Madeline Kingsbury case: Adam Fravel murder trial begins

(FOX 9) - On the first day of testimony in the murder trial of Adam Fravel, jurors watched two police interviews with Fravel in the days that followed her disappearance.

The first was more casual, the second far more confrontational.

(Cedric Hohnstadt Illustration, L.L.C.)

Background

Fravel is charged with first-degree murder, accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, Maddi Kingsbury, in Winona in March 2023.

Fravel and Kingsbury had been together for about seven years and shared two young children.  But they had recently agreed to separate and both were in the process of moving out.

Maddi’s disappearance sparked a series of searches, joined by hundreds of people in the Winona area, which is why the trial was moved to Mankato.

Her body was found two months later in a culvert not far from Fravel’s parents' home near Mabel, Minnesota.  She was wrapped in a bedsheet that matched one missing from their townhome in Winona, and a towel wrapped around her head also matched towels from their bathroom.

On April 1st, 2023, police investigators talked to Fravel on the porch of his parents' home.  The questions focused on if Fravel had any idea where Maddi might have gone.

The next day, they interviewed him again, this time at a police station in Rushford, Minnesota.  Far longer in length, it grew more contentious as they went over his timeline of the day she disappeared, and was questioned about a string of unanswered text messages he’d sent to Kingsbury the day she disappeared.

(Cedric Hohnstadt Illustration, L.L.C.)

In court

In the video shown to jurors, Fravel explains his travel on March 31st, driving towards his parents' home to move belongings there, but then turning around and coming back to Winona when he claimed to realize he meant to put these things into a storage locker instead.

Police tracked his movements on traffic cameras.  They told him flat out in the video that his timeline did not make sense.

And the string of text messages, they told Fravel, also appeared suspicious, appearing like "bread crumbs" he was leaving to cover his tracks.   But he denied having anything to do with Maddi’s disappearance or having any idea what happened to her.

In opening statements, the prosecution told jurors they’d hear testimony from Maddi’s friends alleging that Fravel was abusive.  One will tell them of being on a FaceTime call with Maddi and seeing Fravel yell at her and then hit her with an open hand.

They’ll also hear that Maddi ended the relationship, and was moving out.  And that she’d recently begun a new relationship that had already grown intimate.

But in its opening statement, the defense told jurors that "this is a case about tunnel vision, about revisionist history and about secret truths."

Defense attorney Zachary Bauer said that police focused on Fravel and no one else from the very beginning.  That they had constant surveillance on Fravel through GPS, airplanes, cameras, and stakeouts.   They did not consider other suspects at all.

And, Bauer told jurors, Maddi’s friends only reported suspected abuse after Maddi went missing, never before.  He said they coordinated their stories out of frustration that the investigation was not getting anywhere.

(Cedric Hohnstadt Illustration, L.L.C.)

What's next?

As for expected testimony about bruises that Maddi would try to hide, he alleges these came from rough sex and that jurors will see evidence that Maddi had searched for "choking" on pornographic websites.

More testimony is expected from law enforcement about what led to finding Maddi’s body on the property about a mile from Fravel’s parents' home.  In a search warrant, investigators noted a trail cam video that caught Fravel in dark clothing, driving a UTV with a shovel in the back.

A cadaver-sniffing dog would find human scent on both.

There are well over 100 people on the witness list, though that does not mean all will testify.  The trial is expected to last about three weeks.