Warrants: Slain Winona woman had feared ex-boyfriend charged in her death

Just a few weeks before she disappeared, Madeline Kingsbury told a friend whom to blame if something ever happened to her.

"Know that Adam did it," Kingsbury allegedly said. "I would never leave my kids."

That is just one piece of a trove of new details recently made public after a Winona County judge last week unsealed search warrants in the case against Adam Fravel, Kingsbury's ex-boyfriend and father of her two children who is charged with her murder.

Fravel was arrested in June on second-degree murder charges after a Fillmore County deputy found Kingsbury's remains south of Winona. 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, a few miles from property owned by Fravel's parents.

Court records show friends and family knew for some time that Kingsbury and Fravel were in an abusive relationship, one Kingsbury was trying to get out of. Several people told police Kingsbury said Fravel had beaten her in the past, according to search warrant affidavits.

One person told police Kingsbury said Fravel had taken their children in the past and had not told her where they were, and he had recently been threatening and assaulting her.

Kingsbury had allegedly told people she never reported Fravel to authorities because she didn't "want the kids to get in the middle of it," but had asked for advice on how to get out of her on-and-off-again relationship. She and Fravel had started couples therapy at the end of 2022, documents state.

That changed when Kingsbury began seeing another man she planned to live with. Court records show friends told police Kingsbury had applied for a townhouse in Goodview, just northwest of Winona, the week before she disappeared and had told Fravel she would move out of the home she shared with him. One friend told police she knew Kingsbury was excited but afraid to see how Fravel would respond.

Kingsbury's mother and sister told police Fravel was emotionally abusive and controlling — he would insist Kingsbury not talk to her new boyfriend while he was around and demanded to see text messages between the two.

Warrants show several friends and family told police Fravel reportedly told her, "If you don't listen, you'll end up like Gabby Petito," the social media influencer who was slain by her boyfriend while traveling in 2021. Fravel later told police he meant it as a joke.

The last time anyone saw Kingsbury alive was when she and Fravel dropped off their 5-year-old and 2-year-old children at day care the morning of March 31, a Friday. Fravel later told police Kingsbury was supposed to pick up their children that afternoon but she didn't show up, so he did it. But the day-care provider told police she never contacted Fravel asking him to pick up the kids, according to court records. He showed up at the day care's regular pick-up time.

Fravel didn't initially appear worried about Kingsbury's disappearance, according to court records. About an hour after police spoke to him on March 31, he texted the partner of Kingsbury's best friend, who filed the police report, asking what prompted them to contact authorities.

"I'm so confused, she hasn't been gone for a day yet so I'm not freaking out but everyone else is," Fravel texted.

Fravel later texted that no one had bothered to reach him until after 7 p.m.

The unsealed warrants also lay out law enforcement suspicions that Fravel may have tried to get rid of evidence. Police looked over camera systems at Kingsbury's home and Fravel's parents' home, both of which he had access. Cameras at Kingsbury's home appeared to have been ripped off the walls and their memory cards removed, while network data after March 30 appears to have been deleted.

During an April 7 search of Kingsbury's home, police found a computer tower and laptop in a dumpster as well as what appeared to be a burned computer device in a nearby fire pit. Court documents also show Fravel turned off location data and usage history on his cellphones.

On April 9, when it was about 70 degrees, a neighbor of Fravel's parents captured footage of Fravel dressed in dark-colored clothes, including a stocking cap and jacket, driving an ATV on the property, traveling with a shovel.

Police seized Fravel's ATV and the shovel the next day, according to court documents. Cadaver dogs, which are trained to alert or indicate human remains, reacted to the ATV's bed and the shovel's spade.

Fravel's next court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 22.