Judge will mull moving Adam Fravel murder trial from Winona County

John Molseed, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·3 min read

Apr. 30—WINONA, Minn. — Lawyers representing the man accused of killing a Winona mother of two say he won't get a fair trial in Winona, Minnesota.

Adam Fravel, 30, was in Winona County District Court Tuesday, April 30, 2024, as his attorneys and prosecutors presented testimony in a hearing for a change of venue in the criminal case against him.

Fravel is charged with two counts each of first-degree and second-degree murder. He's accused of killing Madeline Kingsbury, 27.

Kingsbury was reported missing March 31, 2023. Her body was found north of Mabel, Minnesota June 7, 2023.

The hearing included a full morning of witness testimony.

Zachary Bauer, an attorney representing Fravel, submitted examples of news coverage of the search, a study commissioned by his law firm, Meshbesher & Spence, and social media posts. He said they show why empaneling an impartial jury would not be possible from a pool of Winona County residents.

In the survey conducted by SNG Research, 100 people — half of whom live in the city of Winona and the other half in Winona County — 89 reported having seen, read or heard news coverage of Kingsbury's disappearance. Of them, 66 people reported having an opinion on whether someone was responsible for Kingsbury's death. Of them, 65 reported they believed Fravel was responsible. SNG Research is an independently operated division of Forum Communications Co., which also owns the Post Bulletin.

Phillip Prokopowicz, a special prosecutor with Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension who is handling the case, noted the questions about culpability came after questions about whether people had heard Kingsbury was found dead and that Fravel had been arrested and charged.

Fravel was taken into custody on second-degree murder charges in June shortly after Kingsbury's body was found. A grand jury in October 2023 indicted him with first-degree murder.

"You don't believe those statements may have influenced their opinion?" Prokopowicz asked Kim Adams, research manager with SNG Research.

"I don't believe that it did," Adams said.

Winona Mayor Scott Sherman also took the stand and recounted participating in searches for Kingsbury. He recalled meeting one person from Winona. The majority of more than a dozen people he encountered were from outside Winona, he said. Sherman said although he was appreciative of the help, he was "annoyed" by some people.

"There were some people who, I thought, were being dramatic about it," he said. "I took it seriously, other people weren't."

Ben Klinger, emergency management coordinator from the Winona County Sheriff's Office, said about 1,900 people participated in a search April 8, 2023 and another 700 participated the next day. Klinger said the registration process didn't necessarily track where people were from. Bauer noted that the numbers alone would represent more than 7% of the population of Winona.

Bauer also entered into evidence social media posts from the annual Winona Steamboat Days from June 2023 that showed the Winona County Emergency Management float included some of Kingsbury's friends and acquaintances who carried signs with messages against domestic violence and calling for "justice for Maddie."

Bauer noted that although Fravel wasn't mentioned by name, he was Kingsbury's only widely-known domestic partner at the time and was in custody on charges for her death when the posts were made.

In cross examination, Klinger said the signs and social media messages weren't an attempt to influence the outcome of a trial.

District Court Judge Nancy L. Buytendorp gave Fravel's attorneys until May 17 to enter a written argument. The state has until May 31 to respond and defense can rebut by June 7. Buytendorp will take all of the material under advisement June 10.