Amanda Knox and death fraud
the true crime that's worth your time
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"Trial Begins For Man Accused Of Faking Death To Avoid Rape Charges" // There's a too-long history of dudes lamming it to avoid the consequences of sexual-assault allegations – Alex Kelly*, Roman Polanski (although that case is slightly more complicated), just for starters -- but this piece from HuffPo last week caught my eye for two reasons.
*Kelly apparently tried to found a skydiving school in the late teens? That branding logline is a choice, innit.
The first is Nicholas Rossi's corny alias. …Well, corniest, really, because he has dozens:
Rossi, 38, was arrested in Scotland in 2021 — a year after he was reported dead — when he was recognized at a Glasgow hospital while receiving treatment for COVID-19. He lost an extradition appeal after claiming he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who had never set foot on American soil and was being framed.
The second is that I just happened to re-start Elizabeth Greenwood's Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud last week. I waded into the text years ago and stalled out, I forget why – not the text itself, IIRC – but it came free on audio at the library, so I thought, why not.
Interesting listen so far, frequently sending me in search of a Post-It and pen to scribble down other properties, which I shouldn't love about a book (my TBR is legit an entire wall in my office) but I do. This NPR review of the book lines up with my own thoughts at about a third of the way through: Greenwood's asides can feel a bit forced, or like she's pitching an adaptation of the book IN the book. Too, a handful of assertions haven't aged well through no fault of the author's (a source sniffing that nobody questions Google search; a pre-DOGE understanding of how to subtract oneself from government records).
But it's nice and process-y and it moves right along. I'll have to stock it at Exhibit B. -- and speaking of: 1) you have a discount code, ExBlurred, to use at checkout if you like; and 2) all older inventory is 20% off through Labor Day (including a book about Alex Kelly). See you there!
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