MANKATO, Minn. — Jurors in the murder trial of Adam Fravel Monday morning saw a video of Maddi Kingsbury dropping off her children at daycare on March 31, 2023, the last known time that anyone saw her... besides her killer.
In the doorbell video introduced by prosecutors, Maddi is seen walking into the daycare with her two young children and Fravel, whom she was no longer partners with but still lived within Winona. In the video, Maddi wore a dark turtleneck sweater and a two-toned fluffy brown coat with lapels. “Sorry we’re late,” Kingsbury announced as they walked through the door at the daycare.
The video then shows Fravel hanging up the kids’ coats on hooks before he and Maddi walk out of the daycare together.
Daycare provider Brooke Pelowski took the stand and testified that it was not unusual for Maddi and Fravel to drop off the kids together. She did, however, tell the jury panel that she noticed something different when Fravel came back to pick up the kids later that afternoon.
Pelowski testified that on the rare occasions that Fravel would pick up the kids alone, his daughter would immediately ask, “Where’s Mommy?”
“He would always reply, ‘She’s on her way back home from work, honey, we’ll see her soon,’” Pelowski explained.
But at 4:21 p.m. on the day Maddi disappeared, Pelowski observed a different response when Fravel showed up alone.
“On that day, [the daughter] asked, of course, ‘Where’s Mommy?’ And he (Fravel) answered, ‘Let’s go to Grandma’s,’ which he’s never answered that way,” Pelowski testified.
Next on the stand Monday morning was Winona Police Sgt. Steven Rysted, who answered questions about the daycare video exhibits as well as what he observed about Maddi’s minivan when the investigation began.
Sgt. Rysted pointed out that in the daycare video, Fravel was wearing dark gray sweatpants, a white jacket, a red hunter’s cap and white tennis shoes when he dropped off the kids with Maddi. Later when he picked them up alone, he wore the same outfit but with brown boots instead of white shoes.
While showing the jury photographs of Maddi’s minivan, Sgt. Rysted testified that he noticed mud on the driver’s side door handle.
In interviews with police, Fravel said that he used Maddi’s van that day to run errands after dropping off the kids at daycare.
After a break for lunch, prosecutors called Jeremy Loechler to the stand. Loechler, who lived next door to Fravel and Kingsbury's Winona townhouse, testified that around 9:30 a.m. on the morning Maddi disappeared he noticed something out of the ordinary.
“I noticed the van, which was Madeline Kingsbury’s van, was backed into the driveway that day. And it was not typical for them to do so. They pulled in forward instead of backing in,” Loechler told the courtroom.
Fravel is charged with four counts of murder in Maddi's death, two first-degree and two second-degree. His trial is being held in Mankato after Judge Nancy Buytendorp ruled the trial should be moved from Winona County due to extensive pre-trial publicity.
Kingsbury was last seen dropping her young son and daughter off at daycare in Winona on the morning of March 31, 2023. She was reported missing by family and friends later that day. Maddi's decomposing remains were found south of Winona 68 days later. The medical examiner eventually concluded she died of homicidal violence, likely asphyxiation.
KARE 11's Lou Raguse was in the Blue Earth Country Courtroom for the third day of testimony in Fravel's murder trial. He'll have the latest on Monday evening's broadcasts.