One morning in August 1998, Jenny Ryan dropped her 14-year-old daughter Natasha off at school in Queensland, Australia, like normal. But Natasha didn’t come home that evening, and despite a huge police and community effort, no trace of her was found. She’d been a troubled girl and had run away before, but always come home. Several other young women and girls had gone missing in the area and police believed there was a serial killer at large, so fears for Natasha grew.
In April 1999, 58-year-old Leonard Fraser, a rapist who’d spent 20 years in prison, was arrested and charged with the murders of several women, including Natasha. Ponytails of his victims were found in his home, and he confessed to strangling Natasha and burying her body. Then something incredible happened. During Fraser’s trial in April 2003, a prosecutor told the court, “I am pleased to announce that Leonard John Fraser is not guilty of the murder of Natasha Ryan. Natasha Ryan is alive.”
An anonymous tip-off to police had led them to raiding a house just five minutes away from Natasha’s parents, where they found the teenager hiding in a closet. It was her boyfriend Scott Black’s house. They’d been dating when Natasha went missing, even though he was 22 at the time. She had been living with him for over four years, first in a house 45 minutes from her home, then just around the corner. She later told current affairs programme 60 Minutes Australia that she spent her time watching videos, working out in a home gym, sewing and studying via the internet, insisting she was not held against her will. She had barely been outside, but the pair would occasionally sneak out to the beach in the small hours “to look at the night sky and thunder and lightning storms”. When she saw on TV that Fraser was being charged with her murder, she rang a children’s helpline, telling them wh
