Adam Fravel convicted of suffocating, killing ex Madeline Kingsbury, hiding her body

WINONA, Minn. (TCN) -- A jury returned multiple guilty verdicts against a man who killed his 27-year-old ex-girlfriend, wrapped her body in sheets, then buried her in a rural area.

Court records show Adam Fravel was found guilty of first-degree murder while committing domestic abuse with past pattern of abuse, first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree murder, and second-degree murder without intent in connection with the death of Madeline Kingsbury. KMSP-TV reports Fravel faces life in prison and will be sentenced in January.

Kingsbury was reported missing to the Winona Police Department on April 1, 2023, after she had not been seen or heard from since March 31. Officials searched for Kingsbury for months until June 7, 2023, when a deputy in Fillmore County located her remains in a heavily wooded area. The Winona County Attorney’s Office announced charges against Fravel on June 9, 2023, and he was indicted in October 2023.

According to Fravel’s probable cause statement, Fravel told police he had not heard from Kingsbury since the morning of March 31, 2023, and that she was scheduled to pick up their two kids, ages 5 and 2, from day care, but she never showed up. The two reportedly dropped them off at school together at 8:05 a.m., but only Fravel went in the afternoon. Detectives searched Kingsbury and Fravel’s home and did not see any signs of a struggle but noted that Kingsbury left her phone, wallet, jacket, and computer behind. She sent a last text to her sister at 8:15 a.m.

Fravel and Kingsbury had been in an on-again, off-again relationship for seven years. Kingsbury worked in Winona and Rochester, and Fravel "acknowledged that Madeline was the primary income producer for the family." She paid the bills and sent Fravel money. The two broke up and Kingsbury was in the process of searching for a new apartment in the area. Kingsbury told Fravel not long before she disappeared that she started dating someone new.

Fravel reportedly claimed he was running errands and packing the day Kingsbury vanished.

According to the statement, Kingsbury expressed worry to some of her friends about her relationship with Fravel. One person informed police that "Fravel told Madeline that if she did not listen up that she would end up like Gabby Petito." Fravel was reportedly "'infatuated' with the Gabby Petito case," the woman who was strangled to death while traveling with her boyfriend.

One friend reportedly saw Fravel hit Kingsbury in the face, and others reportedly noticed bruising and red marks on her body.

Video footage from the day of Kingsbury’s disappearance reportedly showed Fravel driving on Highway 43, but he took a 45-minute detour. Deputies searched the area near where his car was last seen and learned it was close to his parents' house. Kingsbury’s remains were found in a culvert near a gravel road and they were wrapped in a bed sheet and Gorilla tape. Investigators noted that the sheet and tape matched items at Kingsbury and Fravel’s home.

The medical examiner conducted an autopsy and said a towel had been wrapped about Kingsbury’s head and neck, and her cause of death was homicidal violence.

KMSP reports Kingsbury’s father said after the verdict, "It’s a bit of a Pyrrhic victory. We’re not going to get Madeline back. Fravel can’t be punished enough."

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