Opening statements delivered in trial of Adam Fravel, man accused of killing Madeline Kingsbury

MANKATO, Minn. — Following eight days of jury selection, opening statements in Adam Fravel's murder trial were delivered to the 17 jurors in Mankato on Thursday morning.

Fravel, who wore a gray suit with a black collared shirt, is charged with first-degree murder while committing domestic abuse with a past pattern of domestic abuse, first-degree premeditated murder and two counts of second-degree murder in connection to the death of Madeline Kingsbury.

Kingsbury, who had two children with Fravel, reportedly disappeared on March 31, 2023. An investigator found Kingsbury's body along a remote road near Minnesota Highway 43 in Mabel around 1:30 p.m. on June 7, 2023. Fravel was arrested that evening.

Phillip Prokopowicz, a special prosecutor with Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension who is handling the case, spoke to the jurors for more than 45 minutes, detailing the timeline of Fravel and Kingsbury's seven-year relationship and what allegedly happened when she went missing.

Prokopowicz claimed after the birth of their first child, "Madeline Kingsbury began to express frustrations in their relationship."

Prokopowicz announced that the first witness the state will call to the stand is Officer Ethan Sense of the Winona Police Department. He was one of the first responders in the case. Prokopowicz also said the jury will hear from Brooke Pelowski, the daycare provider and one of the last people to have seen Kingsbury alive.

Prokopowicz told the jurors they will see surveillance footage and a screenshot of Kingsbury and Fravel dropping their children off at daycare.

"It is the last known photograph of Madeline Kingsbury," Prokopowicz said.

Following Prokopowicz's opening statement, Fravel's defense attorney Zach Bauer proceeded to introduce himself to the jurors.

"This case is about tunnel vision, revisionist history and secret truths," Bauer told the jury.

He then detailed the geography of Rushford, Winona, Choice and Mabel, all towns in southeastern Minnesota. Because of the publicity surrounding Kingsbury's disappearance, the trial was moved from Winona County to Blue Earth County after the judge granted a change of venue motion to ensure a fair trial. While the judge and deputies manning the courtroom are from Winona, the 12 jurors and five alternates are from Mankato.

Bauer continued to tell the jurors to "listen to the evidence carefully," claiming that law enforcement did not gather or collect certain evidence.

"They were solely focused on one individual for 58 days," Bauer said.

Kingsbury's body was found on a road maintained by Fravel's father, just north of where Fravel's family lived.

During the prosecution's opening statement, Prokopowicz told the jury they will hear from the Fillmore County deputy who found Kingsbury's body.

"He heard flies," Prokopowicz said. "He observed flies swarming the area."

Prokopowicz said her body was found in a culvert. Autopsy reports showed that her body had "badly decomposed" and that she died as a result of homicidal violence, he said.

According to Bauer, law enforcement, the property owner, and a member of the Department of Natural Resources searched the road multiple times but never discovered her body.

He cautioned the jurors several more times to not feel "overwhelmed," noting that they will likely see 75 witnesses over the next few weeks. Bauer claimed Kingsbury was "was misleading her best friends" over the last few years.

"There's a significant amount of revisionist history that exists with those testimonies," Bauer said.

The first witness was called to the stand after the morning recess after 11 a.m. The trial is scheduled to last one month.