Natalie Zan Ryan-Frasier, 55, was found dead of a gunshot wound in a Cedar Street apartment in Caledonia, Mississippi, on December 30, 2021. A senior English instructor at Angelo State University and a wheelchair user, she had traveled from her Texas home to visit her husband, Wayne Fraser, who was living and working in Caledonia.

Fraser first told his boss and then Natalie’s brother that she had taken her own life, later saying the shooting was an accident. He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. At trial, prosecutors described a history of alcohol abuse and domestic abuse; the defense said both were highly intoxicated and that the shooting was accidental. A jury found Fraser not guilty of murder but convicted him of culpable negligent manslaughter; he received the maximum sentence of 20 years and a $10,000 fine. Angelo State renamed its English department the Natalie Zan Ryan Department of English and Modern Language in her memory.

If anyone knew Natalie, her teaching, or her time in Caledonia, does anyone have further information about her final visit or the events of that night?