True Crime with Kendall Rae - He Said She’ll End Up Like Gabby Petito, Then She Disappears: The Case of Madeline Kingsbury
Episode Date: November 21, 2024In March 2023, Madeline Kingsbury dropped her two kids off at daycare. When she stopped answering her mother and sister, and failed to pick the kids up later on, her family knew something was wrong. H...er body was discovered just two months later in a field on her ex boyfriend, Adam Fravel’s family property. National Domestic Violence Hotline: https://www.thehotline.org/ GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/LTWHmadeline Facebook: / finding-madeline-kingsbury-100091790613142 Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: Skylight Frame Uncommon Goods Laundry Sauce - For 15% off your order, head to LaundrySauce.com/KENDALL and use code KENDALL. Rocket Money Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - kendall@INFAgency.com
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Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae.
Thank you so much for joining me today and if you are new then welcome. I'm happy to have you So guys today we're gonna be talking about a case that has been in the news a lot recently
So many of you may have heard of it
Trial just wrapped up when I am recording this episode. So I'm very eager to let you know what happened
we're gonna be talking about Madeline Kingsbury, an amazing woman, and we're going to be talking
about Adam Fravel, in my opinion, one of the biggest losers on the face of the planet.
Madeline or Maddie, as she was referred to by most of her friends and family, was an
amazing young woman, an amazing young mother who was doing big things with her life and
really carrying the weight for the family.
When Adam really, in my opinion, and just by fact, wasn't really doing shit.
This case happened fairly recently and at first Maddie was a missing person,
but eventually they did locate her remains.
And like I said, this is going to be a deep dive, so we're going to be going over a lot.
So I want to just jump in and I want to start out by telling you about what an incredible person
Maddie was. So Madeline Jane Kingsbury was born on June 1st, 1996 in Winona, Minnesota to her
parents, David and Krista. And she was the baby of her family. She had two siblings, Megan and
Stephen. I had personally never heard of Winona, Minnesota and from what I have seen it is a very beautiful place and
from what I can tell after doing research for this episode
it seems like a wonderful community and it's actually where Winona Ryder is from which I thought was a cool little fact there.
Now when I look into a victim's life,
sometimes it's difficult to find information about them.
And you guys know, I like to find as much as I can
and tell you about who they were as a person
when they were alive as possible,
because I think that is just as important
as the information regarding their murder.
And when researching this case,
I actually was able to find quite a bit of information
about Maddie and I found some beautiful words
that were written about her that I want to share with you now.
From an early age, it was obvious that she was special.
By the time that she was two, she was stringing large sentences and complex thoughts together.
People would take notice and couldn't help but ask with exclamation, how old is she?
She could definitely talk and talk and talk, carrying on conversations for hours.
When she was young, she'd follow you around the house, chattering away. Actually, she's always done that, not
just when she was little. As many of you also know, she also loved to sing and did
so beautifully. Mommy, daughter, sister, aunt, niece, cousin, friend, colleague, and
co-conspirator. She was many things to many people. Big smile and big heart.
That's Madeline.
And the more I dug into who Maddie really was, the more impressed I became.
She graduated from Farmington High School and went on to attend Winona State University
where she was an incredibly well-liked person and an outstanding student.
Loved ones described her as kind, caring, a little bit quirky, and a loyal friend with
a great sense of humor.
She was one of those people who was naturally very warm to others and really approached
life with a positive attitude.
And above all else, it really seems that Maddie was known for her love of family and not just
the family that she was born into, but the family that she grew into.
Maddie's parents actually didn't stay together
and ended up recoupling,
and she grew to love the new additions to her family,
including her step-parents as well as her step-siblings.
And then while she was still in college,
Maddie actually started a family of her own.
At Winona State University,
she ended up meeting a guy named Adam Fravel,
and the two of them got pregnant
with their first child, a daughter.
They never actually got married, but the two of them decided to be together and to raise
their baby girl.
Adam even ended up dropping out of school so that he could get a job and support their
family while Maddie finished her degree.
And to be honest, from what I was able to gather, in the beginning, their relationship
was actually pretty decent.
Maddie's family felt that Adam really loved
her and that he was, you know, taking all the right steps to try and be a good family
man. But that all seemed to change after they had their second child, a boy. And that's
when her family said things just kind of derailed from there. Adam lost his job in the pandemic
and he quickly became financially dependent on Maddie
who by the way was taking on almost all of the responsibilities of parenting while working full
time and while in school to get her master's degree. In 2023 Maddie was a student at the
University of Minnesota in an advanced master's program while also working as a clinical research
coordinator at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
And I think we can all agree that juggling all of that while still parenting and being
the main parent is extremely impressive.
I mean, her kids were five and two years old at the time, and she managed to be this totally
hands on parent while also making sure to pursue her
education and to pursue her dreams.
But Adam on the other hand, like I said, big loser energy because despite not having a
job himself, he seemed to take a more hands-off approach to parenting.
He was studying to get his pilot's license, but comparatively speaking, Maddie just had
a lot more on her plate
and is said to have been far more involved
with the kids on top of that.
And her loved ones say that she often confided in them
about how the responsibilities often fell on her
for everything.
And she actually confided in them about many things
that are much worse than that,
but we will get to that later.
But first, I really wanna stress how loved she was, how hardworking she was, and despite the fact that her life was cut short,
how big of an impact she made on everyone that she met. Maddie was said to be someone who
never stopped laughing and also loved to make other people laugh.
She would make places and people feel better than when she found them.
She was truly an incredible role model to both of her kids and she is deeply missed by her friends
and family every single day. Which brings me to March 31st, 2023. The last day that anyone
heard from her. Now that day was a Friday and it was a totally typical day.
Maddie and Adam took the kids to daycare around 8 a.m. and surveillance footage shows the two of
them walking in with the kids for a drop off. And then after dropping the kids off we believe that
Maddie's plan was to go home and then drive into the Mayo Clinic because Fridays were typically the
day that she was in office. However after 8 15 a.m., when she sent her sister Megan a final text message laughing
about a photo from the night before, Maddie was never heard from again.
And by that evening, Maddie's mom became increasingly concerned because it just wasn't
like her daughter to not respond to her texts or calls all day.
So Christa at that point ends up reaching out to Megan to
see if maybe she had heard from her and she hadn't. So in true big sister fashion, she
goes ahead and sends Maddie a text saying, hey, mom is trying to reach you. Can you give
her a call back? And when that goes unanswered, Megan started to realize that her mom was
right. So she decides to reach out to Adam thinking that if anyone had heard from her it'd
probably be him right? But apparently he also hadn't heard from Maddie since that morning and
he even said that Maddie didn't pick up the kids from daycare that day like they had planned. So
he said that he just ended up getting the kids and taking them to his parents house in Mabel Minnesota
which is about an hour south.
Megan then reached out to Maddie's best friend, Katie, hoping that maybe she could help.
Maybe she knew where she was.
And since Megan didn't live in Winona, she asked Katie if she wouldn't mind, you know,
running over there and see if Maddie was at the house.
And she did.
And despite her blue minivan being parked in the driveway, when she knocked on the door, nobody answered.
And at that point, they realized
they needed to get police involved.
So at 8.20 PM, Katie ended up calling
the Winona Police Department saying
that she was worried about Maddie,
and she wanted someone to come by
and perform a wellness check.
And she also shared that Maddie had been recently
having issues with Adam, the father of her two children.
And like I mentioned, a lot of the focus in today's episode will be on those issues,
but for now, let's just keep going through the timeline.
So an officer ends up meeting up with Katie at Maddie's house and essentially came to the same conclusion that she did,
which was that Maddie's car was there, but there didn't appear to be any sign of Maddie herself,
even after knocking on the door and peering through the windows.
An officer also ended up speaking on the phone that night
with her dad, and he confirmed that this behavior
was super uncharacteristic of her.
They even spoke on the phone with Adam,
who seemed to confirm that nobody had heard from her all day.
And he also told the officer
that she hadn't responded to any of his texts that day,
and that she failed to pick up the kids from daycare.
And then once again, he explained what I explained to you earlier to the officers that he just
went ahead and picked up the kids from daycare and then brought them over to his parents
house.
Now it's been reported that they weren't able to file a missing persons report just
yet since it hadn't been 24 hours, which of course we all know is total bullshit.
Never let law enforcement tell you that it's so frustrating that this still happens.
I will never understand.
But anyway on the following day on April 1st, the report was filed and the Winona PD jumped right into action.
On the morning of April 1st, 2023, Krista and Megan went to the police station to file the report.
And they provided a lot more context to the situation.
Context that made Maddie's lack of communication a lot more suspicious.
They informed officers that Maddie and Adam were actually in the process of splitting up and the
week prior she told them that her plans had changed because I guess initially she had told
Adam that she was going to find an apartment close to where Adam's
Parents lived because Adam was planning on moving in with them because of his financial difficulties
And at first her plan was to live somewhere nearby for the sake of their kids
But a week prior to her going missing she let him know that she had changed her mind and she was actually going to stay
In Winona and that was partially going to stay in Winona.
And that was partially because she didn't want the kids to have to change daycare,
she didn't want to, you know, mess up their routine,
but it was also because she just loved Winona.
And another reason, I'm guessing, is because she had just started a new relationship.
Now, I want to be clear because Adam's family has tried to spin it differently.
There was no cheating going on at all.
Maddie and Adam had been broken up for a while.
And even though Maddie and Adam were still living together,
which many people, even though they're in the process
of a breakup, still lived together,
especially when there are kids involved, right?
And during that time, while they were broken up
and still living together,
she reconnected with someone from college,
a guy named Spencer and Maddie was really happy
and so was he.
But anyways, Megan and Krista were very honest
with officers about all of this
and the fact that she had moved on
and about the fact that Adam was emotionally abusive
and controlling of Maddie.
Adam allegedly wouldn't let her talk to Spencer
when he was around,
and he made her show him all of their text messages,
but that actually wasn't the worst of it.
Officers learned that once Adam had pinned Maddie down,
put his hands around her throat,
and told her that if she didn't listen up,
she was gonna end up like Gabby Petito.
Now that's one thing you gotta know about Adam Fravel,
is he had a weird obsession, I would say, with the Gabby Petito. Now that's one thing you gotta know about Adam Fravel is he had a weird obsession, I would say,
with the Gabby Petito case.
And I will be getting more into that later on.
So one really hard part of parenthood for me
has been the fact that my mom lives in a different state.
I know she feels like she's missing out
on a lot of big moments.
And one way that I've been able to give her a little bit of joy and a little bit
of my daughter every day is by gifting her a skylight frame. I've actually
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And another thing they learned was that Maddie had plans that day, April 1st, to go visit
her sister.
She and her daughter were going to go see Megan.
And Maddie was not someone who just canceled plans, especially without saying anything.
And so that fact immediately led her loved ones to believe that her disappearance
was not voluntary. So later that day, a search warrant was executed on Maddie and Adam's house.
But despite being cluttered and a bit messy, there was no sign of a struggle.
However, there were a few important discoveries that were made.
Some of these discoveries had immediate significance.
Some of them, you know, took a while to actually connect
to her disappearance.
For now, and we'll go over the rest later,
I wanna go over what actually did have
immediate significance.
First of all, they found Maddie's cell phone,
her purse, and her jacket,
which she was seen wearing the morning before
when she dropped the kids off at daycare. And they also found her jacket, which she was seen wearing the morning before when she dropped the kids off at daycare and
they also found her laptop which she used to work from home.
And I think we can all agree that all of these are things that you would not expect to find if someone had just
left voluntarily. So of course these items were then collected and while investigators worked on getting a warrant to extract the data from her
phone and her laptop, Adam was spoken to yet again.
On April 1st and April 2nd, Adam was spoken to by investigators and they had first spoken
to him at his parents' house and then the second time they spoke to him was at the Rushford
Police Department.
That first conversation that they had with Adam at his parents' house was definitely
more on the casual side.
However, the second conversation they had with him
at the police department was anything but casual.
And now I want to share with you Adam's version
of what happened on March 31st.
Keep in mind, this is his version of the story.
So he said that that day,
after dropping the kids off at daycare around 8 a.m.,
that he and Maddie drove back home.
When they got home, Maddie went downstairs to take a meeting and then after that she was planning on
driving into work, which he says was the last time he saw her. And as for his day, Adam explained
that because their relationship was ending, he had been putting a ton of his stuff into boxes.
Some of these boxes full of his belongings he was planning to bring
to his parents' house and then some of the boxes he was planning to bring to a storage unit. So
after Maddie went downstairs to work, Adam says that he went to the gas station to fill up her
minivan and then went back home to load up his boxes. He said that he was borrowing her car for
the day to drive all those boxes to his parents' house, and that he had left her his car so that she could drive to work.
He then goes on to explain the route that he drove, which was south on Highway 43 towards
Mabel.
Which is important to remember, okay?
South on 43 towards Mabel.
The thing is though, Adam claims that when he got to the town of Choice, Minnesota, about
45 minutes into his one hour drive, he said he realized that when he got to the town of Choice, Minnesota, about 45 minutes into
his one hour drive, he said he realized that he had accidentally put the boxes that were meant for
the storage unit into the car. So at that point he turns around and starts driving back to Winona.
And it's also really important to note that he said he didn't make any stops during this trip.
Okay. So then when he arrives back at home around 12 p.m.
He sees that his car is still in the driveway.
So he assumed that Maddie had, you know, carpooled with someone into work.
And he actually texted her a few times that morning,
one of which was when he came home and saw that his car was still there.
And then he says that he went back inside and Maddie wasn't home,
although he claims he wasn't worried because he thought she was just at work.
He said the only time he became concerned was when she didn't pick up the kids from daycare,
and so he went and got them and then, like I've been over, went to his parents' house.
And that pretty much sums up what Adam said happened that day, but this is not where his
conversation with investigators ended. Oh no, because they at this point had already uncovered
surveillance footage that disproved a lot of what
he was saying.
And I'll get more into that later, but basically
at this point, investigators tell him, sorry, dude,
we don't believe what you're saying here is true.
And in that same meeting, they end up confronting him
about the allegation that he was obsessed
with the Gabby Petito case.
And Adam just literally admitted to it. And he said that he was infatuated by it not that he was interested in it
He was infatuated by the Gabby Petito case
But he tried to explain that he didn't mean anything by his comment to Maddie about her ending up like Gabby Petito
He said that he was just trying to make a joke
her ending up like Gabby Petito. He said that he was just trying to make a joke. Really dude? A joke? In what world is a joke like that even remotely funny? I mean come on, to even try and
convince them that that was a joke is just, it just shows you what an idiot this guy is. And get this,
Adam also appeared to have fresh scratches on his face and his neck, but he said that they came either from gym equipment,
a cat or a dog maybe.
Bro, bro.
Now believe me when I say there's a lot more to go over
when it comes to Adam, his behavior
and what was learned in those first couple of days.
But before we jump into that,
I wanna go over what was happening publicly
in the case
during this time.
And in those early days and even weeks, the public was pretty much kept in the dark to
protect the integrity of the investigation, which is understandable.
But on Wednesday, April 5th, 2023, a press conference was held by the chief of the Winona
Police Department to share that based on their investigation so far, they believed Maddie's disappearance
was both involuntary and suspicious.
In this press conference,
Chief Williams also shared that surveillance video collected
thus far has given them insight
into the movements of Maddie's vehicle that day.
He shared that a van, similar to the van that Maddie drove,
could be seen driving south on Highway 43
towards Fillmore County. And later,die drove, could be seen driving south on Highway 43 towards
Fillmore County, and later that same vehicle can be seen traveling north on Highway 43
back towards Winona.
And if you remember, Adam claimed to take that same route in Maddie's car.
Interesting.
But this press conference wasn't about exposing Adam's lies.
All the chief said was that Adam had taken a trip in
Maddie's van and that when he returned home Maddie was gone. Just take a listen.
During the course of our investigation we know that Maddie returned to her
residence on Ferry Drive in Winona around 8 15 a.m. on March 31st. The
vehicle that Maddie normally drives is a 2014 dark blue Chrysler Town and Country main van, depicted to my right.
The father of Maddie's children has spoken to law enforcement and told us that he left the residence in Maddie's van around 10 a.m.
and upon returning later in the day, Maddie was not home.
We believe a van similar to Maddie's van
was driven on County Road 12 and Highway 43
in Winona County and then southbound on Highway 43
through the eastern part of Fillmore County.
Later, a van similar to Maddie's
traveled back toward Winona on Highway 43.
All of this occurred between approximately 10 a.m. and 1 30 p.m.
We believe the van remained parked in the driveway of Maddie's residence from 1 30 p.m. on.
Nothing to date has indicated that Maddie left the residence on foot or in another vehicle.
And then later in this press conference, it was also shared that her jacket, phone, wallet,
and ID were found and that areas by her residence and along Highway 43 were being searched.
Inside the residence, investigators located Maddie's phone, the jacket she had been wearing
earlier in the morning, along with her wallet and
ID.
Maddie's family and friends tried to contact Maddie throughout the day on March 31st without
success.
It was unlike her not to respond.
Based on all of this, we believe Maddie's disappearance is involuntary, suspicious, and we are all concerned for her safety.
Law enforcement began searching areas nearby Maddie's residence and along Highway 43 in both
Winona and Fillmore counties. Our search efforts have been ongoing. And when it came to search
efforts in this case, like I said earlier, Winona has a strong
community and people showed out in numbers that we almost never see.
The weekend of April 7th, there were several large-scale search efforts going on with over
2000 volunteers.
The amount of people that came to help perform ground searches was so overwhelming that they
were able to cover all of Winona and about 24 miles south into
Rushford.
There was truly an outpouring of support for Maddie and for the Kingsbury family and I
can only imagine how much this must have meant to them in those times.
Maddie has been described as a daughter of Winona because it's where she was born and
raised and everyone including the mayor made it their mission to find her.
Even her brother Steven who was stationed overseas in active duty, flew home to help
be part of the search.
Now, that massive search was officially called off by April 10th.
However, that was not the end of their search for her.
A $50,000 reward was posted and a press release came out that said they were still actively
looking for Maddie with the help of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Searches by foot, air, and water were still actively going on, especially
the water considering they were right on the Mississippi River. And I also want to give some
major recognition to her sister Megan who jumped right to social media, specifically TikTok, to try
and raise awareness about her sister's disappearance and TikTok can be a great tool for
Families to use so I'm happy they were able to do that
TikTok I need you to do your thing. I need your help. This is my sister
Madeline
Kingsbury, she's missing
This is just very basic info that we've put on flyers and things
around town. This is a good picture of her, how she looks now, short hair etc. I'm
just gonna leave that in the background. It's now Monday, April 3rd. My family and
I are in Winona, Minnesota working with investigators, huge, huge groups of people.
We had a search party of friends, family, and peers.
Go out yesterday, nothing.
If you want maybe some more details, I don't know what's been released yet by police to
media, if anything yet.
You can Google her name. You can look me up
on Facebook, Megan Kingsbury, and my posts about her with her information are shareable
so please share. If you know anyone in Minnesota, in Rochester, Minnesota, La Crosse, Wisconsin,
Mabel, Minnesota, anyone Fillmore County, Minnesota,
anyone around here, especially if it's you
or someone that you know, please share that information.
Help us find her.
She's got two kids.
She's my best friend.
She's my little sister.
We need to get her back.
Please help us.
Megan posted updates on her sister's case
almost every single day and really played a critical role in rallying support for her sister and the rest of their family since the very beginning.
And one thing that I really admire about her is how she kept the focus on Maddie and she held her composure and delivered these TikToks with grace during such a stressful, I mean, unimaginably painful
time.
And of course, you have to keep in mind that their family had their own suspicions and
theories about what had happened.
But at no point did any of them bring any of that in.
They kept the focus on the investigation and on Maddie.
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Uncommon Goods were all out of the ordinary.
The police had not yet named a suspect or person of interest in the case at this point.
And despite wanting to talk about it, they just knew it wasn't what was best for finding
Maddie or getting her justice.
All right, check in.
It's the 24th.
It's the 24th.
It's a Monday.
Still have not found my missing sister,
Madeline, who's been missing since the 31st of March.
If you're new here, I have videos on my page.
You can look up her name on Google, Madeline Kingsbury.
But yeah, we still have not found her
as far as person of interest or a suspect.
Law enforcement has not named anybody as of right now.
So, you know, the questions I get about that,
I can't answer.
I wish I could, but I just, I can't.
But even if they weren't talking about Adam's
possible involvement online, the rumors were
swirling.
Because, and this will not shock you, I'm sure, but at no point did Adam get involved
in any of the search efforts or any of the press conferences at all.
Because of course he didn't.
He did make a brief little pathetic plea on Facebook for anyone to come forward with information, but
other than that, dude was making zero effort.
But of course, he was well aware of the rumors, so on April 12th, he released this statement.
Over the course of the last 12 days, my family and I have been subject to a myriad of accusations
regarding the disappearance of the mother of my children, Maddie Kingsbury.
During the last 12 days,
I have cooperated with law enforcement at every turn,
including sitting down for multiple interviews
with Winona County law enforcement.
I did not have anything to do with Maddie's disappearance.
I want the mother of my five-year-old and two-year-old
to be found and brought home safely.
I want that more than anything.
Law enforcement advised me on April 2nd
that they would not recommend that I attend
press conferences or that I assist in the searches
due to safety concerns.
However, my non-attendance and silence has been inferred
by many as a sign of apathy or worse.
That could not be any further from the truth.
I want Maddie home and for her to be able to be
with our two children.
God bless the Kingsbury family and please bring her home safely.
So from that you can tell the reason he claimed that he wasn't showing up for any searches
or wasn't participating in anything is because law enforcement told him not to.
And guess what?
That is not true.
And we know that because law enforcement released a statement of their own, basically saying,
yeah, we never said that. Maddie's
family also released a statement that day and it reads in part, nothing in life prepares you for
this. The disappearance of our daughter and sister has been a waking nightmare with no respite in the
days and nights since Madeline disappeared. The immediate family and extended family have collectively
and individually been experiencing emotions and trials
that someone who has never been suddenly thrust into this horrific situation could ever imagine.
It then goes on to say,
We will continue to search for Madeline.
We will not give up, and our family will come out of the other side of this forever changed,
but forever grateful for the tireless dedication of so many helpers, friends, and relatives.
People in law enforcement, other first responders, social workers, case workers, legal professionals,
child advocates, and many, many more. And I'm so glad that their family got so much support that
isn't always the case for everyone, but like they said, nothing in life could possibly prepare you
for a situation like this. And Maddie being missing wasn't the only thing
that they were dealing with and fighting for.
They also had to fight for the custody of her kids.
And Adam, of course, did not make that easy.
Right around the time that rumors were swirling
about his involvement, it was reported
that he was uncooperative when handing
over custody of the kids.
Right after Maddie disappeared,
he had both their kids with him at his parents' place.
But it turns out that he never had legal custody
over the kids to begin with
because he and Maddie weren't married.
So four days into her disappearance,
the Department of Health and Human Services
were called to take the kids into their custody.
And of course, Adam put up quite the fight.
Court documents say that he became non-cooperative with officials,
that he locked the children inside the house, and that a social worker could hear him shouting expletives.
He obviously eventually gave the kids over because he had no other choice, but clearly it wasn't willingly.
And after all this, a judge ruled that the kids would remain in the custody of the Kingsbury family.
And that's exactly where they should be if you ask me. And while we're on the topic of Adam and the shit he tried to pull,
I need to start going over what else investigators were able to find out about him and his
relationship with Maddie. So in the midst of trying to find Maddie, investigators turn to her family
and friends to try to learn as much as they could about what was going on in her life of course.
And I did already share some of these details, but there is more. For starters, Megan wasn't the her family and friends to try to learn as much as they could about what was going on in her life, of course.
And I did already share some of these details, but there is more.
For starters, Megan wasn't the only one that knew about Adam's Gabby Petito comment,
the one about if she didn't listen up, she was going to end up just like her.
She had actually confided in several people about this comment and they had begged her
to report him, but she was afraid, understandably,
she was afraid that he would be arrested and she was worried about what effect that would
have on her children.
Maddie also confided in her parents about other times when Adam had choked her and actually
in one instance, her dad and her stepmom drove over to her house and took her and the kids
back to their place where they knew that the three of them would be safe.
But she only stayed for three days because apparently Adam was mad that she left in the first place.
Her father David had actually warned Maddie that he was afraid that he actually may kill her.
And you know, this is not victim blaming in any way, but she definitely minimized what was going on.
It was almost like she was trying to convince herself that that wouldn't happen, that that was
not the reality that she was in. And I think, you know, it's really hard to understand
what it would be like to be in that situation when you have children involved. It makes leaving so
much more difficult. And as we know know she was in the process of leaving
So I do not want to see any victim blaming comments. She should have done this. She should have said that
There's no point it is not helpful and we're just gonna move right along here
And now I actually want to read you a text exchange between Maddie and Adam
I think it's really going to put into perspective how abusive and horrible he was to her.
But before I get into these messages, I just want to let you know, just want to give you
a warning that these are very disturbing, could be very triggering to some of you out
there if you have experienced abuse, know someone who has or are currently experiencing
this type of manipulation and abuse.
And if you are, I am going to have resources in the description box for you.
If you are currently experiencing domestic violence.
Maddie said, you know, I'm really not okay with
or over the fact that you put your hand around my neck
and pushed me down in front of the kids earlier.
So don't, not okay with it at all,
but especially with them there.
And then Adam responded, you'll adjust.
That's right, you'll adjust the nerve of this fucking guy.
So then she responds and says, the fuck I will.
You do that again without asking me
and you can go somewhere else.
And he responded, you got it mother.
And that right there just shows you
how manipulative this man is.
Maddie then says, don't patronize me, that crossed a line.
And Adam goes, then mind.
And Maddie lastly replied by just saying stop.
So yeah, those messages are just absolutely horrific
and really tell you everything you need to know about Adam.
And there are more stories like that actually.
There was a friend of hers who told investigators
that one night they were FaceTiming.
And while they were on the phone FaceTiming,
Adam slapped Maddie in the face.
And what makes it even more upsetting is that apparently
Maddie was holding her daughter when this happened.
She was holding her in one arm FaceTiming with the other
and Adam came in upset about something
and just slapped her across the face.
And that same friend told investigators
that there were multiple times where they were FaceTiming
and she observed bruises on Maddie's face.
And she told them that Adam had threatened to kill her if she ever left him.
Which at this point, that's not surprising to hear at all.
And so just think about that.
He said that if she ever left him, he would kill her.
And what was she in the process of doing when she disappeared?
She was in the process of leaving him. And she was also very vocal in the week
leading up to her disappearance that Adam was making her feel uncomfortable.
She told her mom that he was following her around the house sort of looming
over her and she said that she didn't feel comfortable even being there. So her
mom suggested that she stay at her friend Katie's house and she did end up going
over there for a few hours, but then she went to see Spencer and celebrate his birthday.
And if you need a reminder, Spencer is the guy that she had reconnected with from college.
And it turns out Spencer was actually in the same fraternity with Adam.
He said they never really had many conversations, like he did not know him well. And obviously he knew things about him from Maddie.
But the two of them were really starting to build a beautiful relationship together.
Maddie had, according to him, told him that she loved him and broke my heart
listening to his interviews.
He's talking about how he wishes he had said it back.
And he feels that his future disappeared
the day that she did.
And for anyone wondering,
Spencer has been completely cleared by investigators.
There's no motive, and he had a rock solid alibi.
Adam, on the other hand, not so much, right?
And everything, and I really do mean everything,
was pointing to him being the person
responsible for Maddie's disappearance.
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So let's start going over more of the concrete evidence
against him, okay?
Starting with that video surveillance
that I mentioned earlier,
which contradicted his version of events.
At 9.44 a.m. on March 31st, a neighbor's security camera captured a person in the driveway of Maddie's house,
wearing a light-colored coat, and they can be seen walking up to her minivan and then removing the front license plate.
Interesting.
And then this person can be seen three minutes later putting on a new one. Next at 9.55am,
that same person gets into her van and by 10am, the van is no longer in the driveway.
Then at 10.02am, the same van can be seen at a nearby gas station and someone who matches the description of Adam Fravel
can be seen pumping gas. And if you remember,
Adam told authorities that he had went and
put gas into Maddie's car. Oh, and by the way, when investigators ran the plates, they
were registered to Adam. So in what world would he need to put his plates on her car
to drive boxes over to his parents' house? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, does it?
And when investigators went to their house later that night
after that friend had called for the welfare check,
Maddie's original plates were back on her van.
Okay, I'm sorry, but that is so, so suspicious.
And then next at 10 31 a.m., Maddie's van is seen back in her driveway.
And like we know, Adam said that he came home after getting gas
to load the boxes into her car. Then almost a full hour later at 11 26 a.m. the van is seen
leaving their driveway again. For the next 30 minutes or so a vehicle that matches the description
of Maddie's van is observed on multiple surveillance cameras traveling south on Highway 43 in the direction of Rushford, Choice, and
Mabel.
Which, may I remind you, is the same direction that Adam said he drove her van, leading any
intelligent, reasonable person to assume that the person seen driving the van was Adam himself.
However, according to Adam, he had left his home around 1030 a.m.
and was back by noon to find that Matty wasn't home.
But according to the digital evidence,
he left around 1126 a.m. and wasn't home until about 1 30 p.m.
And that same digital evidence suggests that there was a 45-minute window of time
where the van is just completely unaccounted for.
From 1159 a.m. to 1244 p.m. there is no
footage to suggest where he went or what he did. But what we do know is that at 1244 p.m. the van
was seen traveling in the opposite direction north on highway 43 back towards Winona and then finally at 1 28 p.m Maddie's van is seen pulling back into her driveway and at no point was Maddie ever seen exiting her house
Even though Adam said when he returned she wasn't there so riddle me that
Now I'm sure a lot of you are wondering if at any point Adam was seen or maybe someone else was seen
You know since there was surveillance pointing in that direction, carrying something heavy out of their house.
And right now to my knowledge, I'm not sure to be honest.
That doesn't mean that footage doesn't exist.
It just hasn't been reported on yet.
Now everything that I just shared with you was information investigators were aware of
from very early on.
And as you can imagine, this information informed a lot of where they decided to search. Clearly the van was
headed in the direction of Adams' parents house, but it never quite got
there. It did, however, get as far as Rushford, and so that's where they
focused a lot of their searches. And on June 7th, those search efforts paid off.
That day, a deputy with the Fillmore County Sheriff's Office was searching a rural area
in Fillmore County, and he came across human remains in a culvert wrapped in a gray-fitted
bedsheet.
Now, a culvert is like a pipe or arched tunnel designed to allow water to flow under a road,
and it was in one of those, just off of a gravel road where Maddie
was discovered. Her remains were not only wrapped in a bed sheet but also black gorilla tape had
been used to secure the sheet around her body. A medical examiner later revealed in her autopsy
that a bath towel had also been wrapped around her head and her cause of death was listed only as homicidal violence.
And obviously this was a huge discovery for the investigation,
but it was unimaginably devastating to her loved ones and to the whole community.
I mean, heartbreaking really doesn't even begin to describe it.
Law enforcement has confirmed the remains are those of Madeline Kingsbury.
Audible sobs for Maddie Kingsbury's friends and loved ones Thursday afternoon after law enforcement confirmed their
worst fears had come true. Human remains found in Fillmore
County were positively identified as their beloved
Maddie. Now what's especially interesting about where she was
found is the fact that this road is on a property that had been routinely maintained by one or more members of Adam's family. It wasn't
their property specifically, but it is property that they were all pretty familiar with. And what's
also interesting is that this area had been searched before, but I guess her body had been
concealed in a way that the first time they checked this area, they didn't end up finding her. And I don't think as parents, as siblings, as friends,
as loved ones, as a community that anything could prepare you for a discovery like this.
I mean, of course, their goal had always been to find Maddie, but even as the weeks went by,
they tried to hold out hope that maybe she was still alive.
And now that they knew that she wasn't,
their focus turned 100% to finding her killer.
Thankfully though, an arrest came very quickly.
The same day that Maddie's remains were found,
Adam Frable was arrested at his parents' house
on two counts of second degree murder.
He was held in the Winona County jail following his arrest and his bond was
initially set at one million dollars.
The last 69 days have been frustrating, full of heartache and pain for the
family, law enforcement and the community.
But during this time, the family never gave up.
Law enforcement never gave up. Law enforcement never gave up.
The community never gave up.
And at the end of June, a public memorial service was held at
Winona State University. And just like this community had
showed up for this family in searching for Maddie, they also
showed up big in helping honor her.
Maddie Kingsbury's family and friends
reflecting on her life and her death
at a memorial in Winona.
It was that community that came together
to help find Maddie and bring her home.
And now they are together again,
but this time they are remembering her life
and all the lives that she touched.
Yeah, today our camera stayed outside
out of respect to Maddie's family,
but inside a live stream
captured a lot of emotion.
The path to healing will be long and twisted.
The destination seemingly out of reach.
On the campus of Winona State University, family, friends and strangers from across
southern Minnesota gathered one last time.
For more than two months, they've come together in the search for Maddie Kingsbury. On Sunday the community
gathered again not to search but to mourn. Rightfully so we are angry and
hurt and at times bereft of any feelings at all. We now only recently have been
able to try and grieve and someday heal and it'll take a long time. That's okay.
It's important that
we don't let these feelings overshadow what an absolute gift she was.
Madeline is no longer alone and she's no longer suffering. Madeline's spirit will live on
in her children, her family and friends and in the community here in Winona that she loved
so much. We will forever remain loud for Madeline.
Then in October of that year, Adam was indicted by a grand jury on additional charges, including
two counts of first degree murder in addition to his two counts of second degree murder.
And if convicted, he is set to face a sentence of life in prison without parole and his bail
was reset at $3 million.
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RocketMoney.com slash Kendall Rae. Once again, RocketMoney.com slash Kendall Rae. Now I've already shared a lot of evidence with you, but there's actually more to go
over. So let's get into that. So after Adam's arrest, several sealed documents were unsealed
and released to the public. And I want to go over some of the main findings that I haven't
already talked about. Remember earlier when I said that some of the items
they found in the house ended up having significance later on? Well that evidence ended up being a role
of black gorilla tape as well as a fitted bed sheet that was missing from an air mattress.
And considering that now Maddie had been found wrapped in a fitted bedsheet with black gorilla
tape wrapped around it, they realized that this was connected.
Investigators also believe that they can match the towel wrapped around Maddie's head to
a towel that she and Adam owned.
These unsealed documents also revealed information from a search warrant that was executed on
Adam's parents' house back on April 7th.
And it turns out that investigators
not only found several electronic devices thrown out into a dumpster on the property,
but near that dumpster was a burn pit with what appeared to be a piece of a heavily burned laptop.
Now I'm not entirely sure what evidence was retrieved from that device. However,
it's a burned laptop. A burned laptop is a burned laptop.
It doesn't look good no matter how you spin it.
And then there was this.
10 days after her disappearance,
a neighbor of Adam's parents was going through
their trail cam footage when they spotted Adam
driving a Polaris Ranger UTV near their property
with what appeared to be the handle of a shovel in the bed of
the vehicle.
And after comparing some footage, officers confirmed that the shovel seen on the trail
cam was a match to a shovel seen on body cam footage from their home.
And here's why that matters.
Investigators ended up bringing in two cadaver dogs and both dogs independently alerted in
the bed of the UTV
as well as on that shovel.
Now his family has tried to make excuses for this and it pisses me off because it is just
so ridiculous on so many levels, but they tried to say that that is because that week
Adam's dad had moved a dead raccoon with that same shovel
and that's why the dogs had alerted on it.
But these dogs are trained to alert on human remains.
Now, one of the next big things outlined in these documents
is the fact that Adam appeared to go to great lengths
to conceal his location
starting the day before she went missing.
On March 30th, it turns out Adam had turned off
the geolocation tracking feature on his phone,
as well as the location services
for each of his four Gmail accounts.
And get this, Adam had removed the home security system
that he had installed in him and Maddie's house,
as well as the home security system
that was installed in his parents' house.
Hmm, interesting.
And not only had he taken these security systems down, he also removed the SD cards from them.
Now this won't come as much of a surprise to you, but of course, Adam and his attorneys
have argued that the reason he took down the system at their house was because they were
in the process of moving.
But that doesn't explain at all why they were removed from his parents' house as well.
They weren't moving.
Plus, Adam had actually studied computer science
before he had dropped out,
and many have said that he was very tech savvy.
So let's go over all of the big pieces of evidence here,
just so that we're all on the same page, okay?
So we've got the countless stories that detail the abuse
that Matty was experiencing at the hands of Adam Fram.
We have the gorilla tape and the missing bedsheet from their home that appear to be connected
to the tape and bedsheet that were found around her body.
There's the fact that Adam's whereabouts don't align with the movements of Maddie's
van that day, including a 45 minute window where the car is just unaccounted for.
And let's not forget the license plate was swapped on her van as well. And we know he also turned off his geolocation on his phone and his email accounts,
as well as removed the home surveillance from his property and his parents' property.
Not to mention the trail camera that showed Adam riding around in a utility vehicle with a shovel.
And both the vehicle and the shovel were alerted on by cadaver dogs.
So let's get into talking about motive because that really pushes
things over the edge. First of all as a reminder we know that Adam allegedly told Maddie that if
she left him he would kill her so there's a motive right there. But prosecutors argued that the reason
that Adam killed Maddie was because of financial stress that he was experiencing and back in April
he admitted to law enforcement that he depended on her financially and now that she was experiencing and back in April he admitted to law enforcement that he depended on her financially.
And now that she was leaving his sorry ass and moving on potentially with someone else,
which I'm sure he didn't like that either, that financial support wasn't gonna be there anymore, was it?
They also believe that Maddie's $170,000 death benefit may also have something to do with it, and I agree.
Now she didn't have Adam listed as the beneficiary.
She actually didn't have anyone listed.
So the money would have gone to her kids.
And maybe in his delusional, stupid little mind,
he thought that somehow that money was gonna come to him.
So with all that being said, let's get into the trial,
shall we?
Starting with the preliminary hearings.
So those picked up in January of 2024.
And over the course of the next few months
the defense would end up filing a ton of motions. The big ones include a motion to dismiss the charge
of first degree murder as well as a motion to suppress Adam's interview from April 2nd and a
motion for a change of venue. Basically they didn't think there was enough evidence to charge Adam with
first degree murder. Okay and thankfully that motion was denied. As for Adam's interview from
April 2nd, they argued that he wasn't read his Miranda rights, but a judge did
in fact rule it as admissible. And while that part was good news, the bad news is
the audio and video from his interviews were all suppressed, which means we will not be able
to see them or hear them.
Now when it came to the change of venue, however, a judge did rule in their favor and that's
basically because of the publicity that this case got in Winona.
There was really no way that Adam was going to receive a fair trial there and the decision
was actually largely due to the fact that the defense put out a survey in Winona asking if people had heard about the case and had already made a decision about Adam's guilt or lack thereof.
And a lot of people said yes.
So instead, he was tried at the Blue Earth County Justice Center in Mankato, Minnesota.
And about a month before trial began, a pretrial hearing was held where a lot of Maddie's friends took the stand to testify regarding Adam's alleged abuse,
his financial dependence, and also his lack of parenting. And this hearing basically aimed to address which evidence and testimony
could or could not be admitted during the trial. Now the good news is a judge did decide that a lot of the evidence and
testimony could be admitted.
However, there were a few things that could not
and here they are.
There was no testimony allowed about some statements
Maddie made regarding her concerns for her safety
prior to her disappearance.
No testimony regarding general,
non-specific statements of abuse by Maddie.
No statements regarding a conversation
that Maddie had with a friend
about how to leave an abusive relationship. a conversation that Maddie had with a friend about how to leave an abusive relationship,
and no statements Maddie made to a friend the week she went missing, alleging about taking a child to the emergency room.
And I know you guys probably have questions about some of those things.
Unfortunately, they're not things I can answer because there's not information available regarding those.
Something else that was really interesting and frustrating to me is that a judge ruled that nobody in the courtroom could wear anything
that symbolized Maddie in any way. Like they couldn't wear any t-shirts or even things
like pins or ribbons, anything that related to Maddie in any way or even violence against
women. And I guess I understand why. I mean, I think the judge just was concerned that wearing anything like that would compromise
the jury's impartiality.
But it's still just upsetting and frustrating to me that her family, her loved ones, the
community couldn't come together in that type of unity.
I don't know.
I get it.
It's just, yeah, it's frustrating.
Also the judge ended up ruling in favor of the defense's request to sequester
the witnesses, which just means that anyone who is testifying in the case
can't sit in the courtroom before they take the stand.
And the point of it is basically to prevent a witness from changing
their testimony to match someone else's, whether that's consciously or subconsciously.
And lastly, and this is a biggie, cameras were not permitted in the courtroom.
Now this was something that was actually at the request of Maddie's family who wanted privacy
during the trial and I support that a thousand percent.
Now as far as the trial itself, it happened very recently and that began with jury selection
on October 7th.
And because witnesses were sequestered, several members of Maddie's family were not able to sit
in the courtroom as testimony kicked off.
And I've spent most of this episode going through the case
and the evidence against Adam,
so I'm not gonna make you sit through all of that again.
I just wanna highlight some of the key elements
from the trial to give you a bit of an overview.
As for opening statements,
I think we all have a pretty good idea
of the direction the
prosecution went.
They basically laid out the circumstances of the case and explained how the evidence
will show that Adam Frable was the person responsible for Maddie's disappearance and
her death.
And as for the defense, their strategy was to argue that investigators zeroed in on Adam
and didn't consider other evidence that could point to other suspects.
They also argued that the stories of abuse were unreliable and that Adam and Maddie's separation was amicable.
And get this, they even said that any bruising that family or friends saw on Maddie's neck was from rough sex, which...
I don't know about you guys, I think that is straight up offensive and just completely dismissive of her abuse.
So when testimony began that first week, it was mostly from officers and investigators
and it was described as very clinical, kind of just going over all the investigative efforts.
And then in the days that followed, the jury also heard from the medical examiner who provided
more insight into Maddie's cause of death. As I mentioned earlier it was listed as homicidal violence but he
added that asphyxiation was most likely what killed her. The body cam footage
from both Adams conversations with investigators on April 1st and 2nd were
also played for the jury and his comments about Gabby Petito were
addressed as well. Of course that digital evidence was also a big topic
of conversation as well as Adam's efforts
to conceal his location.
And then on October 29th, Maddie's parents took the stand
and they each talked about Maddie
and Adam's tumultuous relationship.
And not only did they mention that Adam was of no help
when it came to the kids,
but they also each testified about times
when Maddie had confided in them
about the abuse that she was experiencing.
I guess in November of 2020,
they were actually living with Maddie's dad,
and David was so fed up with Adam's behavior
that he literally kicked him out
and never spoke to him again after that.
In total, the prosecution called 68 witnesses to testify,
and they all took the stand over the course of 10 days.
Now, as for the defense, they presented their entire case
in under three hours and only called five witnesses
to testify and Adam was not one of those people.
His brother, on the other hand, did testify.
And he said that Adam was not a violent person
and that he adored the children.
And to my understanding, it's not just the brother that believes Adam is innocent.
I know that his sister does as well from an interview that I saw and from other sources.
I think their entire family believes he is innocent and has stood by him.
The jury on the other hand, not so much, and we'll get to that in a second.
So a neighbor also testified for the defense
that he saw Adam and Maddie playing with their kids
together outside of the house.
And some deputies also testified about their search efforts
in the area where her body was ultimately found.
But like I said though,
the defense literally wrapped up their case
in about three hours.
Yeah.
So closing arguments wrapped up on November 6th and just 10 hours later on the 7th, the
jury came back with their verdict and Adam Frable was found guilty on all counts and
both counts of first degree murder carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
However, there will be an official sentencing hearing on December 17th back in Winona. Now, Adam was actually seen crying in the courtroom just before the jury came
back in. And this is just my personal thoughts, but I really think those were tears for himself
and not tears for Maddie or her family and friends who are going to suffer and deal with
this pain for the rest of their lives. I mean, the verdict is great, great news, and I'm so happy that he is going to pay for
what he did in a really big way, but it is never going to bring Maddie back.
I hope he spends the rest of his miserable life crying.
I hope he feels like absolute shit forever.
I hope his dreams, his every waking moment
is haunted by what he did
because not only did he do that to Maddie
and to everyone who loved her,
but he did that to his own children.
He took their mother away.
She is gone because of him.
And spending the rest of his life behind bars
is the least that can be done to rectify this situation.
Her family gave a statement after the verdict was read saying that they were glad with the
outcome but that there was no joy for the same reasons that I just shared.
Words can just not express how devastated I am and so many are for this family.
And I'm also just so impressed by their strength, by the way they've conducted themselves, handled everything with such grace through unbelievable pain, and I just hope that
they're able to breathe a little bit easier now knowing that Adam was at
least found guilty and is gonna pay for what he did. So this week on behalf of
Maddie, I am making a contribution to my foundation, the Higher Hope Foundation,
and we are going to be looking out for applications
that fall into the domestic violence category.
It's something that we feel really strongly
about helping as many people as we can in that area.
And I hope that this is a way that we can honor Maddie.
Also, if you would like to show Maddie's family
some additional support, there are a few ways that you can help.die. Also, if you would like to show Maddie's family some additional support,
there are a few ways that you can help.
They have a Facebook page, which I'll link below,
called Finding Madeline Kingsbury.
They use this page to post a lot of updates
as well as sell justice for Maddie merch.
And all the proceeds from that will be used
to help their family recoup the money
that they have spent on lodging to stay near the trial,
as well as any money they've lost
as a result
of this tragedy.
There's also a GoFundMe which I will link below.
This was originally to help fund their search efforts and now I imagine that any new funds
will go towards helping the family through the aftermath of all of this including supporting
her two kids.
Which by the way I'm sure a lot of you are curious about this, the children are thankfully
in the custody of the Kingsbury family. Those
children have gone through a tremendous amount of trauma and they probably will continue to go
through that trauma and processing for a very long time. My heart truly goes out to them and it goes
out to everyone who loved Maddie and who lost someone that was so special. I mean really what a loss
to the world. She was incredibly smart, incredibly driven, was going to help a
lot of people. I mean to be working at the Mayo Clinic was so huge and I don't
know how to describe Adam other than just such a fucking loser and the fact
that he took her life in the end of all this. It's just.
It's so draining. It's so upsetting.
There just aren't even words, but I'm just really, really thankful, really,
really happy that in the end justice is being served.
That is going to be it for me today, guys.
Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
It really does help me out.
If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel,
which will be linked or you can just search Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.