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Missing Mom Madeline Kingsbury’s Body Found By Highway, Ex-Boyfriend Charged with Murder (UPDATED)
“We're thankful to be able to bring Maddi home to her family," Winona County Police Chief Tom Williams said.
Madeline Kingsbury’s body has been recovered more than two months after the Minnesota woman mysteriously vanished.
Updated Monday, June 12 with further information about the charges Adam Fravel is facing.
On Wednesday, Winona County Police announced human remains had been found in some brush along Highway 43 near the town of Mabel, Minnesota, near the border of Iowa. Officials later confirmed the remains belonged to Kingsbury. The area had been searched before, however, investigators didn’t locate Kingsbury then because her body had been hidden, authorities said.
Kingbury’s former partner, Adam Fravel was taken into police custody following the grim discovery. He was charged with second-degree murder and is being held on a $2 million unconditional bond, according to ABC News.
"Unfortunately while this discovery is not what we were hoping for, we're thankful to be able to bring Maddi home to her family," Winona County Police Chief Tom Williams told reporters on Thursday. "The family never gave up. Law enforcement never gave up. The community never gave up."
The location where her remains were found is close to Fravel’s property. Investigators made the discovery while chasing a public tip. Kingsbury's body was found with a knotted towel wrapped around her head and neck; she had been wrapped in a bed sheet taken from her home, according to a criminal complaint, cited by ABC News.
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Former Dakota County deputy attorney Phillip Prokopowicz, is overseeing prosecution of the case.
Kingsbury's family reacted in a statement to Fravel’s arrest by saying that they believe "the correct person has been arrested.”
Supporters of the family, who were present at Thursday’s news conference, wore T-shirts with Kingsbury's picture on them in commemoration of the slain Minnesota mom.
"It's going to be a rough one," Katie Kolka, a friend of Kingsbury, said of a potential murder trial.
Kingsbury was last seen at her property in Winona, Minnesota on March 31. She was reported missing after not showing up to work and after she failed to pick her kids up from daycare. Her wallet and cell phone were found in her van, which was parked in the driveway of her house. Investigators initially deemed her disappearance “suspicious.” The missing persons case drew hundreds of public tips, however, for months, here whereabouts remained a mystery.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by ABC News, Fravel told authorities that the couple had lived together, but recently separated and were in the process of seeking separate homes when Kingsbury went missing. He told investigators that she had started a relationship with another man.
In the complaint, authorities also cited a message from Kingsbury to Fravel mentioning an act of alleged domestic violence.
"You know I am not really OK with or over the fact that you put your hand around my neck and pushed me down in front of the kids earlier…" the message said. It's not clear when that message was dated.
The mother of two would have celebrated her 27th birthday on June 1, CBS News reported. On Monday, Fravel petitioned the court for custody of the couple’s two children, aged 2 and 5. Since Kingsbury’s disappearance, her children had been placed in “relative foster care" with their grandparents. Fravel’s custody request was ultimately denied by the court.
Fravel is being held at a Winona County detention facility, according to online jail records obtained by Oxygen.com.
