Trial opens for U.S. fugitive accused of faking his own death to avoid rape charges

SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of faking his death and fleeing the country to avoid rape charges faced an alleged victim in court Monday as a jury trial in Utah began. The man known in the U.S. as Nicholas Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, is accused of sexually assaulting two women in Utah in 2008. Prosecutors are trying the cases separately, with the first set in Salt Lake County.