Fravel Pretrial Day 1: Family against cameras in court, witness sequestering order approved
(ABC 6 News) – On the first day of Adam Fravel’s pretrial hearing, Winona County judge Nancy Buytendorp agreed to sequester, or separate witnesses during the 3-to-4-week murder trial, and heard arguments about cameras in the courtroom.
According to proceedings, the family of murder victim Madeline Kingsbury opposes having cameras in the Blue Earth County courtroom during the trial, scheduled to begin Oct. 7 and end in late October or early November.
Fravel is accused of killing the Winona mother and hiding her body in a remote area near Mabel.
Madeline Kingsbury’s parents also testified in court about an alleged September 2021 incident in which they claim Fravel, Kingsbury’s former partner, put his hands around her neck and threatened her.
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Krista Hultgren, Kingsbury’s biological mother, described “daily” aggravation between Fravel and Kingsbury, concerning Fravel’s lack of employment and financial insecurity.
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In September of 2021, Hultgren said she received a call where a “hysterical” Kingsbury said Fravel had pushed her down, put her hand on her neck, and said she might “end up like Gabby Petito,” another woman who went missing and was found dead.
David Kingsbury told the court shortly after the incident, he offered to pick Kingsbury and the children up, and the family met at a restaurant.
When David Kingsbury saw Madeline, he said she wasn’t as frantic — and when he brought up filing a police report, she declined, but stayed at his home for three days.
A screenshot from Sept. 2021 was found on Kingsbury’s phone of text messages between Kingbury and a contact named “Adam.” The message said that she was not okay with him putting his hands around her neck in front of their kids.
The response from Adam said “You’ll adjust.”
Fravel’s defense pointed out that the actual text messages were not found on the phone, just the screenshot.
Shortly before her death, the Kingsburys discussed a “permanent breakup” with Fravel, he added, as Madeline had begun seeing another man named Spencer Sullivan.
Sullivan testified before he and Kingsbury started dating, she was “torn” about what to do in her relationship with Fravel because of their two kids.
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Fravel’s defense pointed out that Kingsbury had only dated the new individual for a couple of weeks before she went missing March 31.
Sullivan testified on Tuesday that Kingsbury told him Fravel had security cameras throughout the home and had gone through her phone.
Kingsbury began looking for a new place to live with her kids in the beginning of March, just weeks before she went missing.
Fravel’s hearing will continue on Wednesday.