Arlene Fraser: Two-Episode Documentary Reopens an Enraging, Unresolved Murder Hunt

The new two-episode documentary on the disappearance of Arlene Fraser returns the case to public view, reminding audiences why the story matters: a sudden vanishing, a chilling legal saga and a family left without closure. Arlene Fraser’s body has never been found, her husband has maintained his innocence, and the programme reconstructs the disappearance, the evidence that baffled investigators and the drawn-out trials that followed.

Arlene Fraser: the day she vanished and the eerie domestic scene

When police reached Arlene’s house in Elgin, Moray in April 1998 they encountered a scene that suggested life had been interrupted abruptly: a bicycle lay on its side in the yard, a vacuum cleaner was plugged into a socket in the hall and washing hung on the line. Earlier that morning she had stood in her dressing gown to wave her two children off to school; she then vanished.

The timeline reconstructed in the documentary is precise: on the morning she disappeared Arlene phoned her son’s school at 9. 41am to check when she needed to pick him up; the school rang back 10 minutes later and received no answer. She also failed to attend a planned meeting with a friend at 11am.

Background: relationship, refuge stays and a history of violence

Before marriage Arlene was described as friendly and popular. Her husband, Nat, attended their wedding with a black eye, an injury that contemporaries treated as an amusing misfortune. Energetic and free as a young woman, Arlene adapted to motherhood, but trauma had begun to accumulate. She stayed at the Moray Women’s Refuge in 1990 and again in 1992, each time returning to Nat. Lorna Creswell, co-founder of the refuge, observed that many of the women she tried to help returned to their abusers because they did not see an alternative or lack the confidence to move on.

By April 1998 Arlene had moved toward separation: on the day she was last seen she was due to meet a divorce lawyer. Five weeks before her disappearance Nat had placed his hands around her neck until she lost consciousness and was facing an attempted murder charge. A judge later showed sympathy for the defence argument that the attack was out of character, but Dr Emma Plant of the Moray Violence Against Women and Girls Partnership emphasized that virtually no man throttles his wife just once, framing domestic abuse as a pattern of control where, when threatened, the ultimate assertion of control can be to kill.

Evidence, the missing body and the haunting ring discovery

Investigators faced stark evidential gaps: there was no body, no weapon, no forensic evidence and no eyewitness testimony from the day of the disappearance. Nine days after Arlene vanished her gold wedding, engagement and eternity rings — items she was known to wear constantly — appeared on a peg in her bathroom, a detail that investigators treated as a sign that someone with access to her body had placed them there.

Searches across the Scottish Highlands failed to recover remains, and a reward of £20, 000 did not produce the missing body. During the legal proceedings a former friend of Nat’s gave testimony that Nat had told him the body had been burned and the ashes scattered.

Alibi, prosecution theory and the press moment

Nat Fraser presented an alibi described as exceptionally strong: on the morning Arlene disappeared he was out on his rounds as a fruit and vegetable wholesaler, making himself visible to many customers. That alibi stopped the case dead at key points despite anomalies that suggested his involvement. The documentary highlights public moments that unsettled observers, including Nat’s dispassionate reading of a prepared statement at a press conference that directly addressed Arlene.

The prosecution’s theory advanced a chilling alternative to a lone-actor case: that Nat did not pull the trigger himself but instructed or moved others to kill his wife to avoid a costly divorce settlement.

Trials, convictions and where Nat Fraser is now

Nat Fraser was first convicted of Arlene’s murder in 2003; that conviction was quashed in 2011 after a Supreme Court ruling. The Crown sought a retrial in 2012, and a second jury found him guilty. The judge overseeing that trial, Lord Bracadale, described the killing as calculated and sentenced Nat to life with a minimum term of 17 years.

As of 2026 Nat Fraser remains incarcerated at HM Prison Addiewell in West Lothian. Now in his 70s, he has spent more than a decade behind bars for the second time and has lost several appeals, including litigation taken to the European Court of Human Rights. He continues to protest his innocence from prison.

Family aftermath and the documentary’s perspective

The documentary presents the toll on Arlene’s family as palpable. Her sister, Carol Gillies, has spent decades campaigning for the truth and has stated that the family wants to find Arlene so they can put her to rest. The programme frames the case as both a sobering reflection on violence against women and a gripping whodunnit in which concrete details repeatedly refused to emerge; viewers are left with sadness, anger, frustration and the sense that key questions remain unanswered. Arlene’s family stayed in an agonising limbo until, months late — unclear in the provided context.

The series uses never-before-seen archive footage and interviews to replay investigative twists and trial surprises, but the absence of a body and the unresolved evidential gaps mean the full answer continues to elude authorities and the public alike.