MURDER CASE: THE HUNT FOR ARLENE FRASER'S KILLER

24 February 2026

On 28 April 1998, two children came home from school to an empty house. Their mother, 33-year-old Arlene Fraser, had simply vanished. What began as a missing person report rapidly escalated into one of Scotland’s most complex and high-profile investigations.

As the days passed and fears for Arlene increased, the spotlight fell on the quiet town of Elgin in north east Scotland. Rumour, suspicion and media scrutiny intensified, particularly when the troubled reality of Arlene’s marriage to local businessman Nat Fraser came to light. Arlene's disappearance split the town in two, with many believing that she had just walked out of a troubled marriage and started a new life far from Elgin, while others thought that she had been kidnapped and killed.

It was a mystery that the police struggled to solve, with no clues, evidence or witnesses, and the main suspect having a perfect alibi. However, no-one could have foreseen the labyrinth of twists that would follow: unusual police tactics, surprise arrests, a new and unexpected witness, and a decades-long legal struggle that would make the case one of the most controversial in Scottish criminal history.

When the police arrived at Arlene Fraser’s house in Elgin, Moray in April 1998, they found a place where time had stopped suddenly, like a needle lifted hastily from a record. Sights that would have been ordinary had she been there were disturbing in her absence: a bicycle on its side in the yard, a vacuum cleaner plugged into a socket in the hall, washing on the line. Having stood in her dressing gown to wave her two children off as they left for school that Tuesday morning, Arlene had since vanished. Across two episodes that sensitively manage to juggle a sobering reflection on violence against women and a gripping whodunnit where a full answer keeps maddeningly eluding the authorities, Murder Case lays out what is thought to have happened to Arlene, and replays the twists and surprises of the trial – or rather, the trials – where concrete details refused to emerge. It is sad, enraging, frustrating, compelling.

The Guardian

Nothing is presented in a sensationalist way. There is no need to over-dramatise; as the filmmakers are well aware, the plain facts are disturbing enough....What stands out is the filmmakers’ determination to make this a story about people more than process. The film starts with Arlene, and it ends with her.

The Herald

Extraordinary

Daily Telegraph

Pick of the Day

Daily Mail

Pick of the week

The i