DNA taken from Rhode Island conman Nicholas Alahverdian in January at the Utah County Jail, after his extradition from Scotland, matches DNA collected in 2008 from a woman who accused him of rape, a police officer testified on Tuesday.
Orem Police Lt. Karalee Johnson testified at a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to prosecute Alahverdian. She was the first witness to link Alahverdian’s recent DNA sample to the alleged rape since he faked his death in 2020, creating an international sensation.
In a stark contrast to his dramatic outbursts during his extradition hearing in Scotland two years ago, where he insisted on being called by his alias “Arthur Knight,” Alahverdian sat quietly in a wheelchair during the Provo District Court proceedings. He wore a blue prison jumpsuit and an oxygen mask as the DNA evidence was presented.
Alahverdian, 37, faces two separate rape charges from 2008 in different Utah counties. He is being charged under the name Rossi, which is his stepfather’s last name. Tuesday was the second time in a week that Alahverdian, once known as a child welfare advocate in Rhode Island, did not contest his true identity during the hearings.
Under questioning by Utah County prosecutor Stephen Jones, Johnson explained that the DNA from the 2008 rape case in Orem had remained untested until 2018 when the state’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative addressed a backlog of untested rape kits. It was then that the DNA was identified as Alahverdian’s.
On September 14, 2008, a 21-year-old woman, identified in court as K.B., reported to Orem police that Alahverdian had raped her the day before. They had met on MySpace, and after a few weeks of dating, he lured her to his apartment, promising to repay money he owed her, but instead raped her. Alahverdian then blamed the assault on her, calling her “mentally unstable.”
At the time, police closed the case without referring it to prosecutors. Johnson, who was working in a special victims unit, was notified when the DNA results came back.
When asked what the DNA results showed, Johnson stated, “That the DNA belongs to Nicholas Rossi.”
The prosecutor then asked if Rossi was in the courtroom, and Johnson identified Alahverdian, describing his appearance in the blue jumpsuit and wheelchair with an oxygen mask.
Judge Derek Pullan confirmed the identification and ruled that there was probable cause to believe that Nicholas Rossi committed the offense of rape as charged. The case was continued until October 16 for a bail hearing and formal arraignment.
Last Thursday, a judge in Salt Lake City also ruled that Alahverdian can be prosecuted in a separate rape case from November 2008. In that case, Alahverdian is accused of raping a 26-year-old woman he met online, with whom he had planned to marry.
Since his capture in December 2021 at a Glasgow hospital, where he nearly died from COVID-19, Alahverdian has used a wheelchair, oxygen, and false claims about his identity. He has claimed to be a former Irish orphan who made his way to England, sold books on the street, and eventually became a resident of Glasgow with interests in theology. He married a woman from Bristol, England, in February 2020, and soon after, with her help, spread a false obituary announcing his death to reporters in Rhode Island.
However, law enforcement officials were skeptical and continued to search for him. Last year, an extradition judge approved his return to Utah, describing Alahverdian as “dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative.”