Jury selection begins Monday in trial of Adam Fravel, accused of killing Madeline Kingsbury
MANKATO, Minn. — The disappearance of Madeline Kingsbury captured the nation's attention, and on Monday, the father of her children goes on trial for her murder.
The 26-year-old mother of two went missing last year after dropping her kids off at daycare in Winona.
Hundreds of people joined in the wide-ranging searches.
Kingsbury's remains were found more than two months later near the Iowa border, and Adam Fravel, her former partner and the father of her children, was arrested. He was later charged with first- and second-degree murder in connection to her death.
Monday marks the first day of jury selection at the Blue Earth County Justice Center. In June, a Winona County judge granted Fravel's change of venue request, citing "extensive pretrial publicity and the substantial involvement of the Winona community in this case."
Joe Tamburino, a defense attorney not associated with the case, says Fravel's lawyers will have to deal with evidence that he allegedly had abused Kingsbury before she went missing.
"They're going to argue whatever happened in the past doesn't mean that he did the murder," Tamburino said. "That's quite true. What the prosecution is going to argue is, 'Look, count 2 [accusing Fravel of a pattern of abuse] is about this. It's about a pattern of domestic abuse, which means you can consider past domestic abuse, if it happened, in the current charge."
The trial was moved from Winona to Mankato in order to have a more impartial jury pool.
The judge has also ruled no public displays of support for Kingsbury will be allowed in the courtroom.
"Even though it's an extremely serious and very sad case, you don't want to have a jury deciding that on emotion," Tamburino said. "Their decision has to be based on evidence."
Kingsbury's sister wrote on Facebook last week that she and her family won't be in the courtroom most of the trial since they're set to testify as witnesses, but she wrote, "While we cannot be there physically to represent Madeline...Just know that we will be there in spirit each and every moment. As always, we thank everyone for the amazing amount of support."
A conviction for Fravel could mean life in prison without parole.
