WINONA, Minn. — The defense team for accused murderer Adam Fravel is attempting to gut the state's case against him through a series of motions filed in Winona County Court Friday.
Fravel is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his former partner Maddi Kingsbury, who was also the mother of the couple's two children. Kingsbury disappeared March 31, 2023, and her body was discovered weeks later in a remote wooded area just north of Mabel, Fravel's hometown. He was quickly arrested and charged with second-degree murder, but that was elevated to first-degree murder after Fravel was indicted by a Winona County grand jury.
On Friday, Fravel's attorneys filed a number of motions in the case, asking the judge to:
- Order a new venue for his upcoming trial, maintaining that extensive media coverage in Winona County makes it impossible for Fravel to receive a fair and impartial trial.
- Suppress both evidence recovered from Fravel's smartphone, saying statements made in the search warrant application for the phone were untruthful.
- Throw out a statement Fravel made to Rushford police, alleging that he was never read his Miranda rights.
- Dismiss a state motion to seek an aggravated sentence against Fravel for Maddi's murder, challenging the prosecution's stance that the murder was committed with particular cruelty.
- Negate the grand jury indictment on charges of first-degree murder, alleging that prosecutors presented jurors with insufficient evidence.
Maddi was 26 years old when she was last seen dropping off her son and daughter at daycare with Fravel the morning of March 31. Friends and family became concerned when they didn't hear from her, and Kingsbury was eventually reported as missing.
Her case captured the hearts of people across the nation and the globe. Massive searches were conducted, with volunteers and law enforcement fanning out to search miles of remote country in southeastern Minnesota. Eventually, investigators used Fravel's phone records to track his movements in the days following Maddi's disappearance, and her body was discovered in some brush off Highway 43 just north of Mabel.
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