Andrea Canning
Appearances
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
There were a lot of questions about the photo of Nicholas in the hospital while he's in a coma. Why was he wearing glasses? Yeah. If he was in a coma.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Okay, okay. Okay. PsyProfessor23 on Facebook said, wife Miranda obstructing justice and harboring a fugitive to name a few. Those are, okay, that's this user's allegation. She has not been arrested. convicted of a crime or charged with a crime. This user's husband said, she's Scotland's problem now. So the question is, will Miranda face any charges? I don't think so.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
The U.S. is your problem. You know, there's a good chance she probably did know if he was doing this on purpose to save his life, as he says, that people were after him. He probably would tell his wife, right?
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Right. And again, we don't know this. We're speculating. We have absolutely no idea. This is just sort of based on covering the story for a long time together. Right. Cynthia Perna Tulin on Facebook said about Nicholas, should have used his smarts for good and not the evil he unleashed on everyone.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
He does talk. He talks and talks and talks a lot. Yeah. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but he does talk a lot. This story, the con man stories, you and I really enjoy doing them. Not to say like we feel obviously very bad for the victims of these stories. Yeah. Because it's awful what people are put through by con men. But at the same time, they are fascinating to look into them.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
So the prosecutor in Utah has offered him a plea deal. He's been given some time to think it over. If he decides to go to trial, there could be two trials. Lynn, do we know the maximum sentence he's facing? It's five to life. That's what it is. Oh, wow. Okay.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Okay. Okay. So this plea deal sounds like... a no-brainer unless he wants to roll the dice with a judge or a jury.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Lynn, thank you so much for this kind of special edition of Talking Dateline. Thanks for having me. Yeah, it was fun talking with you since we've been on this journey together, this bizarre journey. So look forward to continuing to follow this story in 2025 as we see how it unfolds and, you know, what happens to Nicholas and getting another interview. I was thinking the same thing.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Are you listening? Are you listening? Thank you. That's it for Talking Dateline this week. Remember, if you have any questions for us about stories or about Dateline, you can reach us 24-7 on social media at DatelineNBC. And be sure to check out Josh's new original podcast, Deadly Mirage.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Episodes 1 to 5 are out now, and the final episode will be released Thursday for those who have been waiting to binge the series. Dateline Premium subscribers can listen to all six episodes now, ad-free. And of course, we'll see you Fridays on Dateline on NBC. Thanks for listening.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
We don't do them as much on Dateline. We usually stick to traditional murder investigations.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
I was going to say the same thing. In this case, now Nicholas Rossi is behind bars. He's pleaded not guilty to all of the criminal charges he's facing, but... You know, there was a time where he wasn't behind bars. And these women said, look, we're speaking out because we want to prevent this from happening to anybody else.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
You know, this interview came about, I mean, I honestly didn't think he wouldn't show up. We disclose in our show that we did that interview remotely. I was in New York and Nicholas Arthur was in Scotland. We did that interview in my basement. And, you know, a lot of people said, like, how did you keep a straight face? And the reality is I didn't.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Like when he stands up and, you know, falls over in that kind of, dare I say, iconic moment, that triggered me. you know, to start laughing. It was, it's one of those moments where, you know, when you're in school and you're not like, you're not allowed to laugh. And then you, then you just, you laugh more. It was kind of that.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
And so I lift up the, my notes and I, and Arthur, are you laughing at me? Are you laughing at me? And I put the notes in front of my face and, Because I felt so bad. I was like, no, and I'm trying to make up excuses, but there's no, there's no excuses. Like, it's just, it's happening.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
So go there and listen to it or stream it on Peacock and then come back here. For this Talking Dateline, we have an extra clip from an interview with a pub owner in Scotland who came face-to-face with the man of many faces. But to recap, hoping to evade law enforcement and a slew of criminal charges against him, an American man, Nicholas Aliverdian, faked his own death and fled the country.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Yeah. And he would say he wasn't faking, that he really has these issues from COVID, you know, and he really, truly was in the hospital, right?
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of people would probably agree with that. So, yeah, we're trying to book another interview with him. And we've been going back and forth. And the jail has said no to allowing us physically inside the jail. So we were trying to do either a video interview over a video conference or a phone interview.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
And we've been just going back and forth, back and forth, and did not get him to agree by the deadline of our updated story.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
I would love to do an interview with him again. I mean, so I hope he accepts, you know, at some point to do another interview with us.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
I don't know. That's a good question. I mean, certainly, you know, to see if he would reveal. So when he was in court this year in Utah, what was his line about, you know, he had to fake it because they were trying to kill him because of his work. With Department of Children and Youth Services in Rhode Island that, you know, they were after him. So he had to like essentially what go into hiding.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
And he made that comment about if you what was it if you give a mouse a piece of cheese or whatever. Break that down for us, Lynn.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
But there are real victims in this, some alleged, some victims. But, I mean, he is accused of rape, violent rape. And that is no laughing matter. And so he's kind of a weird dichotomy. It's one of those ones you're sort of confused how you should react to this man, right, and how you should talk about him. It's very – like I've never really encountered –
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
someone like him that uh reporter in scotland that you interviewed she said i've been a journalist for 30 years i've never met anyone like him yeah so it's across the board we're all feeling the same and and it goes to the title of the show the man of of many faces right so maybe there is one man that you laugh at and then there's one man that you're scared of and you know it's and one man you feel sorry for because he had a terrible upbringing a terrible childhood you know absolutely hard
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Investigators and our Dateline team tracked down the elusive fugitive to Scotland before he was extradited back to the United States to face justice. and to tell one more surprising story about who he really is. Okay, let's talk Dateline. Linda, big question is, and because it's going back now, is how did we get, you and I both just became very interested in this story together.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
When we get back, a bonus clip with a local pub owner who saw the con man from behind the bar. What do you think about his voice? Do you think the like talking like that, do you think that that could be real, that that's a side effect of COVID? Or do you think that that's a put on voice and that the moment the cameras go away, he talks to Miranda normally?
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Yeah, it's, you know, when we talk about this man of many faces and, you know, he had to really keep up the accents and like, you know, his profession and all like different people that he spoke to, maybe he was different things. We have a clip. with a pub owner we sat down with in Glasgow who shared an Arthur Knight story. Let's take a listen to what he had to say.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
most people from this area would know, or Great Britain.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
So you had his name slipped, his American accent would occasionally slip, and he didn't know what Coronation Chicken was. Correct. And the case is cracked. With the pub owner.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
That sounds kind of good, actually. It does. And it was trivia here for all our listeners who saw the episode. Where was the other chicken mentioned? Quick, think about it. Think about it. Champagne chicken. Champagne chicken. Miranda served it to Jane McSorley, the reporter. The reporter, yeah. The champagne chicken. So there you go. Two chicken references in one dateline.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
So before we get to the social media comments and questions, you know, I wanted to point out how just how strong Mary was, you know, for coming to Utah from Ohio to she was planning to face him. And we were told he was going to be in court and his name was even on the door in the, you know, the docket listing as in person. And then he was unfortunately over video recording.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
But, you know, good for Mary for coming to face him. And unfortunately, Catherine Heckendoran would have come as well, but she had just given birth to a baby. So, like, I know you were impressed, Lynn, by Mary and her, you know, her talking, approaching the prosecutor and saying, I'm here if you need anything, if there's a sentencing phase or anything like that.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Well, she didn't back down. And then, of course, that's the whole reason that this international manhunt was sparked because... She because of what she did, he had to register as a sex offender. He had to give up his DNA. And then the prosecutor in Utah, David Levitt, testing the rape kits. There you go. There's a hit. There's a hit in Ohio. And that is all because of Mary. Yeah.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Hey, everyone. It's Andrea Canning, and we are talking Dateline. Today is a special treat. I'm joined by Dateline producer Lynn Keller, who worked with me on the episode we're going to be talking about. Hey, Lynn. Hey, Andrea. So this episode is called The Man of Many Faces. If you haven't seen it, it's the episode right below this one on your Dateline podcast feed.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
And it was like nine or 10 years later. Yeah. And that it happened. Right. So kudos to Mary. Kudos to Catherine, who survived and is doing great. And also David Levitt, the former prosecutor, for wanting to test those rape kits on the podcast. I do Dateline True Crime Weekly, the other podcast. We hear about all these untested rape kits all over the country.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
And it's sad because each one of those kits represents – a woman who says that she was sexually assaulted. And why is it not having its due? Why are we not bringing these attackers to justice? So, you know, it certainly sparked one of the most unusual stories we've ever done. But also, you know, just to talk about untested rape kits, it is such a big deal in this country.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
And so hopefully, you know, that discussion will continue and more departments around the country will, you know, pay more attention to that and take that seriously. If he did, in fact, commit these rape crimes in Utah, then sometimes being convicted for another person's crime can speak for all.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
If he is sentenced to prison, maybe it's not perfect justice, but we see these in datelines where the victims say, look, I just want him to be behind bars. I just want it so he can't hurt anyone else. And that's what I hope, you know, if he is convicted of these crimes, that that's what will give her some peace. All right. Up next, your questions from social media. We are back.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
And one of the biggest questions from social media was why didn't the Scottish courts test Nicholas's DNA to confirm his identity? We heard that over and over again. Yes.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
Well, even when we were in Scotland, remember we went to the hearing and he was a no-show because he was becoming increasingly difficult to get him out of the cell and like into the transport van or whatever to get him to the courthouse. That became a real problem.
Dateline NBC
Talking Dateline: The Man of Many Faces
And back to the DNA. So when Nicholas got back to the U.S., the prosecutor was finally able to test the DNA, and it was, in fact, Nicholas. It was a match, they say.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
It does. In 2008, she survived a sexual assault. Today, she'll see her attacker once again. And this time, she'll watch him face charges from another accuser. He's a danger. He's a menace. Mary's battle for justice led investigators to more women and sparked an international manhunt. He thrives on hurting people. Now she's hoping he'll finally be stopped.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
There was something about the way Nicholas attacked her that made her feel like he'd done this before.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
In fact, Mary learned that another woman in Ohio just 15 days earlier reported to police that Nicholas Rossi had sexually assaulted her, but she decided not to pursue it further. In Mary's case, he was charged with public indecency and sexual imposition, which means sexual contact against a person's will. What did he take from you in that moment?
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Nicholas pleaded not guilty and the case went to trial. Mary says that's when she was victimized yet again.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
But the attack on Mary's credibility didn't work. The judge believed her and convicted Nicholas on both charges. Mary says he showed up to his sentencing wearing a three-piece suit and holding something she'd never seen him with before.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
And she thinks his show may have had an effect. Nicholas got no jail time. What did the judge sentence him to?
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
But that wasn't the last Mary would hear from Nicholas. A few months later, she got word that the judge was taking another look at the case. Nicholas claimed he had new evidence that would clear him.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
It implied Mary lied and got Nick arrested because she didn't want her boyfriend to think she cheated on him with Nick.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
The judge agreed the post was fake and closed the case, but Nicholas still wouldn't let it go.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
So now Mary had to defend herself again against the man who sexually assaulted her. She had to borrow money from her parents to hire an attorney. What emotions are you feeling? It's pretty much fear the whole time. Fear? Yeah.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
All the while, Nick cyberstalked her, carrying out an online smear campaign on a men's rights website called A Voice for Men, posting pictures of her and her personal information. Eventually, the case was thrown out and Nicholas was ordered to pay Mary's legal fees. But amazingly, it wasn't over.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
not soon after litigation came and what happens this time he loses the case and i get all my lawyer fees paid back it was then that nicholas moved back to rhode island and returned to the state house apparently without anyone there knowing he had a criminal record instead at 23 years old nicholas had a new polished look and a new crusade to change the foster care system
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
And like a young Jekyll and Hyde, according to police reports, he was also terrorizing women. Nicholas has quite an alleged spree of assaults here in Rhode Island.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
The incidents occurred between March of 2010 and May of 2011. One of them involved someone close to Nicholas, his new wife. Nicholas had gotten married, and soon after, police responded to a domestic disturbance call at their apartment.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Tonight, a surprising revelation from her attacker, someone Dateline has been tracking for years. To authorities, he's Nicholas Alaverdean, a convicted sex offender, a con man with multiple identities. But he told us he's an innocent Irish orphan named Arthur Knight, wrongly accused of horrific crimes. So are you saying that they've got the wrong guy?
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Nicholas pleaded no contest to domestic abuse and received probation. The couple later divorced. As for several of his other alleged victims, they told Mooney they dropped their complaints. Do you think they were just scared of Nicholas?
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
His time in Rhode Island seemed to have run its course. He left the state again. Another reinvention was in the making. By 2015, he was 28 years old. He had a new woman in his sights, and she had no idea what was coming.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
After his legal troubles in Rhode Island, Nicholas moved back to Dayton, Ohio. And straight out of his playbook, he appeared to dazzle local lawmakers. Here he is speaking at a city council meeting. I think the most important thing to remember here is that... He even started a nonprofit to help revitalize downtown Dayton.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Catherine Heckendorn had a front row seat to the new Nicholas, who had gone back to using his birth name, Aliverdian. She met him in 2015. He was 28 and had joined her church. He immediately piqued her interest.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
She found him to be kind and caring. Catherine had just been through a traumatic experience with another man and was feeling vulnerable.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
They started meeting for coffee and dinners. They talked about their lives. He said he'd been married once before, but it didn't work out. He told her he was a Harvard grad and shared his dreams about his nonprofit. She found herself falling for him.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
After dating for just a few months, to her surprise, he proposed.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
She finally gave in, and they married the very next day at City Hall. For Catherine, it was far from the dream wedding she'd always hoped for. And the day after they were married, Nick showed a dark side she'd never seen before.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
There was one incident at their house early in their marriage when she was able to call the police.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
She says a detective told her something frightening, that her husband was a registered sex offender.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Despite that, she bailed him out and withdrew her complaint. She kept hoping things would get better.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
But he became more and more controlling. Catherine says he wouldn't allow her to have a job and forced her to cook and clean and wear skirts with pantyhose.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Everything seemed to be a show, even Nick's nonprofit. He told her he desperately needed an infusion of cash to keep it going. Catherine says she made the mistake of telling him she had a savings account, money her parents had put away for her from the time she was little.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
She says the nonprofit accomplished nothing, and she discovered his business wasn't the only thing that was fake. So was his Harvard degree. He'd only taken a course at the Extension School. So he lied. He did. On top of that, he had a taste for the finer things. And Catherine says he was using her money to pay for his lifestyle.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
The more he lived it up, the more she lived in constant fear of his explosive temper. Sometimes when they'd argue, she says he would lock her in the bathroom. How long would he leave you in there for? The longest time was about two days.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Yeah. She says the worst of it would come when she refused him in the bedroom.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Catherine knew she had to get out of the marriage, but she also knew Nicholas wouldn't make it easy. She needed proof he was abusing her. This is your big moment. You've got your phone ready to go. You're going to secretly record him. Yeah.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
After five months of marriage, Catherine Heckendorn made a decision. She had to leave her husband. The polished church-going man was all an act, and she was going to prove it. You're going to secretly record him to try to show the world the hell that you've been living through.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
She immediately sent the recording to her father for safekeeping. It would take two more months before she finally had the courage to walk out the door. She got on her knees and she prayed.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
She left everything else behind, even her beloved dogs. Catherine needed to move quickly.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
To understand how we got here, we need to go back in time to Rhode Island, the place where Nicholas Oliverdian, the man with many faces and names, was born. It was 1987, just outside of Providence.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Luckily, no one was hurt. She went to her parents' house and the next day called a lawyer and filed for divorce. How was Nicholas handling all this?
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Getting a divorce finalized would be a challenge. Nicholas wouldn't show up to court. And when the court officers tried to serve him the divorce papers, it appeared he was playing tricks.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
They eventually tracked him down. The judge ordered Nicholas to hand over the dogs and leave their house so Catherine could get her stuff.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Catherine says despite her claims that Nicholas abused and sexually assaulted her, she was too afraid of him to take legal action. But she soon learned powerful law enforcement agencies were investigating him for a different kind of crime.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Nicholas's foster father told Dateline he reported the fraud to local authorities. According to one police report, 10 credit card accounts were opened fraudulently with an estimated $200,000 in charges.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
As the FBI was looking into Nicholas for fraud, his name popped up somewhere else. Turns out, after his failed marriage in Ohio, Nicholas had moved back to Rhode Island, which is where Detective Connor O'Donnell was doing a routine check on registered sex offenders.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Nicholas was in the national system for that attack on Mary in the college basement. Something in Nicholas's file caught the detective's attention.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Was he there? No. He had moved, but the detective didn't know where. And that was a problem. Because he was a registered sex offender, he was required to notify the state that he had a new address. He hadn't done that. So a Rhode Island judge issued a new warrant for his arrest.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Michael Aliverdian is Nicholas's uncle. He says behind his nephew's smile was a childhood that was anything but idyllic. What was the family dynamic like with Nicholas when he was a child?
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Detective Connor O'Donnell says when Nicholas Rossi found out he was on Rhode Island's most wanted list for not alerting police that he'd moved, he was furious.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
The detective was now determined to find him. He contacted the U.S. Marshals, who began a search. They checked his passport and confirmed Nicholas had left the country on a one-way ticket.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
By 2018, Nicholas was 31 years old. He had two ex-wives with restraining orders against him, was a convicted sex offender wanted by Rhode Island State Police, and the feds were apparently looking for him too. Even though he'd left the country, his past had followed him. While overseas, he hired attorney Jeff Pine to handle the failure to register as a sex offender charge.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Nicholas had been right. He didn't have to register since he'd left the country. So Pine was able to get the case dismissed. But still, he was careful when dealing with his client.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Nicholas asked him to do one more thing, to see if there were any federal warrants with his name on them. The attorney checked, found one, and called the FBI.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
And Nicholas had no idea yet another law enforcement agency was joining the chase.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
In Utah, a county attorney named David Levitt was looking into old rape cases that had never been investigated.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
It infuriated him that women had filed complaints, subjected themselves to rape exams, but police never followed up. When he took office in 2018, Levitt vowed to change that.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
That sex offender was none other than Nicholas Rossi. His DNA was in the system from that assault on fellow college student Mary Grabinski. A detective from Utah reached out to Mary.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Nicholas's father was a felon, convicted of writing fraudulent checks, dealing drugs, and domestic assault. The situation at home in Cranston, a suburb of Providence, became so dangerous, Michael says Nicholas's mother got a restraining order and went into hiding with Nicholas and his younger brother and sister. The couple eventually divorced.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Mary was frustrated to learn the rape case in Utah happened just months after Nicholas attacked her. But that case was never investigated.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
So 11 years later in 2019, an investigator reached out to the woman. Her story was eerily familiar. She said she met Nicholas Rossi on MySpace.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
So she said she went over to his apartment. She wanted her money back and she wanted to end the relationship.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
David Levitt had heard enough. He charged Nicholas with rape. Now his investigators had to find him. But arresting Nicholas Rossi wouldn't be so easy.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
While trying to track him down, one of his investigators found Nicholas' obituary, announcing he'd died of cancer. Is that the end of the case?
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
But how would investigators prove that? That's when we began following Rossi's trail, which would lead us to a hotel in Scotland and that bizarre interview with the man who insisted he wasn't Nicholas.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Detectives from Utah and Rhode Island, along with the FBI, were closing in on Nicholas Rossi. And then came the stunning news. He was dead at the age of 32.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
To prosecutor David Leavitt, that was no coincidence. So his team started digging. They subpoenaed Nicholas's financial records and noticed transactions after the day Nick had supposedly died. And they discovered activity on his social media accounts.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
When Detective Connor O'Donnell heard of Nicholas's untimely death, his BS radar also went off. He'd been searching for Nicholas for two years. O'Donnell immediately started making calls.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Then a Utah investigator reached out and told him Nicholas was still alive. That was when the detective contacted Father Healy and told him to stop planning the memorial mass. Nicholas wasn't dead.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Detective O'Donnell asked Father Healy to cancel the service, but keep the reason a secret.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
He said when Louise, the woman claiming to be Nicholas's widow, heard the mass was off, she did not take it well.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
And things only got worse by the time Nicholas turned 12. His mother was unable to care for him, so he ended up in foster care, floating between different families and group homes.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
The detective says he contacted other churches and learned Louise had been fishing for funerals all over town, asking priests to hold a memorial mass for Nicholas. You had managed to shut them all down.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Remarkably, O'Donnell says Louise was also reaching out to the Rhode Island State Police, trying to get Nick off their most wanted list.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Meanwhile, the FBI was apparently reaching out to anyone who might know Nicholas's whereabouts. Brian Coogan was in his truck when his phone rang.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
The agent said they'd been trying to locate Nicholas through the internet with no luck.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
But he says the agent told him Nicholas the computer whiz sent them in circles, never in the location that matched the IP address.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
But in December 2021, about two years after Nicholas supposedly died, they finally caught a break. Law enforcement sources say the computer genius had made a mistake. He'd given up his overseas address while online. The trail led authorities to the intensive care unit at this Glasgow hospital. If they had the right man, of all things, it was a severe case of COVID that now had him trapped.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Tom Mooney writes for the Providence Journal and has been reporting on Nicholas for years. He's a consultant on this story. He says despite living through one trauma after the next, Nicholas was determined to make something of his life. A family court judge gave him that chance.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Interpol shared mugshots, photos of his tattoos and fingerprints with local police so they could make an on-the-spot ID.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
But not so fast. The man in the hospital insisted he was not Nicholas. He said his name was Arthur Knight, a law-abiding British businessman.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
The man calling himself Arthur Knight was determined to prove he was not American fugitive Nicholas Rossi. He insisted he was an Irish orphan and claimed to have an Irish driver's license.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
While out on bail, Arthur, with his wife Miranda by his side, organized a press tour from his flat in Glasgow. He used a wheelchair and wore an oxygen mask, he said, because of the effects of COVID.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
We came to Scotland to get to the bottom of this mystery. Was Arthur Knight the victim of a colossal case of mistaken identity? Or was he trying to pull off his biggest con yet? We caught up with investigative reporter Jane McSorley.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
For her Audible podcast called I Am Not Nicholas, she got up close and personal with Arthur when he and his wife Miranda invited her over for dinner.
Dateline NBC
The Man of Many Faces
Jane knew there was one sure way to find out. After dining on Miranda's champagne chicken dinner, She asked Arthur to roll up his sleeves to see if he had the same tattoos as Nicholas Rossi.
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The Man of Many Faces
Not only that, he pulled up mug shots that had Nicholas Rossi's tattooed arms on his big screen TV. Is your heart kind of just pounding, you know, as you're waiting for this moment?
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The Man of Many Faces
Moment. It felt like it was, it just felt like it was slow-mo. He rolled up his left sleeve as far as his elbow. She couldn't believe what she was seeing or not seeing.
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The Man of Many Faces
That was just the beginning of Jane's reporting. There was so much more to uncover. This was a roller coaster for you.
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The Man of Many Faces
It was a roller coaster for us, too. Our reporting led us to a TV personality named Nafsika Antipas. She'd done business with Arthur Knight.
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The Man of Many Faces
It was the perfect fit for Nicholas, and he became a fixture at Rhode Island's seat of power.
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The Man of Many Faces
Although he used the name Nicholas Brown, he said his full name was... Timothy Arthur Nicholas Knight Brown. In 2020, Nafsika was looking for help marketing her vegan cheese company called Nafsika's Garden.
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The Man of Many Faces
and promoting the fourth season of her A&E television show, Plant-Based, by Nafsika. She scanned through resumes on Upwork, an online marketplace for freelancers, and found Nicholas Brown. She says he was highly rated on the site. Tell us about his resume.
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The Man of Many Faces
Now, Sika agreed to pay him a fee of around $7,000 a month. She was based in Montreal. He claimed to be in Ireland, so they never met in person.
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The Man of Many Faces
It quickly became obvious the man she hired from Upwork was more like no work. She says he always had an excuse for why nothing was getting done.
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The Man of Many Faces
At one point, he pitched an idea about creating a new company with Nefseka.
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The Man of Many Faces
So she agreed, but she never gave him access to her bank accounts or credit cards. She did, however, give him a copy of her passport.
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The Man of Many Faces
But again, nothing. So after paying him nearly $30,000 over four months with no work completed, Nafsika cut him off.
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The Man of Many Faces
Former state representative Brian Coogan says the teenager impressed everyone with a tireless work ethic and a brilliant mind.
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The Man of Many Faces
When she didn't respond, she says he sent threatening texts about a contract that she says never existed. If she didn't pay him about $40,000 or a reasonable counteroffer, he would ruin her reputation. He had created a fraud alert website using her passport photo like a mugshot and was planning to tell the world her company was a sham.
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The Man of Many Faces
The threatening texts kept coming and coming Nafsika didn't give in to his scare tactics and told him he was officially fired.
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The Man of Many Faces
Two years later, Nefseka found out why. She learned the man she'd been dealing with wasn't in Ireland, and he wasn't Nicholas Brown, the name she knew him by. He was living in Scotland, claiming to be Arthur Knight. He's finally been arrested. Then she got another call. It said Utah FBI on her caller ID. The agent asked for her help finding Nicholas.
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The Man of Many Faces
After his arrest in the hospital, he appeared before a judge and continued to insist he was Arthur Knight, not Nicholas Rossi, the American fugitive. So now the judge had to rule first on his identity before deciding if he should be extradited.
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The Man of Many Faces
Nicholas spent long days at the statehouse wowing legislators before returning home to his other life.
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The Man of Many Faces
Months went by with hearing after hearing, but no ruling from the judge. How can you possibly claim not to be Nicholas Rossi now?
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The Man of Many Faces
Did you kidnap anyone? Did you defraud anyone? In one of our most memorable interviews.
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The Man of Many Faces
More than four months had passed since Arthur Knight's arrest in a Scottish hospital. He was still out on bail, waiting for a judge to decide if he was telling the truth about his identity. It was April 2022. Arthur, along with his wife Miranda, agreed to speak to us remotely.
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The Man of Many Faces
Arthur told us he began life as an orphan in Ireland. He said he was adopted. I grew up all over. Dublin, Belfast. He said he later moved to London and through grit and determination worked his way up the corporate ladder in communications.
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The Man of Many Faces
Coogan was so taken with Nicholas and everything he'd been through that he briefly considered adopting him. That didn't work out. By 19, Nicholas aged out of the system and later went to college. Five years after that, he was back at the statehouse, this time fighting to bring change to the foster care system.
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The Man of Many Faces
They said they were friends at first. She was in a relationship and busy with her career.
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The Man of Many Faces
But several years later, they said they met up again. Romance blossomed.
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The Man of Many Faces
And in February of 2020, the same month that Nicholas Alliverdian supposedly died, Arthur and Miranda got married.
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The Man of Many Faces
Less than two years later, their world fell apart. It was December of 2021 when Arthur was hospitalized with COVID. Miranda said a nurse told her he probably wouldn't make it.
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The Man of Many Faces
She said Arthur was in a medically induced coma and put on a ventilator. After three months, though, he woke up. So Arthur makes it through this, but your whole world has been turned upside down.
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The Man of Many Faces
She heard police calling Arthur Nicholas Rossi. They said that international law enforcement agencies were trying to bring him back to the United States.
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The Man of Many Faces
To try to clear up the question of his identity, is he Arthur or is he Nicholas? I asked if I could get a better look at him.
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The Man of Many Faces
He never took it off. And he didn't have answers to a lot of our questions either. Did you say you were adopted? I was, yes. At what age? I am not certain. He was also evasive when we asked him if we could see his birth certificate.
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The Man of Many Faces
No, they're not. The FBI rarely comments on active investigations. But remember, several people we interviewed told us the FBI contacted and questioned them, including Nefsika Antipas.
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The Man of Many Faces
When we asked Arthur about Nafsika, he seemed rattled and denied her claims that he stole from her and failed to do any work. Nafsika says that you scammed her out of tens of thousands of dollars.
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The Man of Many Faces
We found one state rep who remembers Nicholas as a young, shining star on the Hill.
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The Man of Many Faces
No, no, no, no. His wife Miranda said he was 100% telling the truth. And if he was a serial rapist, she would know.
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The Man of Many Faces
In 2011, Representative Raymond Hull was newly elected when he was approached by Nicholas. He describes him as a young man with a tenacious spirit, determined to make a difference.
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The Man of Many Faces
He told us this whole misunderstanding was the handiwork of David Levitt.
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The Man of Many Faces
And he was about to go after Levitt with a vengeance. You've never been attacked like this, to this level.
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The Man of Many Faces
In the spring of 2022, Arthur continued to seek media attention. He called another press conference, this time to introduce his new defense attorney, Craig Johnson, who'd flown all the way from Utah to Scotland. Do you believe...
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The Man of Many Faces
Johnson said Arthur reached out to him, probably not by coincidence, since Johnson once worked for Utah County Attorney David Leavitt. Johnson told us he left the prosecutor's office after a dispute with Levitt, but said that had nothing to do with him taking on Arthur Knight as a client. Still, he was quick to criticize his former boss.
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The Man of Many Faces
Johnson said David Levitt crossed the line speaking so openly about the allegations of rape and fake identity against his client.
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The Man of Many Faces
Levitt disagrees, saying he's been careful not to discuss specifics of the case. We pressed Johnson on why he was so sure Arthur Knight was telling the truth about his identity. Has he shown you his face?
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The Man of Many Faces
He said he'd also seen what Nicholas Rossi looked like. And you believe when you see his face that that is not the same man?
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The Man of Many Faces
We decided to check with someone who knows Nicholas well. We asked Mary Grabinski if she thought Arthur was Nicholas. Have you watched the videos, the interviews with him?
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The Man of Many Faces
DCYF, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, The agency Nicholas claimed failed to protect him as a teenager. And I was subjected to torture, beatings, assault in various forms. Nicholas sued DCYF. They denied the allegations and the case was ultimately settled.
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The Man of Many Faces
But he continued to make his case, and he even tried a new tactic, sabotaging the reputation of the man who was responsible for his arrest, Utah prosecutor David Levitt.
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The Man of Many Faces
Levitt was not only working to extradite Rossi, he was also running for re-election. And just days before the polls opened, he says his campaign was sabotaged by the man calling himself Arthur Knight.
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The Man of Many Faces
Arthur posted this on his website. Breaking news, David Levitt is confirmed to be head of a criminal Utah cult. This goes deep. This is like a thriller.
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The Man of Many Faces
Arthur cited the Utah County Sheriff's Office as the source of his allegations. The sheriff was a vocal critic of Levitz and backed his opponent in the prosecutor's race. The sheriff denied that he had been Arthur's source. Regardless, the story was out there. How do you defend yourself against allegations like that when someone is, you know, putting them out there like they're fact.
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The Man of Many Faces
Levitt lost his election and believes Nicholas Rossi was partly to blame.
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The Man of Many Faces
Although Levitt was out of office, the case against Arthur Knight slash Nicholas Rossi kept going, and he would continue to grab headlines.
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The Man of Many Faces
And a Scottish judge would finally make a ruling on his identity. Arthur Knight was back in the headlines. Instead of going to a court hearing, he checked himself into the hospital again for COVID complications. Not long after, police were called to his room. He assaulted a doctor and a nurse.
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The Man of Many Faces
The details of the settlement are sealed, but the stories Nicholas told people about his experience brought him sympathy and some powerful allies.
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The Man of Many Faces
Arthur had flown into a rage when he was told he would be discharged. Several articles quoted the female doctor who said, And that was a good reason at that point to restrict his bail. He was sent to jail, and after a quick trial, he was convicted of assault. But Arthur's biggest day in court was right around the corner.
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The Man of Many Faces
Almost a year after he was first arrested, a judge was hearing arguments about Arthur's identity. Was he a British businessman or an American fugitive? Reporter Jane McSorley was in the courtroom.
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The Man of Many Faces
The Scottish prosecutor presented evidence showing that while Arthur's forearms were free of tattoos, his upper arms did have them and they were identical to Nicholas Rossi's. When Arthur took the stand, he had an explanation.
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The Man of Many Faces
Jaws dropped in the courtroom as he told the judge they were inked on his arms while he was unconscious.
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The Man of Many Faces
It's kids. And you know what? Kids are more important. Nicholas reconnected with his uncle, Michael Aliverdian. Michael says he was impressed at the man his nephew had become.
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The Man of Many Faces
In the old police photos, Nicholas Rossi had tattoos on his entire left arm. Remember, Jane didn't see the upper part of his arm when she interviewed him, only his forearm, and it was free of tattoos. Shortly after that visit, she learned why.
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The Man of Many Faces
And what about a more traditional way of making an ID? Fingerprints? They were also a match, but Arthur tried to explain that away too. He said they were taken by a hospital worker without his knowledge and sent to Utah so prosecutor Levitt could claim they were Rossi's.
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The Man of Many Faces
How did that feel when you heard that the judge had ruled that you are not Arthur Knight, you are Nicholas Rossi?
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The Man of Many Faces
Finally, Nicholas Rossi could be extradited to the U.S. But he filed appeal after appeal, and despite the judge's ruling, he never stopped claiming they had the wrong man.
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The Man of Many Faces
All the while, Nicholas's wife Miranda stood by his side, even after the judge's decision. Was she lying? Jane believes so and says she has proof. While reporting for her podcast, Jane uncovered a recording of Louise, the woman who claimed to be Nicholas's widow. Louise was the one trying to arrange his funeral.
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The Man of Many Faces
Miranda hasn't been charged with anything. She was a lot less chatty than during our interview when we caught up with her at one of Nicholas's extradition hearings in Edinburgh.
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The Man of Many Faces
The legal battle to extradite Rossi continued for more than a year. It finally ended in December 2023, when he lost his last appeal. Now it's over.
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The Man of Many Faces
In the U.S., his legal troubles were just beginning, and his behavior would be no less dramatic.
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The Man of Many Faces
And he continued to do that for the next several years. But his crusade was about to be cut short. He contacted the press in Rhode Island with a tragic announcement.
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The Man of Many Faces
And things were about to get even weirder. The con man had another revelation. Big, big twist in this case.
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The Man of Many Faces
Nicholas Rossi is facing two rape charges in Utah, one here in Salt Lake County and one in Utah County. On January 5th, 2024, deputies booked Nicholas Rossi into a Utah County jail. The long saga to bring him to justice in the U.S. seemed to be entering its final phase for everyone but him.
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The Man of Many Faces
The judge denied that request. Then, months later, in a stunning turn of events, Nicholas had a revelation. It all went down in a Utah courtroom. All rise. In a hearing about one of the 2008 rape charges, Rossi asked the judge to be let out on bail. The prosecutor argued that was a bad idea.
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The Man of Many Faces
The lead detective took the stand and backed up the victim's fears. He testified about Nicholas Rossi's history of terrorizing women.
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The Man of Many Faces
And about Nicholas's attempt to evade the law by faking his death, escaping to England, and assuming a new identity.
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The Man of Many Faces
Then, the moment we'd all been waiting for, the defense called Nicholas to the stand.
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The Man of Many Faces
And less than two months later, the news was out. Nicholas Aliverdian was dead at the age of 32.
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The Man of Many Faces
After more than three years of deceiving the world about his identity, he admitted it was a big lie. Not only that, he told the court he had a
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The Man of Many Faces
He said the death threats were due to his work in Rhode Island trying to reform the Department of Children, Youth and Families. But when asked the names of the people allegedly threatening him?
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The Man of Many Faces
The judge cleared the courtroom so Rossi could reveal in secret who was after him. When the proceedings reopened, the prosecutor countered, if Nicholas was so concerned about hiding his identity, why did he create a media circus?
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The Man of Many Faces
We asked former prosecutor Levitt to weigh in on Nicholas's revelation. Big, big twist in this case.
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The Man of Many Faces
But before long, new information about Nicholas would start making its way around Rhode Island, leaving everyone wondering how well they really knew him.
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The Man of Many Faces
Levitt believes Rossi's admission is more legal strategy than change of heart. He says Nicholas had no chance of getting bail if he didn't admit his real identity.
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The Man of Many Faces
Regardless of his admission, the prosecutor argued Rossi should stay behind bars.
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The Man of Many Faces
Rossi's legal proceedings continued. Two months later, he was back in a different Utah courtroom for the other rape charge. That's when Mary came to Salt Lake City to see her attacker right where she thinks he belongs.
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The Man of Many Faces
And she knows she's the reason he's there. Because had you not pushed and then him ending up on the registry, that connection would not have been made to Utah.
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The Man of Many Faces
Getting to the bottom of what happened to Nicholas would become a game of cat and mouse, spanning three countries, involving multiple law enforcement agencies.
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The Man of Many Faces
When it came time for the hearing to begin, instead of appearing in person, Rossi was on video from jail. Not what Mary expected, but an experience she calls a win.
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The Man of Many Faces
Rossi pleaded not guilty to both rape charges. His attorney said Nicholas and his wife Miranda are still happily married.
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The Man of Many Faces
On December 3rd, Nicholas was offered a plea deal that would cover both rape charges. He has until January 7th to decide if he will accept it. Otherwise, he is expected to go to trial in April of 2025. As for David Levitt, even though the journey to prosecute Nicholas Rossi turned his life upside down, the former prosecutor says he has no regrets. And now he has something else to occupy his time.
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The Man of Many Faces
What did David Levitt do after leaving office? He bought this fixer-upper Scottish castle called Knockderry. And it just happens to be 50 miles from where Nicholas Rossi was caught. Some people here in Scotland are calling this castle your F.U. castle.
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The Man of Many Faces
Mary and Nick's ex-wife, Catherine, are relieved Rossi is behind bars. And they hope he will stay locked up for a very long time.
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The Man of Many Faces
Me? You're being looked at for kidnapping, sexual assault, fraud. Incorrect. With a conclusion stranger than fiction. Did this case just keep getting crazier and crazier?
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The Man of Many Faces
Both Mary and Catherine are now married with children, working to put Nicholas in their rearview mirror. What do you want to get across? What's the most important part of all of this?
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The Man of Many Faces
His obituary, sent out by the Office of Nicholas Aliverdian, ran in local papers in the Boston Globe. The piece lauded Nicholas as a beloved community leader, peacemaker, warrior, and Rhode Island legislators paid tribute to him.
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The Man of Many Faces
Father Bernard Healy of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church got a call from a woman who said she was Nicholas's widow, a woman named Louise. Louise.
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The Man of Many Faces
So she sent Nicholas's bio for the priest to reference at the mass.
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The Man of Many Faces
Oh, my gosh. He faked his own death? But why would a respected man who'd become such a positive force for change try to fool everyone? Turns out he had a darker side, and it apparently emerged early in his life.
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The Man of Many Faces
David Rossi is Nicholas's adoptive father. Nicholas was eight when David married his mom in 1996. The two fell in love in a Rhode Island nightclub where David was an Engelbert Humperdinck impersonator who mingled with his idol and sang his hit songs.
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The Man of Many Faces
That's when Nicholas Aliverdian became Nicholas Rossi. Even at a young age, David could tell he was a bright kid.
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The Man of Many Faces
Along with those threats came physical violence by Nicholas. David remembers one morning before school when Nicholas wouldn't stop hitting his mother.
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The Man of Many Faces
David says it got to the point where Nicholas's behavior was so bad they had to institutionalize him several times. But nothing seemed to work. They threw him out of there. Nobody could handle him. David admits he eventually hit a breaking point. When Nicholas was 10 years old, the family took a trip to Disney World. He says Nicholas attacked his mother again.
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The Man of Many Faces
David was arrested for assault in Florida, but Nicholas's mom asked to have the charges dropped, and the case went nowhere. Shortly after, David walked out on the family. That was about the time Nicholas ended up in foster care. It was a few years later when state rep Ryan Coogan considered adopting him. Did he straight up ask you, will you adopt me?
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The Man of Many Faces
Nicholas was 14 when he called Brian one day from the courthouse crying. He said he was about to be shipped off to yet another group home if he wasn't adopted that very day. Brian raced over to the courthouse.
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The Man of Many Faces
Since records involving children are sealed, the allegations made against Nicholas can't be verified. Coogan took the judge's advice and didn't adopt Nicholas, and maybe dodged a bullet. Veteran reporter Tom Mooney thinks so.
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The Man of Many Faces
When Nick was 18, he moved to Ohio. He was about to age out of the foster care system when a couple from Dayton agreed to take him in. In 2008, at age 21, he began attending Sinclair Community College in Dayton. That's when he first met Mary Grabinski.
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The Man of Many Faces
She told Nicholas she had a boyfriend and wasn't interested in anything romantic. He assured her it was not a problem. Soon after, they agreed to meet for lunch at the school cafeteria and she brought along a friend.
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The Man of Many Faces
Afterward, Nick asked Mary if he could walk her to her next class. Since it was the middle of the day on a busy college campus, she thought, why not? Her classroom was in the basement.
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The Man of Many Faces
But in that basement, Mary encountered a terrifying version of Nicholas Alaverdean.
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The Man of Many Faces
Mary Grabinski arrived in Salt Lake City on a mission. One that began a long time ago.
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The Man of Many Faces
In the winter of 2008 on an Ohio college campus, 21-year-old Nicholas Rossi walked Mary Grabinski to class. Once they reached the bottom of a stairwell, she says Nick suddenly turned on her.
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The Man of Many Faces
She saw another student coming down the stairs, but Mary was too paralyzed to scream.
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The Man of Many Faces
She says when her class was over, he was back. Nicholas was standing outside her classroom. When he saw her, he profusely apologized.
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The Man of Many Faces
Mary ignored him and went straight to the campus police. After starting an investigation, they sent her to the local prosecutor's office.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
We have a seventh murder charge now.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
How were they able to finally charge him with this additional murder? This is over two decades, you know, since the first of Valerie Mack's remains were found.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
That's Stephanie testifying two weeks ago at the trial of the man accused of murdering her son. The prosecutor asked her what she was expecting after sending the text.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Fascinating. Heuermann has denied all the allegations against him and has pleaded not guilty to this charge and the six other charges. So we will keep an eye out on this one. Next, we're off to Minnesota, where there was an emotional sentencing this week in the case of Adam Fravel, the man convicted of the 2023 murder of Madeline Kingsbury, his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his children.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
What happened, Veronica, with this sentencing?
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Very sad for all involved. What was Adam's sentence?
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
For our final story, we are off to San Francisco, where there is finally a verdict in the trial of Nima Momeni, who was accused of fatally stabbing Cash App co-founder Bob Lee back in 2023. All right, what did the jury decide?
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Definitely a lengthy deliberation for this case. So what is next for Momeni? When is his sentencing?
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Thank you so much for the updates, Veronica.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
The holidays are just around the corner, and while you might be planning to hit the road to celebrate with your loved ones or just leaving the house to go shopping, you don't want unexpected guests to break in on your holiday fun. So here to share some tips on how to keep your home safe is Today Show Senior Consumer Investigative Correspondent Vicki Wynn. Hey, Vicki. Hey, good morning.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Hey, so let's start with just some of the basics of this.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Stephanie never heard from her son again, and his body was never found. But just a few weeks after he went missing, police in Oxford, Mississippi arrested Sheldon Timothy Harrington for Jay Lee's murder. They say Harrington, who pleaded not guilty, killed Lee to cover up their secret sexual relationship. His defense team, meanwhile, said there was no proof.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
You say one of the most important steps to keeping your home safe is to actually make it appear like someone is still at home.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
So when we think of holiday burglaries, I'm going to do the home alone reference. Instead of setting up actual booby traps and cardboard cutouts of people... Is there anything that you can do inside your house to deter a burglar?
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Our editorial team is catching up on breaking crime news around the country.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
And break-ins, unfortunately, they're not the only thing that you have to worry about when you're traveling.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Vicki, really, really good tips for the holidays. We want everyone's holiday to go off without a hitch. Have a great holiday.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. Next week, we'll have a special episode for you with some special guests. Josh, Dennis and Keith will be here to take a look back at the biggest stories of 2024. We hope you'll join us for Dateline True Crime Weekly's Year in Review.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
And coming up this Friday, after a woman survives a brutal attack, investigators work tirelessly to identify a suspect. Only she's convinced they have the wrong man.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Last week, the blockbuster trial came to a stunning and abrupt conclusion. Dateline producer Isar Harpaz was in Mississippi for the trial. He joins us now to tell us what happened. Isar, welcome to the podcast.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
upside down. Watch Keith's classic two-hour mystery Left 4 Dead airing this Friday at 9, 8 central on NBC or stream it starting Saturday on Peacock. And for even more Keith this holiday season, starting on Friday, you can listen to him read classic Christmas stories wherever you get your podcasts. To get ad-free listening for all our podcasts, subscribe to Dateline Premium. Thanks for listening.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Frannie Kelly and Katie Ferguson. Our associate producers are Carson Cummins and Caroline Casey. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Kurloff. Production and fact-checking help by Sara Kadir. Veronica Mazeka is our digital producer. Rick Kwan is our sound designer. Original music by Jesse McGinty. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Paul Ryan is executive producer. And Liz Cole is senior executive producer of Dateline.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
To start, what can you tell us about Jay Lee? Who was he?
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Isar, what do we know about the relationship between Jay Lee and Timothy Harrington?
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Okay, so a big part of the prosecution's case was that Harrington was the last known person to see Jay Lee alive. The prosecutor told the jury that the men met up on July 8th in the early morning hours and then Lee left after an argument.
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A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
And at trial, the prosecution presented evidence of a Snapchat conversation between the two that helped them sort of piece together what might have happened next.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
One of the problems the police have here is that there's no body. They haven't found Jay Lee, right?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Aside from Jay Lee being with Harrington, what other evidence did the prosecution present to make their case against Harrington.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's December 19th, and here's what's on our docket. The Wisconsin kayaker who made headlines around the world when he faked his own death and fled the country is back in the U.S. to answer to a judge and his family.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Could they tell who was driving it when it came into the complex?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Could they make out a face on the jogger?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
They had some other evidence that didn't look so good for Tim Harrington. He goes over to his parents' house. He's wearing rubber boots. He's carrying a shovel and getting a wheelbarrow. That doesn't make him a killer. But when you add it all together, it doesn't look good.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
You're listening in to Dateline's morning meeting in 30 Rockefeller Center.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Was there anything else, Isar, that really stuck out to you from the defense?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Yeah.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
How did Tim Harrington react to a hung jury? It's very, you know, on one hand, it's good for the defendant in some ways, but then this still hangs over their head.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Are they going to try Tim Harrington again?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
All right, Isar, thank you so much for taking us through this really sad story.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Up next, new details in the investigation into the missing Wisconsin dad who staged his own death and ended up on the other side of the world and the sheriff who refused to give up on bringing him home. At around 10 p.m. on August 11th of this year, 44-year-old Wisconsin native Ryan Borgwart took his kayak out for a paddle on the state's deepest lake. It's called Green Lake.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
In Dateline Roundup, a big development in the case of the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer. And finally, a verdict in the trial of the man accused of murdering tech mogul Bob Lee.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
But Ryan, married with three kids, he never came home. His family reported him missing the next day, and our affiliate NBC26 was on the case.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Over the next eight weeks, cadaver dogs and dive teams tirelessly searched the lake for a body. But then, in November, police held a press conference.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
When investigators tracked him down, Ryan was very much alive and hiding in a place no one expected. Police urged him to come back and face law enforcement and his family.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Last week, Ryan did just that. Here to fill us in on how investigators tracked down a man who didn't want to be found and what happens next is NBC News correspondent Marquise Francis. Marquise, thanks for joining us.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Okay, this is a crazy story. What do we know about Ryan Borgwardt?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
August 11th, Ryan goes out on his kayak at night. He never returns home. How did the investigation play out from there?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Obviously, if you're the family, I would imagine you're thinking that this doesn't look good. My husband, father is gone. He's drowned. But over the course of a few months, police went from expecting to find a body in the lake to tracking down a live man. What was that turning point?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Plus, NBC News senior consumer investigative correspondent Vicky Nguyen will be here with some tips on how to keep your home safe if you're traveling over the holiday.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Yeah. I mean, I wonder, you know, how he got to Canada.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Oh, my God.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
So Ryan ends up in Canada. Where does he go from there?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
With this woman from Uzbekistan?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Was there any thought about where... I'm assuming maybe he met this woman online? Like in some type of a place where you connect?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
But first, we're heading to a college town in Mississippi where a case without a body made its way to trial more than two years after the victim disappeared. On July 8th, 2022, Stephanie Lee woke up to a text from her 20-year-old son, Jay. The University of Mississippi student wished her a happy birthday. I gave him a text back with a smiley face.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Yeah, and they heard from Ryan over video, which they played at a later press conference. So what was it ultimately that brought him back to America? Did he do it on his own or did they find him and force him to come back?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Where is Ryan now? Is he with his family at home?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
A judge entered a not guilty plea for Ryan last week. Last question, Marquise, has his wife said anything about how she feels about him coming back?
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Marquise, thank you so much for joining us and taking us through this wild story. We really appreciate it and have a happy holiday.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
When we come back, it's time for Dateline Roundup. New charges for Rex Heuermann, the man accused of being the Gilgo Beach serial killer. And a verdict in the case of the tech executive stabbed to death on a San Francisco street. Plus, for anyone planning to travel this holiday season, we'll have some tips for how to keep your home safe. Welcome back.
Dateline NBC
A "no body" murder trial in Mississippi. A Wisconsin dad fakes his death. Plus, keeping your home safe during the holidays.
Joining me for this week's Roundup is Dateline Digital producer Veronica Maseko. Hey, Veronica. Hey, how are you? Okay. For our first story, we are off to Suffolk County, New York, home of alleged serial killer Rex Huerman and the notorious Gilgo Beach murders.