Emotional day in court as murder trial over Madeline Kingsbury goes to jury

MANKATO – Emotions ran far higher inside a Mankato courtroom Wednesday than at any point over the past month as lawyers tried to close their case for and against the suspect accused of killing a young mother from Winona in 2023.

Special prosecutor Phillip Prokopowicz at one point mimicked how he imagined defendant Adam Fravel wrapped a towel over Madeline Kingsbury’s head, cutting off her breath and “forcing the last bit of oxygen from her body.”

Fravel’s lawyer Zach Bauer pointed out what he saw as holes in the state’s case against Fravel, arguing that phone records from the day his ex-girlfriend disappeared and eyewitness testimony exonerated Fravel.

Lawyers made their closing arguments Wednesday, turning over the case to the jury, which will decide whether Fravel is guilty of any one of four counts of murder against him. Jurors entered deliberations about 2:15 p.m. and could render a verdict as early as Wednesday evening.

Fravel watched the proceedings in a black suit, rarely tilting his head or looking down as lawyers argued before the jury.

Over more than an hour and a half, Prokopowicz argued that Fravel was the only person with a motive to kill Kingsbury, saying Fravel financially and emotionally depended on her, and would never let Kingsbury pursue a relationship with another man.

“From the outset of the relationship between Madeline Kingsbury and Adam Fravel, it was never about them. It wasn’t about children,” Prokopowicz said. “It was about him, what he wanted, efforts by him to control the relationship.”

Bauer spent more than an hour accusing law enforcement of shoddy police work and tunnel vision in pursuing Fravel as a suspect. He argued that testimony from Kingsbury’s friends shouldn’t be trusted, saying they never reported to police instances where they allegedly saw Kingsbury being abused or had bruises on her body. Bauer said Kingsbury’s relationship with another man showed she was never controlled, implying she may have been embarrassed to admit to others that bruises were from sex.

“She didn’t always lie, but she didn’t always tell the truth,” Bauer said. “And she had secret truths, and that’s OK. And her friends, in an effort to change this, have told a great deal of revisionist history that’s not supported by [the] evidence.”

Kingsbury’s disappearance from her Winona home on March 31, 2023, sparked nationwide interest and spurred more than 2,000 volunteers to search for her along Hwy. 43 south of Winona over more than two months. A Fillmore County deputy found her body in a culvert on June 7 that year.

The lawyers rarely agreed on evidence as they picked apart each others’ arguments throughout Wednesday morning and early afternoon.

Law enforcement testified that Kingsbury’s home with Fravel on Kerry Drive didn’t show signs of a struggle and appeared to be intact. Bauer said that testimony shows Fravel couldn’t have killed Kingsbury by smothering her with a towel, the way prosecutors suggest, arguing there would have been broken furniture or marks. The defense attorney also pointed out that a neighbor who shares a wall with the couple’s home said she had never heard Fravel and Kingsbury argue.

Prokopowicz argued that Fravel, at 240 pounds, could have subdued Kingsbury quickly. The prosecutor also pointed out that no locks or windows were damaged, saying it was unlikely someone could have snuck into the house, smothered Kingsbury, wrapped her body in the gray fitted sheet she was found in, and duct taped it without Fravel’s knowledge.

Fravel told police he was home for much of that morning then left for more than two hours to drive items to his parents’ home in Mabel, Minn., before turning back because he had packed the wrong items in Kingsbury’s van. Prokopowicz pointed out that Fravel had switched the license plates on Kingsbury’s van with his own car and pointed out a 44-minute gap during which Fravel would have had time to hide Kingsbury’s body.

Bauer said investigators had repeatedly searched the area where Kingsbury’s body was found. He argued that investigators would have found the body buried under a stack of logs and debris had it been there the whole time.

Prokopowicz pointed out that Fravel’s family had worked on the property where Kingsbury’s remains were found, so it was familiar to them; not even the property owner knew about the culvert where the body was discovered.

Fravel’s trial was moved out of Winona County earlier this year because of media coverage and community awareness of the case.