Episode 1

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.

Arlene’s sister speaks powerfully about the family’s desperate search for answers. Police officers at the heart of the inquiry, including one of the first on the scene, reveal what they found inside Arlene’s eerily silent home and how the earliest clues, from a burnt-out car to the mysterious reappearance of Arlene’s wedding rings, began to shape the investigation.

Journalists who followed every twist of the story share how the case gripped the nation and how public suspicion evolved. The programme also features a striking account from an investigative journalist who confronted Nat Fraser directly, asking him outright whether he had anything to do with Arlene’s disappearance.

The story unfolds through new in-depth interviews and revealing archive as we chart the relentless determination of detectives and Arlene’s devoted family as they fight for answers, justice and the truth behind a mystery that refuses to fade.