Prosecutors in Minnesota have laid out disturbing details of the months leading up to missing mother Madeline Kingsbury’s murder in a criminal complaint against her former partner.
The remains of 26-year-old Kingsbury were found last week on the side of a highway, more than two months after she vanished from her home in Winona. Her children’s father and former partner Adam Fravel, 29, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
Mr Fravel had denied any involvement in the disappearance, even issuing a public statement decrying those accusations and pleading for Kingsbury’s safe return. But a criminal complaint recently filed by prosecutors alleges Kingsbury was a victim of domestic violence at the hands of Mr Fravel.
According to the filing, Mr Fravel choked Kingsbury on at least one occasion and told her that “if she did not listen up, she would end up like Gabby Petito” - the young vlogger strangled by her fiance on a road trip in 2021.
Mr Fravel’s warning unfolded in front of the former couple’s two children, prosecutors allege.
Winona police first interviewed Mr Fravel following Kingsbury’s 31 March disappearance. A friend of the slain mother told police that she was concerned about Kingsbury’s safety because she was not answering her door or her phone after dropping off her two children at school.
The friend noted that Kingsbury and Mr Fravel, who had a seven-year on-and-off relationship, were having issues. Mr Fravel told police that he and Kingsbury drove back to her home together after dropping the kids off and he then borrowed her dark blue minivan to go to work.
Mr Fravel also told investigators that he and Kingsbury were in the process of separating and both planned to move out of their home. He also said that Kingsbury was in a relationship with someone else, but didn’t know how long they had been together.
The alleged murderer was confronted by investigators about remarks he had allegedly made to Kingsbury in reference to the murder of Petito, who investigators determined was choked to death by her partner Brian Laundrie in August 2021.
Mr Fravel allegedly admitted that he was “infatuated” with the highly-publicised case and had told Kingsbury she “would end up like Petito”.
A friend of Kingsbury also told police that she was on a video call with the mother-of-two sometime in 2020 or 2021 when Mr Fravel walked into the room. Mr Fravel then allegedly struck Kingsbury in the face before fleeing the room when he realised he was being observed on the video call.
“The friend told investigators that there were several times during video calls that she observed bruises on Madeline’s face,” the complaint alleged, per KIMT3. “When the friend inquired about the bruises, Madeline would cover them with her sweater.”
Law enforcement learned through phone records that Kingsbury and Mr Fravel discussed an incident in which he allegedly “put his hands around her throat and pushed her down in front of the children.”
“Not okay with it all but especially with them there,” Kingsbury texted Mr Fravel in September 2021. “...You do that again without asking me and you can go somewhere else.”
Mr Fravel replied: “You’ll adjust.”
Kingsbury’s remains were discovered on 7 June after law enforcement conducted searches near an area that had been maintained by “one or more” members of the Fravel family. Kingsbury was located next to a gravel road approximately one mile from the highway.
Her body was wrapped in a grey bed sheet that was closed with Gorilla Tape. Her head and neck were also wrapped in a knotted towel.
According to the criminal complaint, the tape found at the crime scene matched the type seized from Kingsbury and Mr Fravel’s home. One of the mattresses at the home was missing bedding and had pillows on top with casings of the same colour and fabric as the bedsheet used to wrap Kingsbury.
Before the devastating discovery last week, massive efforts had been launched with thousands of volunteers helping authorities comb through more than 120,000 acres.
Nearly two weeks into the search efforts, Mr Fravel released a statement on 12 April proclaiming his innocence after finding himself subject to suspicion.
Mr Fravel said that law enforcement had advised him against attending press conferences or assisting in search efforts “due to safety concerns”, adding: “My non-attendance and silence has been inferred by many as a sign of apathy, or worse. That could not be further from the truth.
“I want Maddi home and for her to be able to be with our two children. God Bless the Kingsbury family and please bring her home safely.”
At the time of Kingsbury’s murder, she and Mr Fravel were engaged in a legal battle for the custody of their two children, aged five and two.
Her family issued a statement thanking volunteers for their help and support these pasts months.
“Although we have now found her, our battle does not stop here; it’s now time to seek justice and hold those responsible for her passing accountable,” the statement read. “Madeline had her whole life ahead of her and it would have been a happy, beautiful life. Instead, her children are left motherless due to someone else’s actions.”
His next court hearing is scheduled for 20 July.
