A Minnesota man was convicted Thursday of the murder of his girlfriend, whose disappearance in 2023 drew national attention and prompted thousands of people to join search efforts before her body was discovered hidden in a rural area of the state.
Adam Fravel, 30, was found guilty of first-degree murder less than a day after the jury began to talk about the case.
In June 2023, he was arrested a few days after the body of Madeline Kingsbury was found in the woods not far from Fravel’s parents’ home…. In March 2023, Kingsbury, who was 26 years old, disappeared after dropping off her and Fravel’s two young children at day care in Winona, Minnesota. Winona is a town of about 26,000 people in southeast Minnesota.
Different versions of the couple’s home life and the police investigation that led to Fravel’s arrest were at the center of the trial.
MPR reported that Phil Prokopowicz, the special prosecutor working on the case for the Winona County Attorney’s Office, based his case on statements from family and friends of the couple who said they had been abused in the home.
Fravel’s lawyer, Zach Bauer, said that the police investigation and prosecution of Fravel were based on “tunnel vision, revisionist history, and secret truths.”
The jury’s decision was made in front of a full courtroom that included Kingsbury and Fravel’s families. MPR said that some people in the courtroom gallery broke down in tears when the verdicts were read.
Others who were there said they saw bruises on Kingsbury’s neck, and one friend said she was on FaceTime with Kingsbury when Fravel allegedly hit her.
This friend said that Kingsbury told her that Fravel had told his girlfriend that she could end up like Gabby Petito, who was killed by her boyfriend in a well-known case in 2021.
Witnesses and prosecutors said Kingsbury had planned to leave Fravel because he was fed up with his alleged abusive behavior and felt he was not doing enough for his family. Prosecutors said that he killed her in response.
In his last words, Prokopowicz said, “The relationship was never about them.” “He was always the focus.”
From what the evidence showed, Prokopowicz said Fravel was the only person who could have killed Kingsbury.
King’s body was found in a gray fitted bedsheet that had black Gorilla tape around the edges.
The person who investigated said she was strangled with a towel, and the medical examiner agreed. He also said that the towel, bedsheet, and tape were the same ones that were found in their Winona home.
Bauer, Fravel’s lawyer, said that there were no signs of a fight in the couple’s home, which made the idea that Kingsbury died there less likely.
Bauer also used the word of a neighbor who said they saw an unknown person wave at them from the house the morning Kingsbury went missing.
Bauer also questioned the prosecution’s claim that Fravel abused his wife over and over again. One neighbor said they had never heard the couple fight, which he used as proof.
It was held in Mankato, Minnesota, which is about 136 miles (219 kilometers) away from Winona. This is because Fravel’s lawyers asked the judge to move the trial there.
Fravel’s sentence is set for December 17.
