan. We showed the picture of Arthur Knight to Brian Coogan, and instantly he said, that's Nick.

17:37So I said, well, I'll tell you what, Brian, tomorrow we'll go back to the Glasgow flat. We'll interview him and we'll give you a call and we'll bring the two of you together. And I was interested to see what reaction it would trigger in Arthur Knight. So we went round, sat down for the interview and I said, well, we've got somebody who, you know, who knew Nicholas Rossi. And I wonder if you recognise this man. So I've got Brian Coogan on the FaceTime. How are you doing, Nick? How are you? Interview. How are you doing, Nick? I'm not doing a FaceTime. Oh, it's someone I don't know. He's calling you Nick.

18:16This is a man who knew Nicholas Rossi for 21 years. Nick, I'm the one that's Irish. You're not. Coogan, I'm Irish. You're not. You get that scar on your eye. If you haven't moved his glasses, you can see he has a little scar on the side of his eye. Do you see that, James? James, do you see the scar? The look on Nicholas Rossi's face, Arthur Knight, was, you know, he was a man perplexed, ashen-faced, couldn't actually make eye contact. I don't know who this individual is. I don't want to speak to him. Just wanted no part of it. Wanted it to go away. I don't know this man. He's not a journalist.

18:59But he's a man who knew Nicholas Rossi. My apologies. Is Nicholas Alavirdian?

19:09Nick, show him the two tattoos on each arm. You already know. I don't have any tattoos, James. We've been through this. And the fact that you're forcing the phone into my face. We didn't give birth to you, but we were going to adopt you. I know who Nicholas Aliverdian is, and that's you. I'll tell you what. We can wrap this up. James, we can wrap it up right now. Look at his two biceps. He has a bar coat on one and a bird feather on the other, or a wing. And, you know, it was the moment when Nicholas Rossi's past quite literally caught up with him. And Nicholas Rossi, he had shown me his forearms, and I can only assume that the tattoos from there had been removed.

19:51I'd said to him, can you show me your biceps? He says, no, no, no, I'm exhausted. OK. So that doesn't stretch over your bicep, does it? And then I'll do that another time. I can't think that exhausted him. I don't feel like stripping today. He wasn't going to show us his tattoos, didn't take off his glasses, and just wanted it all to go away. I'll go away now. Thanks, Mr Pugin. Thank you. Bye, Nick. The call came to an end, and it's fair to say he wasn't best pleased. He said, look, you have lost all trust. But I quite forcibly said to him, look we need to make our inquiries and you know and as far as we can verify who you are that's why we brought Brian Coogan into your front room and having been frustrated angry with us he very quickly turned back to you know to being friendly and he needed us more than we needed him He still needed access to the public audience, which I thought was interesting.

21:01And of course, the Scottish courts arrived at the same conclusion as Mr Coogan and yourself. Yeah, on the basis of photographs, the tattoos, fingerprints, Sheriff Norman McFadgen ruled that this was indeed Nicholas Rossi and therefore could be extradited back to the United States. But the whole court process, Neil, was a real pantomime, something that he appeared to actually quite enjoy. You know, wore a variety of outfits, arriving in his wheelchair. I remember one time he was coming back out of a prison ambulance to get to court. And I said to him, well, is the game up for you? And he said, no, the game's afoot, which, of course, is a Sherlock Holmes quote.

21:49But of course, we all have to remember, and the court certainly paid due heed to it, that for all the lighthearted nature of this and certainly the laughs that he tried to inject into proceedings, this was a very serious, sinister and manipulative individual. One of his wife, Miranda, she's still here in the UK, but what's your assessment of her? I mean, was she complicit? Was she blinded to who he was? Yeah, my honest answer, Neil, is I don't know. And until she tells her story, I'm not sure anybody will. My understanding is that they are still in touch. I asked her in interview, you know, are you a victim or a villain?

22:32You know, are you complicit in this? She insisted, no, they're a happy couple and very much stood by him throughout the whole process. but I tell you one thing that's very interesting. When he faked his death, that call to the priest, call to others as well, was from a Louise, his widow, said that he died and was making arrangements for memorial masses and so on. Well, I've heard a recording of that Louise. Basically, the priest was explaining that he had done his first funeral on Monday. I think, Neil, you might agree that there is a striking similarity between the voice of Louise and the voice of Miranda Knight.

23:18He shows love. He shows patience. I never feel unsafe. So make of that what you will. OK, so let's fast forward to today. Rossi facing justice in the United States on trial in Utah on two separate rape charges. But in terms of what you've seen in the Scottish courts, what you've seen of his behaviour over the years, I don't think any of us should expect the trial to be entirely plain sailing. No. And in fact, we got a sense of that, Neil, in one of the preliminary hearings. He was wheeled into a Utah court and he was asked about his identity, who he was. He sat at that table in that courtroom, called himself Arthur Knight.

23:58But then he said this. I was born with the name Nicholas Aliverdian in 1996. I had that surname changed by my stepfather when I became Rossi. And that was the moment. That was him putting his hands up to being the man we suspected he was all along, Nicholas Rossi. Have you ever reported on anything like this before, James? In our business, Neil, we deal with people, don't we, who tell lies, who have an interest in hoodwinking us as journalists, trying to get their choice of story out there into the public realm. I think this individual is different and the story is different. I think because of the international nature, the interest it has generated is the kind of thing you would read in a thriller.

24:56You know, this story of the man of many faces, a man who's left victims in his wake, this individual with the same eyes, the same look, the same hand gestures, the same chubby fingers, as one sexual assault victim said to me. They watched him, with a degree of success, try to manipulate the justice system, try to manipulate the media. A man who might have thought he was going to go the distance, but a man, you know, with whom justice ultimately caught up. Thanks, James. And you'll be able to follow the trial on the TV channel, the app or the website skynews.com. But that's a lot for this week on The Daily.

25:36Make sure you have a lovely weekend. We'll be back on Monday.

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26:27On the surface, not very much. But on my podcast, Stuff Matters, I will uncover the deeper stories behind each of them. You will see how together they tell a fascinating new story about the world we live in. The first full series of Stuff Matters is out now. Just search for it on your podcast app and follow.