Jury convicts man of killing girlfriend and hiding her body in rural Minnesota

MANKATO, Minn. (AP) – A Minnesota man was convicted Thursday in the killing of his girlfriend, whose disappearance in 2023 drew national attention and prompted thousands of people to join search efforts before her body was found hidden in a rural area of ​​the state .

Less than a day after deliberations began, the jury found 30-year-old Adam Fravel guilty of first-degree murder. He was arrested in June 2023, days after MPs found the body of Madeline Kingsbury in a wooded area a few miles from property owned by Fravel's parents. Kingsbury, 26, disappeared in March 2023 after dropping her and Fravel's two young children off at daycare in Winona, a city in southeastern Minnesota with about 26,000 residents.

The Attempt The focus is on competing accounts of the couple's domestic life and the police investigation that led to Fravel's arrest.

Phil Prokopowicz, a special prosecutor handling the case for the Winona County District Attorney's Office, built his case on statements from family members and friends of the couple who spoke about instances of alleged domestic abuse. MPR reported. Zach Bauer, Fravel's attorney, said law enforcement's investigation and prosecution of Fravel was based on “tunnel vision, revisionist history and secret truths.”

The jury delivered their verdict in front of a packed courtroom, which included members of Kingsbury and Fravel's families. Some in the courtroom gallery burst into tears as the verdicts were announced, MPR reported.

The witnesses said they saw bruises on Kingsbury's neck, and in one case, a friend said she was on FaceTime with Kingsbury when Fravel allegedly hit her. Another friend testified that Kingsbury told her that Fravel warned his girlfriend that she could end up like Gabby Petito, a woman who was killed by her boyfriend in a high-profile case from 2021.

Prosecutors and other witnesses said Kingsbury planned to leave Fravel after becoming frustrated with his allegedly abusive behavior and inadequate contributions to her family. He responded by killing her, prosecutors argued.

“The relationship was never about her,” Prokopowicz said in his closing statement. “It was always about him.”

Prokopowicz said the evidence shows Fravel was the only person who had the opportunity to kill Kingsbury.

Police found Kingsbury's body wrapped in a gray fitted sheet sealed with black Gorilla tape. Prokopowicz said she was strangled with a towel, and a medical examiner concluded she likely died of asphyxia. The towel, bed sheet and duct tape matched items found at their Winona home, he added.

Bauer, Fravel's attorney, argued that there were no signs of a physical struggle in the couple's home, refuting the belief that Kingsbury died there. Bauer also relied on the testimony of a neighbor who claimed to have seen an unknown person waving to him from his home on the morning of Kingsbury's disappearance.

Bauer also disputed prosecutors' claim that Fravel was involved in domestic violence. He referred to the testimony of a neighbor who said he had never heard the couple argue.

The trial was held in Mankato, Minnesota, about 130 miles (219 kilometers) from Winona, after a judge granted a request from Fravel's attorneys to move the case.

Fravel will be sentenced on December 17th.