The first pictures of a north-east man’s overseas murder trial have emerged from the US courtroom where he’s accused of killing his wife.
Jurors have heard that Wayne Fraser, 47, gunned down his paralysed spouse, who relied on a wheelchair, after the couple had gone out for a romantic dinner together.
Just a day after 55-year-old Natalie Ryan-Fraser checked the pair into a steakhouse and sushi bar – posting on Facebook, “Dinner with my love” – she was discovered dead.
Her body was found at an apartment on Cedar Street, Caledonia, Mississippi (MS), where Lowndes County Sheriff’s deputies had responded to a welfare concern on December 30 2021.
They took a 9mm handgun, which was found at the scene, into evidence and arrested the alleged victim’s husband, who was later charged with murder in the first degree.
On Wednesday – the second day of Fraser’s prosecution – District Attorney (DA) Scott Colom’s case against the former Aberdeenshire resident continued.
Jurors started hearing evidence on Tuesday, when proceedings began, following a selection process to form a jury.
Even if they convict Fraser of a lesser homicide offence, he’d be jailed for anything between 20 and 40 years.
Local television news station WCBI has broadcast the first scenes of the case from inside Lowndes County Court House, located in the southern city of Columbus.
Captured on camera was Wayne Fraser, who stared down at the table as he witnessed the day’s court proceedings unfolding in front of him.
The presiding judge James T Kitchens Jr, who has been described as “pleasant but stern” could also be seen, as well as DA Colom.
Also appearing on TV as she gave testimony was the first witness to take the stand on Tuesday, a 911 operator named Cindy Lawrence.
A Sixteenth Circuit Court clerk confirmed to The Press and Journal that the murder trial is expected to reach a conclusion this week.
Fraser denies that he “did feloniously, wilfully and unlawfully with deliberate design to effect the death of Natalie Fraser, a human being, kill Natalie Fraser, without the authority of law and not in necessary self-defence” – as stated in the indictment.
The man from Mintlaw married Natalie in 2014 and had swapped his life in Scotland for a new beginning in the USA.
Jury’s verdict expected this week
Natalie died after she travelled from Texas, where she worked as a senior instructor at Angelo State University’s Department of English and Modern Languages, to visit her hubby in the southern state.
Fraser had been working part-time as a foreman for an industrial painting and coating firm in Hamilton, MS.
He has remained locked up in custody at Lowndes County Adult Detention Center for the last 20 months as he waits to learn his fate this week.
The trial continues.
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