When 14-year-old Natasha Ryan disappeared without a trace in 1998, authorities quickly lost hope they would find her alive. But five years and one funeral later, Natasha walked into the courtroom of her very own murder trial.
What happened to Natasha Ryan?
Natasha went missing from Rockhampton in August of 1998, after her mother dropped her to school in the morning. It wasn’t the first time Natasha had disappeared – only a month earlier she had run away for 2 days with her 22-year-old boyfriend, Scott Black.
But this time seemed different. Her bank account and possessions were untouched, and with three other girls from the area also reported missing, authorities feared the worst.
The investigation stalled until 2003. It was then that Leonard Fraser, already imprisoned for rape and murder, confessed to the murder of the four missing Rockhampton girls.
During the trial, the court heard the tapes where he confesses to Natasha’s murder, as well as testimony from a fellow inmate who alleged Fraser drew a map to where Natasha’s remains were hidden.
Scott Black also testified, claiming he’d had no contact with his girlfriend, or knowledge of her whereabouts.
Then, in April of the same year, police received a tip-off that Natasha was alive and well, hiding in a Rockhampton flat only a kilometre from her mother’s house.
When police knocked on the door, it was Scott Black who answered. He denied Natasha was anywhere on the property, but police found her hiding in a cupboard, pale and shaking.
Natasha confessed that she ran away from home to be with Black. While he worked as a delivery driver, she stayed inside all day, only venturing out under the cover of darkness.
Although the media quickly dubbed her ‘the girl in the cupboard,’ she actually had free rein of the house, only hiding in the cupboard when visitors came.
Despite the doubt Natasha’s discovery cast over Fraser’s confession, the trial continued. Fraser was ultimately convicted of the other three murders, and both Natasha and Scott were fined for their obstruction of a police investigation.
Find out more about Leonard Fraser’s shocking murder trial on this episode of Minds of Madness.
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