Months before Madeline Kingsbury was last seen alive, she allegedly sent friends text messages detailing a terrifying comment made by her ex-boyfriend, who is now a suspect in her murder, according to newly unsealed arrest warrants in her case. of murder.
Days before she went missing, she also visited a friend in the hospital and gave him a revealing message, the arrest warrants reportedly revealed.
The arrest warrants, reported by NBC affiliate station KARE 11, offer a first look inside the investigation that stumped many for weeks as Kingsbury’s death made national headlines.
Kingsbury, a 26-year-old mother of two, disappeared in March before her body was discovered 69 days later. Her ex-boyfriend, Adam Fravel, 29, is now facing charges in her murder.
“I WOULD END LIKE GABY PETITO”
According to KARE 11, recently unsealed arrest warrants showed Kingsbury texted some friends in December saying Fravel told her she would “end up like Gabby Petito” if she didn’t learn to “import” her.
Petito, an aspiring social media influencer, disappeared on a cross-country trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie in the summer of 2021. The search dominated headlines for weeks before Petito’s body was found on September 19. of 2021 in Wyoming. Later, her cause of death was ruled a homicide, as she died from “manual strangulation,” a coroner said.
According to the report, when police were questioned about the text messages, Fravel told police that he was in love with Petito’s case, but added that his comment was intended as a joke.
Just 30 days before Kingsbury’s disappearance, she also visited a friend who was hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic, where Kingsbury worked. While she was there, the warrants reportedly showed Kingsbury told her friend that “everything is wrong with Adam at the house” and that he had been “beating her a lot for years.” She then gave him a warning.
“If something happens to me, just know that Adam did it. He would never leave my children,” she told her friend, according to her arrest warrants.
KARE 11 reports that the comments and text messages were just part of the evidence reported in the unsealed warrants, which also included claims that Fravel had erased location tracking from his phone and removed surveillance cameras. a day before Kingsbury was last seen.
As for a potential motive, KARE 11 notes that police questioned Fravel’s financial reliance on Kingsbury, who was possibly seeing another man, but added that the couple were also in couples therapy.
“I’m committed to therapy and making it work, so I’m doing the best I can,” Kingsbury wrote to her mother nine days before she disappeared.
Kingsbury, a 26-year-old clinical researcher at Mayo Clinic, had been missing since dropping her children off at daycare on the morning of March 31 in Winona, sparking weeks of massive searches, a widespread investigation and nationwide headlines. .
Police had long said they could not name a person of interest or a suspect in the case, but said they were not believed to pose a threat to the public. Authorities repeatedly said Kingsbury’s disappearance was believed to be “unintentional” and “suspicious.”
Kingsbury’s remains were located 69 days after she went missing on Highway 43 in north Mabel, Minnesota, located about 46 miles south of Winona, after police said “digital evidence collected by investigators” led to Fillmore County agents to the area.
Police were unable to release many details about the tragic discovery and declined to say whether Kingsbury’s body had been moved, how many people were believed to be involved and the condition of the remains.
However, they stressed that his body was found on public roads, hidden and hidden. The Fravel family has property located “several minutes” from where the body was found, police said.
Fravel was later charged with second-degree intentional murder and second-degree unintentional murder, prosecutors said.
“Some of you may be wondering why my office has not charged Mr. Fravel with first degree murder at this time,” Winona County District Attorney Karin Sonneman said at the time of his arrest. “Let me explain the law in Minnesota. To charge with first-degree murder, a prosecutor must present the case to a grand jury, and a grand jury decides whether there is probable cause to support a first-degree murder charge. Because this the case remains an active and ongoing investigation, we may seek additional charges in the future.”
He noted that their charges are “based on evidence that we felt we could prove with some certainty from our perspective.”
“She had a bright future and Mr. Fravel took it away from her,” Sonoman said. “By charging him today with his murder, we intend to hold him accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
An attorney representing Fravel could not immediately be reached for comment.
Before being charged with her murder, Fravel had issued a statement saying he “had nothing to do with Maddi’s disappearance.”
“Over the course of the last 12 days, my family and I have been the subject of a large number of allegations regarding the disappearance of the mother of my children, Maddi Kingsbury,” the statement read, according to NBC affiliate station KARE 11. “During “These past 12 days, I have been cooperative with law enforcement at all times, including sitting down for several interviews with Winona County law enforcement. I had nothing to do with Maddi’s disappearance. I want the mother of my 5 year old and 2 year old to be found and brought home safely. I want that more than anything. The police warned me on April 2 that they would not recommend that I attend press conferences or assist in searches due to security concerns. However, my lack of attendance and silence has been inferred by many as a sign of apathy, or worse. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I want Maddi home and she can be with our two children. God bless you. the Kingsbury family and please bring her home safe and sound.”
