Madeline Kingsbury's parents testify in Adam Fravel trial
MANKATO, Minn. — The parents of Madeline Kingsbury took the witness stand in Mankato on Tuesday in the trial of 30-year-old Adam Fravel, the southwestern Minnesota man accused of killing Kingsbury last year.
Kingsbury, 26, went missing in March 2023 after driving her two children to daycare in Winona. Her body was found two months later in a field by property owned by Fravel's family near the Minnesota-Iowa border.
Fravel, Kingsbury's ex-boyfriend and the father of her young children, was arrested two days later and charged with first- and second-degree murder.
Fravel has a documented history of domestic violence against Kingsbury, including an incident where he struck her while she was on a video call with her friend. Text messages also indicated he had choked her on at least one occasion in front of their children.
Kingsbury's mother and father — Krista Hultgren and David Kingsbury — are among several family members sequestered from the trial. Court rules bar testifying family members from being in court during the proceedings.
Hultgren took the stand first on Tuesday and said she noticed changes in her daughter and Fravel's on-and-off-again, seven-year relationship, which started after the birth of their first child.
Hultgren also described an incident from September 2021 when Kingsbury told her that Fravel had pushed her down on the couch and told her he could make her disappear "like Gabby Petito," the 22-year-old Florida woman who was killed by her abusive boyfriend in 2021 in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Kingsbury's family told CBS News' "48 Hours" in April that Fravel had an "obsession" with Petito's case.
David Kingsbury then took the stand and recounted the same incident, also saying his daughter told him Fravel "put his hands around her neck." He went to pick her up and brought her to his home to get her away from Fravel.
David Kingsbury said it was the middle of March 2023 when his daughter told him the relationship with Fravel was over.
In court on Monday, an investigator told the court deputies found Kingsbury's remains under brush and logs that were 6 to 10 feet in length, and she appeared to have been hidden on purpose.
In opening statements on Oct. 17, the lead prosecutor alleged Fravel's motive for killing Kingsbury came from her new relationship with a friend from college.
Fravel's defense team is trying to get some evidence thrown out, including photographs of what's believed to be Kingsbury's journal. They argue what she may have written is not relevant to the case.
The trial, which is in its third week, is being held in Mankato instead of Winona after Fravel's attorneys successfully petitioned a Winona County judge to move the proceedings due to "extensive pretrial publicity."
So far, more than 50 witnesses have been called to the stand in Fravel's murder trial.
If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Domestic Violence Resources: For anonymous, confidential help, people can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or 1-800-787-3224.