Law&Crime Sidebar - Missing Minnesota Mom Madeline Kingsbury’s Ex-Boyfriend Arrested After Dead Body Found

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Minnesota mother Madeline Kingsbury vanished after dropping her kids off at daycare on March 31. Kingsbury was reportedly planning on leaving the father of her children, Adam Fravel, before her disappearance, which investigators described as “involuntary and suspicious.” Kingsbury’s body was found Wednesday and Fravel was arrested in just two days. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy breaks it down with retired NYPD sergeant Joseph L. Giacalone.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergWriting & Video Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaDevil In The DormThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. This morning, the Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner's office performed an autopsy. Law enforcement has confirmed the remains are those of Madeline The search for missing mom, Madeline Kingsbury, ends in Minnesota, the father of her two children now behind bars. We have the latest on this tragic story. They did publicly confirm that the remains that were found belong to my sister, Madeline. Welcome to Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. I'm Angenette Levy. Police in Winona, Minnesota had been searching for Madeline Kingsbury since the end of March.

Police and her family said she didn't show up for work on March 31st and didn't pick up her children, ages five and two, at daycare that day. Adam Fraval, the father of the children, didn't have custody of them. He's being held at the Winona County Jail on a second-degree murder charge. Unfortunately, while this discovery is not what we were hoping for, we are thankful to be able to bring Maddie home to her family. Her body was found by a Fillmore County investigator on a remote stretch of road off Highway 43 north of Mabel at approximately 1.30 p.m. yesterday afternoon. Madeline's family searched for her along with volunteers. Her sister Megan posted on TikTok after her sister's remains were found. there's still a lot that we can't say we still have to be extremely cautious um you know we've been saying we don't want to jeopardize the investigation and that's still true um we you know

from the beginning thought that adam had something to do with it and so we think that the right person is in custody and we're confident that he will get the punishment that he deserves. Joining me to discuss the disappearance of Madeline Kingsbury and the fact that now her remains have been found is Joe Jackalone. He is a retired sergeant with the New York City police department's cold case squad also an adjunct professor at the john j college department of criminal justice and he's been on before with on sidebar here so joe welcome back thanks for coming back on thanks for having me this seems like a case that unfolded pretty quickly madeline was reported missing march 31st she didn't pick up the kids at daycare and it seems like police are saying

all roads led to the father of her two children. Her remains were found throughout the course of the investigation using some data. So your thoughts. Yeah, it's a sad ending to a case, but it's not unusual in the respect that when somebody disappears or somebody is killed, specifically when you have a husband-wife situation

or a significant other, all the tension goes to that other person. And it's just, why? Because most people are victimized by someone they know. When you have a situation like this, the police start leading right into that. And they start doing their homework and they start putting a case together. It's just as simple as that. Madeline was reported missing on March 31st, April 1st, somewhere in there.

She doesn't show up for work. She doesn't pick the kids up at daycare. She obviously dropped them off. These children are ages five and two. The father of the children, obviously, something must have been going on there. They're really tight-lipped about this. The family always suspected. So what are your thoughts?

Well, we don't know exactly the relationship between the two, right? So if you ask the husband, he would say everything was great, everything was fine. So the other family members might have other clues into this. Now, remember, he was with her when she dropped the kids off. They went, he was the last one seen with her. So that's why I think the police zoned in on him pretty quickly. And remember, in these daycare centers, there's lots of video surveillance. So they actually know who was there and who stepped out of the car.

And, you know, that video might have captured something too. that we don't we are unaware of so i think we see what i refer to as a three forensic coercemen in this case video surveillance internet records and phone records and i think that's what played a big role in these things and you know what those are the things that are going to play big roles in many of these cases in the future too i think it's important that you point that out because adam fravel as i mentioned earlier didn't have custody of the two children the five-year-old and the two-year-old but something led police to him everybody's being really tight-lipped about that But with those internet records, the cell phone records in particular, obviously they were able to pinpoint where Madeline's remains were dumped.

So it sounds like to me, when they're saying, you know, throughout the course of the investigation, we found this location, it sounds like it probably was cell phone data that led them to that area. Probably. I mean, that's what we have to speculate, right? We can think about that. And remember, they probably tracked his whereabouts too through the cell towers in the sea exactly, try to pinpoint that. this down. I mean, they have it down within a few square feet. Like, when I used to do this for a living, it wasn't that close, right? It was a much wider range. Now they have it down within a few feet. And the police also mentioned that there were basically other clues that her disappearance was involuntary. So, I mean, listen, when ladies leave the house, they rarely seldom leave pocketbooks and cell phones and keys and everything like that, because they have to get somewhere, they got to go somewhere with the car or what have you. And what about money? What

about people trying to call them. It's very unusual. Specifically, if I don't know if it's a case in this one, but when somebody has a lot of social media presence and then all of a sudden it just stops or just ends, it's generally a really bad sign. There is a second degree murder charge right now that Adam Fraval is being held on. It says second degree murder. It's not premeditated without intent. So there could be additional charges filed. The police are not commenting on what additional charges could be filed in this case. But second degree murder without intent, what does that tell you about what is being suspected as of now? Well, the police probably are missing that one little piece of evidence to push it over. Now, the police department, remember,

they just put out the initial charges. Now it's up to the district attorney to see if they can do more. And that's generally the case. I know a lot of times people blame the cops for overcharging people in the initial arrest, but that's not the case. Generally, they put cases, they put charges that are much lower, because the DA then has a chance to do this. That's what the DA's job does. They're the expert. They know the rules. They know the laws. And if the police can present them certain evidence, they could just add additional charges. It's not a big deal right now. Where do you see this case going from here? There's so much that can't be said right now. Do you think that we'll learn that more charges will be filed? Or is it just going to all depend on what they find in the autopsy, what they

may find in phone records? I'm assuming there would be a lot of communication. between Madeline and Adams since they shared two children together. Well, absolutely, right? So you have a relationship here. You have that constant communication. But like I said, internet records can prove a thing too, right? We saw this up with the Anna Walsh case where somebody was Googling certain things. So I think that might play a role in this.

But also, just from the perspective from the police department, it appears as if they have their man. They've established probable cause. District attorney is on board with these cases from the very beginning when you have a missing person's case where it ends up to be a hominical. side. So we had, we used to call them the writing DA. They'll write along with it. They're right there. They can help us with subpoenas and help us get warrants and the like. So police department generally, when you have these cases, are not acting within their own discretion

per se. They have the district attorney. And remember, they are the ones that have to prosecute these cases. So if they're comfortable with this, so am I. One thing that stands out to me is the fact that Madeline, thank goodness, was not missing or they were able to find her remains. I would say relatively quickly. It's June now. She was reported missing on March 31st. Somehow they were led to this location. So it seems to me that this may show maybe this wasn't planned.

Maybe this was something that happened. Maybe an argument. I know we're speculating on that. But obviously, he wasn't able, according to the police, he's innocent until proven guilty. He wasn't able to cover his tracks all that much. Well, and there's also been, according to the news, lots of interviews, him so he might have slipped up something he might have said something that the police made note of but they're also i believe they're also referring to a tip that they got and they also

searched that area prior to where the body was found so they were pretty much on top of this in the beginning and i think now they just that one little bit of information brought them back to the scene and they were able to recover her remains but i just think it shows that these cases sometimes take a while to develop and detectives are always working in the background a lot of times people say well how come the cops aren't doing this too fast why to take them so long because you know you're at a disadvantage the only there's only one person that knows exactly where the body is and what happened and that's the killer i mean the victim knows too unfortunately we can't talk to them so this is what you're you're doing you're trying to as the victim in this case and find

to try to put put together at least 48 hours prior to this and maybe they can come up with some sort of motive behind it but unfortunately when you have cases like this where there's custody disputes or disputes in domestic violence and those kind of things, that if that's evident, right, we don't know if that's evident or not. But these are the kind of things that we need to do a better job with in our society, too. I think it's important you point out there that only one person knows the facts really in the beginning. So many times people are like, what's taking so long? What's taking so long? When someone's reported missing like this, and it seems like people were really on top of this, I mean, Madeline was reported missing

very quickly because A, she didn't show up for work, B, didn't pick the kids up from daycare. So the police knew they, you know, they had a good jump start on this because there wasn't a delay in her being reported missing, but they still are starting from square one and trying to kind of look at her and go out, kind of like a ripple effect if you threw a stone into a body of water. That's kind of how I look at these things. And I think they probably piece this together pretty quickly. Yes, they did. And there will also be some people that will complain that, you know, the police department, you know, acted quickly for whatever reasons. This is, you had evidence of an involuntary disappearance right from the start, right? I mean, not showing up for work

and not showing up to pick up your kids, those are two giant red flags. This is, and the fact that it looks as if she left, you know, her personal belongings behind two. So that would be like three red flags in regards to the involuntary disappearance. And the fact that she was reported missing pretty quickly. And I try to get this, I stress this when I speak to people all the time. There is no such thing as a 48-hour rule or 24-hour rule. As soon as you believe that there's a person in danger, there's someone missing, please report that person missing. And it appears, too, that her family, especially her sister, Mrs. Megan, used social media to kind of keep the word out there about her being missing. So maybe that helped as well.

Joe Jackalone, it's always a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much for coming on to talk with us about this incredibly sadness. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me, again. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime's Sidebar podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel.

I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.