Suspect in Madeline Kingsbury murder wants trial moved out of Winona

Attorneys representing Adam Fravel are seeking to move his murder trial out of Winona County, arguing in a motion filed Friday the attention surrounding the case has prejudiced potential jurors.

Fravel’s attorneys are also seeking to dismiss a first-degree murder charge against him in the death of Madeline Kingsbury, the Winona woman whose suspicious disappearance last March sparked nationwide interest.

Attorney Zachary Bauer argued in court filings it would be difficult to seat an impartial jury in the trial given the Winona area’s investment in finding Kingsbury, along with subsequent media coverage after her body was found. Bauer pointed out that more than 2,000 people, including hundreds of local residents, searched for Kingsbury in the days after she first disappeared.

“The court is now asking many of those same individuals to be jurors in a case where either they, or people they know, invested time and/or money in the search for Mr. Fravel’s alleged victim,” Bauer wrote.

He also noted numerous fundraisers and thousands of supporters on social media for a group dedicated to finding Kingsbury, as well as a float in a parade last June with a banner that said “Justice For Maddi.”

Fravel was arrested in June shortly after Kingsbury’s body was discovered. He has been in the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center since his arrest.

Fravel denied any involvement in Kingsbury’s disappearance shortly after she went missing.

Kingsbury’s disappearance on March 31 drew national attention as thousands of people joined the nearly 10-week search. Her body was found in Mabel, Minn., a few miles from property owned by Fravel’s parents.

Pretrial hearings in Fravel’s case are scheduled for March 19 and 20. Fravel is set to go to trial sometime this fall.