MANKATO, Minn. — Day five of the murder trial of Adam Fravel opened Wednesday with prosecutors trying to detail the search for and discovery of Maddi Kingsbury's body.
Fravel is charged with two counts of first-degree murder involving domestic abuse, and two counts of second-degree murder in Kingsbury's death. Investigators say he killed Maddi after the two dropped their children off at daycare on March 31, 2023, and then buried her remains on a remote property approximately four miles from his parents' home in Mabel, Minnesota.
Maddi's decomposing body was discovered on that property on June 7.
1:15 p.m.
After the lunch break, medical examiner Dr. Zumwalt of the Mayo Clinic returned to the witness stand for a brief cross-examination. Defense attorney Zach Bauer's line of questioning drew attention to the degree of certainty the experienced pathologist was able to reach concerning his cause of death determination.
"Only with 'reasonable medical certainty,'" Zumwalt answered.
"You found no medical evidence of trauma to the face?" Bauer asked.
"I couldn't determine if there was trauma to the face or whether any might have been obscured by decomposition," Zumwalt said.
"I'm not talking about 'might have, I'm talking about if there was any medical evidence of trauma to the face?" Bauer shot back.
"I did not see any," Zumwalt said.
Bauer also clarified with Zumwalt that the bathroom towel was not specifically wrapped around Maddi's neck, but rather across her entire face and neck.
In redirect, prosecutor Christina Galewski refocused the jury's attention to the fact the bathroom towel still could have caused Maddi's death.
"Is there a method of asphyxiation that could occur if a towel covers a person's face and neck? Galewski asked.
"Any time you block the airway where you can't breathe in, you're not going to get oxygen and could be asphyxiated," Zumwalt answered.
"Enough to cause death?" Galewski asked.
"It could," Zumwalt said.
10:15 a.m.
Next to take the stand was medical examiner Dr. Ross Zumwalt, a forensic pathologist with the Mayo Clinic who spent much of his career in New Mexico. Zumwalt told the jury he has testified in court between 400 and 500 times.
The jury was shown graphic photos of a decomposed body that was wrapped in a dark gray bedsheet, one that prosecutors say matched a partial set found in the townhouse rented by Maddi Kingsbury and Adam Fravel. Dr. Zumwalt also testified there was a bathroom towel with blue dot pattern wrapped around Maddi's face and neck in a slipknot.
“How did you know it was a slipknot?” the witness was asked.
“Because I untied it,” Zumwalt replied.
Prosecutors noted that the towel matches one seen in a photo taken in the couple's bathroom on Maddi’s phone that the jury was shown days earlier.
Questioning then turned to the autopsy completed by Zumwalt and the cause of death he listed, which was homicidal violence. Prosecutors asked him about asphyxiation, which Dr. Zumwalt testified can be caused by strangling, choking or smothering, leading to a lack of oxygen. When asked why he listed homicidal violence as Kingsbury's cause of death, the doctor said decomposition prevented him from listing a specific "mechanism" of death.
"Likely cause of death? I think asphixial cause of death is most likely but I don’t know if caused by compression of chest, blocking of airway, compression of neck, I don’t know what the exact mechanism would have been," Zumwalt explained.
"... I thought it was a death at the hands of another person and I called it homicidal violence,” he added.
The doctor went on to say that he believes Maddi was asphyxiated because there were no other signs of physical trauma like stab wounds, gunshot wounds or obvious broken bones. Zumwalt told the jury he excluded natural and toxicological causes.
Prosecutors drilled down on the role the towel played in Maddi's death.
"It was tight," Zumwalt testified.
"Tight enough to block airway?" prosecutor Christina Galewski asked.
"It could have. I don’t know if it was tied before or after her death. It could have obstructed her breathing," Zumwalt answered.
As the prosecution showed photos of Maddi's body to the jury, Dr. Zumwalt emphasized how difficult the level of decomposition made his findings.
“I cannot determine whether she had any injury prior to the decomposition or not,” Zumwalt testified.
9:15 a.m.
KARE 11's Lou Raguse has covered this case extensively and was in the courtroom in Mankato. He reported the first witness called by prosecutors Wednesday was Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conservation officer Mitch Boyum.
Boyum was asked about an April 23 search coordinated with the owners of the property where Kingsbury's remains were later discovered. The officer told the jury panel that he searched the property that day and found nothing, only to later learn that Maddi had been found on June 7 in a spot he missed.
“I did not know that culvert was there,” Boyum said.
Raguse reported the prosecution tried to emphasize for jurors that the body was very well hidden and to head off implications from the defense that Kingsbury's remains might have been moved at some point by someone other than Fravel.
In cross-examination, defense attorney Zach Bauer tried to show jurors just how close conservation officer Boyum was to the spot where Maddi's body was later found as he approached a gate on the property.
"How close would you have been?” Bauer asked.
"Feet," Boyum answered.
In redirect, prosecutors attempted to make clear to jurors that Maddi's body was so well concealed that law enforcement professionals were searching just feet from it and didn’t see it.
“Trees and logs on the ground would seem ordinary and not caught your attention?” prosecutor Christina Galewski asked.
“Correct,” Boyum answered.
This story will be updated throughout the day as testimony continues.