Minnesota man faces sentencing for killing girlfriend who vanished after leaving kids at daycare
WINONA. Min. — A Minnesota man convicted of first-degree murder will be sentenced Tuesday for the murder of his girlfriend, whose 2023 disappearance after dropping off their children at daycare drew national attention and prompted thousands of volunteers to join the search for her.
A jury found Adam Fravel, 30, of Mabel, guilty in November. That was him arrested in June 2023, days after alternates found the body of Madeline Kingsbury in a wooded area a few kilometers from an estate of Fravel’s parents.
Kingsbury, 26, disappeared in March 2023 after dropping off her and Fravel’s two young children at daycare in Winona, a southeastern Minnesota city of about 26,000.
The trial was moved to Mankato, about 139 miles west of Winona, because of extensive pre-trial publicity. Fravel is sentenced again in Winona by subdistrict court judge Nancy Buytendorp. First-degree murder, the most serious of the four charges he was convicted of, carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Police found Kingsbury’s body in a culvert along a gravel road, in a gray fitted sheet sealed with black Gorilla tape. Prosecutor Phil Prokopowicz said she had been strangled with a towel and a medical examiner concluded she likely died of asphyxiation. The towel, sheet and tape matched items found in their Winona home, Prokopowicz said during the trial.
Prokopowicz and witnesses said Kingsbury planned to leave Fravel for another man after becoming frustrated with his alleged abusive behavior and inadequate contributions to their family. He responded to those plans by killing her, prosecutors said.
“The relationship was never about them,” Prokopowicz said in his closing statement. “It was always about him.”
Witnesses reported seeing bruises on Kingsbury’s neck. In one case, a friend said she was on a video call with Kingsbury when Fravel allegedly hit her. Another friend testified that Kingsbury told her that Fravel had warned Kingsbury that she might end up like Gabby Petito, a woman who murdered by her boyfriend in a high-profile 2021 case.
Fravel did not testify in his own defense. His attorney, Zach Bauer, said in his closing argument that the case against Fravel rested on “tunnel vision, revisionist history and secret truths.” He claimed there was no sign of any physical struggle at the couple’s home. He also pointed to testimony from a neighbor who claimed he had never heard the couple argue.