- A woman testified Monday, the first day of Nicholas Rossi's trial, that Rossi raped her in 2008.
- Rossi, extradited from Scotland, faces rape charges in separate cases in Utah and Salt Lake counties.
- His attorney argued the case lacks evidence; the prosecutor said Rossi moved away while the woman still remembered what he did.
SALT LAKE CITY — A dance teacher testified Monday about her memory of a 2008 relationship that she says ended in rape.
The woman said she met Nicholas Rossi, 38, through a personal Craigslist ad, leading to a relationship that lasted about a month before she decided she was done with him. Initially, she said, he was "very nice" and talked about how they would go to the Gateway mall in Salt Lake City or out to dinner.
The woman identified Rossi by a tattoo on his arm and said they had consensual sex three separate times. She said after the two got engaged, spontaneously buying rings on Black Friday, Rossi "became very emotionally and verbally abusive."
He would tell her what to wear and would get angry when she said he could not drive her car, she testified. Eventually, he made a comment while at the mall that led her to put her engagement ring in her purse and walk back to her car.
She testified that Rossi arrived when she had locked herself in her car and was yelling and screaming outside her car, blocking her in.
"I'd never seen such rage in his eyes," she said.
The woman said she saw the same rage in his eyes when he forced her to have sex with him a few hours later, after she drove him home and he insisted she come inside. She said it was after she told him their relationship was over, and he did not kiss her or do anything to check if she would be OK with sex. She testified that she was numb, frozen and scared.
"I didn't know what else he was capable of doing," she said. "If someone can do that, what else can they do?"
She said she did not report the incident to police at the time because when she told her parents, they didn't help her or listen. She did report her story to the police in 2022 after seeing a news article about Rossi related to another case.
Rossi, who authorities say faked his own death to avoid prosecution, was extradited to Utah from Scotland last year to face charges of raping two women in 2008 — the woman who testified Monday and a 21-year-old woman in Orem. He is charged with rape, a first-degree felony, in the two separate cases.
His story took a bizarre twist when it was reported that in 2022, a man named Arthur Knight was arrested at a Glasgow hospital after being in the intensive care unit for a month while he was treated for COVID-19. What followed was a lengthy legal battle with Rossi claiming he was really Knight, an Irish orphan who had never been to Utah, and it was a case of mistaken identity.
He eventually lost his court fight after DNA testing and distinctive tattoos were used to positively identify him as Rossi.
She never forgot
Deputy Salt Lake County attorney Brandon Simmons said during opening statements: "Nicholas Rossi moved away, moved on and changed his name, but (the woman) never forgot what he had done."
He asked jurors to find Rossi guilty of rape. Simmons said the woman who testified Monday met Rossi online, and Rossi pressured her to get engaged within two weeks of when they met. However, after they purchased rings, he became controlling, wanted to be the center of attention, and criticized her. He said both of them had second thoughts, leading to their eventual argument.
Simmons claimed the woman was frightened, and later terrified as Rossi held her down and raped her.
After that, he said she changed her phone number and filed a small claims lawsuit to try to get back the money she agreed to sign a loan for to purchase the engagement rings because of his poor credit. The woman said the two continued communicating electronically until after his response to her lawsuit, which eventually led her to drop the small claims suit. After that, she filtered his emails into the trash and stopped all communication.
During the trial, which is scheduled to last until Friday, Simmons said jurors will hear from a mental health counselor about delayed sexual abuse reporting, from Rossi's roommate, from the detective who eventually located Rossi in 2021 in Bristol, England, and from another woman who dated Rossi that year.
That woman is the alleged victim in the Utah County case against Rossi, which is scheduled for trial beginning Sept. 15.
An old puzzle
Defense attorney Mackenzie Potter told the jury this case is "like an old puzzle from the thrift store," saying it is missing pieces and includes pieces from a completely different puzzle. She said it is also missing important details like an exact date of the alleged crime.
She called her client's relationship with this woman a "whirlwind romance" that fizzled when both had second thoughts. She said the two drifted apart until the woman saw Rossi on the news 13 years later, remembering that he saddled her with debt — both from the rings and from money she had given him to help with rent.
Potter also said two police officers will testify that they decided not to suggest that prosecutors file criminal charges against Rossi in 2008 in the Utah County case. A different investigator — more than a decade later, however — did recommend charges be filed.
She asked the jury to find Rossi not guilty. "That's what he is; he's not guilty. He's innocent," she said.
When asking questions to the alleged victim, defense attorney Samantha Dugan pointed out inconsistencies, saying the woman initially reported the incident happened in January and now believed it was in early December. She questioned the woman about what she remembered about Rossi's bedroom and home and the timing of events, showing that what she initially reported changed as she located records to send to the investigator.
Simmons expressed concerns about the puzzle analogy that Potter shared, saying the judge ruled some of the information in the case cannot be shown to the jury — like evidence of Rossi faking his death and fighting extradition from Scotland.
Third District Judge Barry Lawrence said he did not see a problem with that argument, saying he thinks it is something any defendant could argue.
