MANKATO, Minn. — Jurors returned to a Blue Earth County District courtroom Wednesday after four days off to hear closing arguments in the murder trial of Adam Fravel.
KARE 11's Lou Raguse has covered the case of Maddi Kingsbury's disappearance and murder extensively and is in court for Wednesday's closing arguments. After hearing the defense present its case in less than three hours Friday, the jury panel was given Monday and Tuesday off to take part in the election of 2024.
11:40 a.m.
Fravel’s defense attorney Zach Bauer followed Prokopowicz’s 100-minute closing argument with an 80-minute closing of his own, focusing on what he described as “tunnel vision, revisionist history, and secret truths” that plague the state’s case.
Bauer accused investigators of having tunnel vision and focusing on Adam Fravel as Kingsbury's killer "from the get-go." When law enforcement came upon evidence that didn't fit their narrative - like vomit discovered outside the townhouse not being tested, or a witness seeing a person waving in the driveway who was not Fravel during the time window of Maddi's disappearance - Bauer told the jury panel it was promptly disregarded.
Bauer insinuated that Maddi’s friends lied in their testimony about abuse they said she either told them about, or witnessed themselves.
“Her friends, in an effort to change this, told stories not supported by [text messages or emails,]” Bauer said. “The only people who saw these marks, which are people who have no history of saying anything about it electronically, and they dislike Adam Fravel a ton. And it permeates from them when they testify.”
Bauer’s biggest criticism of law enforcement involved the location where Maddi’s body was found more than two months after her disappearance. He said the evidence and testimony raise doubt that Kingsbury's body was deposited in that location on the day she disappeared, insinuating either she was killed later or the body was moved at some point.
“Madeline Kingsbury’s body being in that culvert on March 31? That is not reasonable. That should be the easiest thing for you to determine. You know why? There’s about five different people in that area from March 31 to April 7. We heard different versions of how well [officers] did their jobs or didn’t do their jobs,” Bauer told jurors. “We know the focus was on Highway 43 from the jump. ‘This is where we believe Madeline Kingsbury’s body is going to be found.’ It was a known fact that law enforcement believed and put all their effort into these areas.”
Following the emphasis prosecutor Phil Prokopowicz put on Fravel’s motive for the crimes, Bauer attempted to poke holes in the theories of control, jealousy, and Fravel’s financial dependence on Maddi. Responding to the prosecution's assertions of Fravel's controlling behavior, Bauer said Maddi's own sister Megan testified that it was "awkward, not mean," and pointed to Kingsbury's walks around the lake with new boyfriend Spencer Sullivan as proof that "Madeline Kingsbury was able to do what she wanted."
The defense also disputed the fact that Fravel was financially dependent on Maddi, insisting that he derived no benefit from her death and was planning on moving back in with his parents.
Bauer concluded his closing argument by acknowledging that the defendant is a flawed individual but maintained that prosecutors have not proved he is a murderer.
"The state has not met its burden in this case. They have not vanquished all reasonable doubts. Rather, those doubts are actually at every corner," Bauer told jurors. Bauer said. “Adam Fravel started with cloak of innocence, and after the quality of evidence that has come in this case, the state has not removed that cloak.”
9 a.m.
The courtroom was packed as jurors were led into the courtroom to listen to prosecutors and Fravel's defense teams make their final arguments. Maddi Kingsbury's family and friends grouped on one side, while Fravel's family and supporters sat directly behind him and the defense table.
Lead prosecutor Phil Prokopowicz opened by thanking jurors and giving a detailed explanation on the concept of reasonable doubt, also touching on the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence, which the state's case is largely built on.
“Law does not prefer one form over another. Direct evidence is just as good as circumstantial,” Prokopowicz told the panel. “There is only one reasonable conclusion you can draw... that Adam Fravel is guilty of all crimes with which he is charged.”
Prokopowicz spent significant time drilling down on testimony from people about the troubled relationship between the defendant and Kingsbury. He referred to testimony about abusive language used by Fravel, multiple instances of marks being seen on Maddi's neck and one witness who testified she was talking to Kingsbury on Facetime and allegedly saw the defendant backhand her across the face during an argument about the house being a mess.
The prosecution then brought up Fravel's reported obsession with the case of Gabby Petito, a young woman who was killed by her boyfriend during a cross-country camping trip. Prokopowica reminded jurors about testimony from members of Kingbury's family about her telling them Fravel brought up the Petito case, then walked up behind her and wrapped his hands around her throat.
Fravel reportedly said it was just a joke, but Maddi packed up and left the home for a number of days.
“As I said earlier, from the outset of the relationship between Maddi Kingsbury and Adam Fravel, it was never about them, it wasn’t about the children. It was about him and what he wanted. Prokopowicz insisted. "His efforts to control the relationship. Physical violence. Emotional manipulation.”
The state then focused on Maddi's growing relationship with a new partner, Spencer Sullivan, and Fravel's loss of power as Maddi took steps to end their partnership. He was jealous, unemployed, would have to move back in with his parents and realized that life as he knew it was ending, Prokopowicz told the jury panel.
"No longer would his degrading comments work. The slapping of her face, shoving into the counter, strangulation. No longer would he be able to play on her emotions and sense of guilt." Prokopowicz stated. "The relationship was no longer about him and he was damned if he was going to let her do this to him, to take his kids and take his life from him. His anger swelled... with lingering and hovering. No other man was going to raise his kids. It’s rational and reasonable that Adam Fravel's self-centeredness, possessiveness, jealousy, and anger caused him to strike out against the only person who was the cause of it all. Maddi Kingsbury. Who else had the motive? There was no one but the defendant Adam Fravel."
Prokopowicz ended by laying out a collection of physical evidence that, while circumstantial, points to Fravel as Maddi's killer, according to investigators - A towel found wrapped around Maddi's head across her nose and mouth, identical to a towel captured in a picture of the couple's bathroom; a sheet Kingsbury's remains were found in that resembled one missing from an air mattress set up in their home; and surveillance cameras that were operational on March 24 but disconnected March 29 and found in the couple's garage.
The defense was poised to deliver its closing arguments following a break late Wednesday morning.
Fravel is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two of second-degree murder in the death of Maddi Kingsbury, his former partner and mother of Fravel's two children. Maddi was last seen the morning of March 31, 2023 when she and Fravel dropped their daughter and son off at daycare. She was reported missing later that day. After weeks of massive searches in southeastern Minnesota, Kingsbury's remains were discovered on June 7 in a remote area near Mabel, not far from the home of Fravel's parents.