A fugitive American rape suspect who faked his own death and spent two years in a legal battle against his extradition from Scotland has been supported throughout by his loyal wife, who believes his claim that it’s a case of mistaken identity.
Nicholas Rossi is thought to have assumed more than ten aliases, including Arthur Knight, after fleeing the US to escape two rape charges.
He was detained after wakingn froma coma at Glasgow‘s Queen Hospital after being recognised as he was being treated for COVID-19.
As he awaits his trial in Utah, his wife maintains he is the victim of mistaken identity describing him as ‘the perfect gentleman’.
Their story is told tonight in Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead on on Channel 4 tonight. Here, EMAIL takes a look at his wife Miranda Knight and why she is standing by her husband.
Miranda Knight has staunchly stood by her husband – who she believes to be Arthur Knight
Nicholas Rossi (pictured) is thought to have assumed over ten aliases, including Arthur, over the years after fleeing the US after two rape charges were levied against him
As Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead is set to air on Channel 4 , FEMAIL takes a look at his wife Miranda Knight
Who is Nicholas Rossi’s wife Miranda Knight?
Devout Christian, Miranda Knight is the wife of US fugitive Nicholas Rossi, who stands accused of faking his death and of two counts of rape.
Ms Knight, from Bristol, first met her husband in her hometown in 2020 and believed his real name was Arthur Brown.
A year after they first met the pair walked down the aisle, with Rossi assuming Ms Knight’s surname.
‘Arthur’ and Miranda Knight eventually settled in the Scottish city of Glasgow in 2021.
Miranda’s brother claimed Rossi spoke with a thick Irish accent and never discussed his own family.
According to Kevin, his sister was beside herself when the allegations emerged against her husband.
The brother claimed Miranda believed the authorities had accused the wrong man.
He told the Daily Record in 2022: ‘Nicholas is a master manipulator. He’s told her it’s a case of mistaken identity.
‘He kept my sister under this spell. He’s pulled every manipulation trick in the book to try and keep her under that spell.’
In April 2023, the devoted wife was seen moving out of their west-end flat in Glasgow to Edinburgh after her husband’s appeal against extradition was denied.
In a bid to fund her husband’s extradition battle, Ms Knight began her own PR business called Knight Corp Limited.
The firm focused on ‘public relationships’, ‘news agency activities’ and ‘media representation’.
The following August, her firm faced being struck off after it emerged she hadn’t filed a confirmation statement, according to The Sun.
Ms Knight from Bristol first met her husband in her hometown in 2020 and believed his real name was Arthur Brown – the pair married a year later
In a bid to fund her husband’s extradition battle, Ms Knight began her own PR business called Knight Corp Limited
What has Miranda Knight said about Nicholas Rossi?
Miranda, who still lives in Britain, has continued to stand by her husband’s side since he was first arrested in December 2021.
‘I’m here with Arthur,’ she told the Daily Record in February.
‘I know my husband, I love my husband, and he’s always been the perfect gentleman to me and he’s always wanted the best for me.
‘I know what I’ve read about this other person,’ she continued. ‘The claims and what he’s done is black and white to who I’m married to.’
She insisted to The Times ‘she wouldn’t choose somebody that was a rapist’ and he is and he is ‘kind, thoughtful and loving’.
Before his extradition, Ms Knight revealed that she and Rossi had gone to see the stage play of the Gruffalo.
She compared him to the beast in Julia Donaldson’s book, whilst likening herself to ‘the swift fox with red hair’.
In the bizarre interview, Rossi said: ‘He [The Gruffalo] is actually the one that is being manipulated.’
‘The real villain is the mouse.’
‘I know my husband, I love my husband, and he’s always been the perfect gentleman to me and he’s always wanted the best for me,’ Miranda previously stated
Who is Nicholas Rossi?
Nicholas Rossi was welcomed into the world as Nicholas Alahverdian in Rhode Island in July 1987 to parents Jack and Diana Alahverdian.
According to the Independent, he was later adopted by his stepfather David Rossi and took on his surname.
Rossi, according to both his own writings and family accounts, spent his childhood in between treatment centres and foster homes.
He was also diagnosed with behavioural and mental health issues according to The Providence Journal.
On one occasion, Rossi, then 12, was released from his treatment program and foster home for the Christmas holidays in 1999.
But after a dispute broke out between family members, his parents requested he be taken out of the home only days after New Year’s.
The 12-year-old later found himself in a shelter for boys in Woonsocket, describing it to the Providence Journal as ‘decent for someone my age.
‘There were caring people there. There were activities set up for us each night.’
Nicholas Rossi was charged with the rape of a two women, 21 and 28 in Utah in 2008 – a warrant was issued for his arrest in 2020 – he then faked his death and fled to Ireland
The fugitive has insisted for years that he is actually an Irish orphan and was framed by authorities who took his fingerprints while he lay in a coma
Following his years spent in the care of the Department of Children Youth and Families, Rossi became a vocal critic of the system.
During a conference at the State House in 2011, the founder of the social advocacy group Nexus claimed to have been subjected to ‘torture, beatings, assault in various forms.’
Rossi told WJAR: ‘I was refused to contact anybody, anybody at all. These facilities are dangerous. My question to Rhode Island is, ‘Why are we paying for them?’
Nicholas Rossi was charged with the rape of a woman, 21, in Orem Utah in 2008.
As a result of a backlog in DNA test kits at Utah State Crime Lab, Rossi was not named as a suspect until around ten years later.
A warrant for his arrest was later issued in 2020.
He also stands accused of the rape of another woman, 26, in Salt Lake County from the same year.
Several allegations of domestic violence have also emerged against him from his hometown of Rhode Island.
Nicholas Rossi as a child sitting on his stepfather’s motorbike in Providence, Rhode Island
Prosecutors believe Rossi has used ten different aliases over the years including, Nick Alan, Nicholas Brown and Nick Alahverdian.
At the beginning of 2020, Rossi announced to the media that he had mere weeks to live due to a late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma, The Independent reports.
An obituary declaring his death was released online on February 29. 2020.
His ex-lawyer alleged Rossi had travelled to Ireland for a fresh start in 2019 – however, the exact location of his whereabouts at the time remains unknown.
He later moved to Bristol and then Glasgow, where he was reportedly working as a professor at the University of Glasgow.
Noting that Rossi often used an English accent, neighbours told The Times: ‘For someone who was on the run, he really liked to draw attention to himself.’
Rossi has been awaiting trial in jail in Utah since December last year, as he continues to maintain that he is Arthur Knight
Prosecutors believe Rossi has used ten different aliases over the years including, Nick Alan, Nicholas Brown and Nick Alahverdian.
In November it was ruled Arthur Knight was in fact Rossi, and he later lost his last appeal against extradition.
Rossi has been awaiting trial in jail in Utah since December last year.
There has never been an official version of events from Rossi because he continues to insist he is Arthur Knight and that the authorities have the wrong man.