This story initially aired April 13, 2024. It was up to date on Jan. 18, 2025.
Scott Sherman is the mayor of Winona, Minnesota, a small metropolis on the banks of the Mississippi. “There’s simply one thing about Winona that retains pulling you again,” he advised “48 Hours” correspondent Peter Van Sant. “Living right here in Winona is actually cool.”
It’s so cool that TV and movie star Winona Ryder is known as for the city, as she advised the world in a 2020 Super Bowl advert: “There’s one thing about this place, one thing that feels so me …”
Madeline Kingsbury, 26, additionally felt that sure “one thing” about Winona. So, when Mayor Sherman heard that she had gone lacking, he wished to assist.
“I felt that Maddi was a daughter of Winona,” stated Mayor Sherman. “She was a vivid younger girl working by college, working … a — a job in Rochester and elevating youngsters all on the identical time, that is so much. … So, I had respect for Maddi.
And Sherman thought he may assist as a result of, as an avid bicyclist, he rides the woodsy paths round Winona all yr lengthy.
“You know the again roads of this space?” Van Sant requested. “I do,” stated Sherman.
“And you went out your self,” stated Van Sant. “I did,” Sherman replied.
But as mayor, Sherman felt his first job was to assist Maddi’s distraught mom Krista Naber when she arrived on the search command middle.
“She gave me a hug that I’ll always remember the remainder of my life,” Sherman stated. “It was a hug that confirmed worry, concern.”
“And so what had been — what message had been you sending with that hug?” Van Sant requested.
“I’m right here for you. We will do our damndest to search out her,” stated Sherman.
WHERE’S MADDI KINGSBURY?
Maddi’s household first started worrying about her late within the afternoon of Friday, March 31, 2023, when Naber realized she had not heard from her daughter for practically your entire day.
Krista Naber: Something in my intestine simply did not really feel proper.
Peter Van Sant: Mother’s instinct?
Krista Naber: Right.
Naber contacted Megan, Maddi’s older sister, however Megan stated she was not overly involved.
Megan Kingsbury: I despatched her a few textual content messages anyway … “Hey mother, hasn’t heard from you. Can you name her? Can you textual content her again? … She’s involved.” … and she or he did not reply to that.
At the time, Maddi was residing with Adam Fravel, the daddy of their kids. The two had met in faculty at Winona State University.
Megan Kingsbury: He was outgoing, and appeared fascinated by attending to know us, and he appeared very, nearly infatuated, I suppose, with … Madeline.
Fravel household
While nonetheless in faculty, Maddi and Adam realized they had been anticipating their first little one and determined to settle in Winona.
Theresa Sis Mejia: He manned up, he manned up.
Theresa Sis Mejia, Fravel’s sister, says Adam give up college to assist his new household.
Theresa Sis Mejia: He knew he was gonna be a dad. He went and obtained a job … and he had that job up till COVID, after which he obtained laid off … whereas he let Maddi proceed faculty in order that she may graduate … and she or he did. She graduated and he supported her.
After commencement, Maddi started working on the Mayo Clinic and have become a scientific analysis coordinator. And Maddi’s father David Kingsbury stated she not too long ago had begun learning for a sophisticated diploma.
David Kingsbury: She was … a graduate pupil in a grasp’s program on the University of Minnesota … Had simply accomplished her first semester there and was doing very nicely.
Fravel, who had studied laptop science in faculty, started taking flying classes with a watch towards getting his pilot’s license.
Theresa Sis Mejia: When he was taking pilot classes like that, he felt so completed … It made him really feel good. And I used to be so pleased with him for doing it, for doing one thing for himself.
Krista Naber: I loved being round him … I may inform that he actually cared for Madeline.
On the night of March 31, Megan Kingsbury was hours away from Winona when she reached out to Fravel, who stated he was involved.
Megan Kingsbury: He stated … I obtained residence at the moment and she or he was gone …
Fravel and the youngsters had been at his dad and mom’ residence in Mabel, an hour south of Winona. That’s when Megan Kingsbury messaged Maddi’s shut buddy Katie Kolka, who lived in Winona: “My dad and mom and I have never been in a position to get involved with Maddi all day …” Katie responds: “I’m on my approach over there proper now.”
The home was eerily silent, and it was at that time Kolka referred to as the Winona police.
Peter Van Sant: And you need this lacking individuals report back to be filed, however what did they inform you?
Katie Kolka: They advised me that I wasn’t in a position to report it as a result of it hadn’t been 24 hours but.
Megan Kingsbury: I used to be pacing in my kitchen. I used to be getting actually actually apprehensive.
So was Maddi’s father who tried to achieve her.
David Kingsbury: Where are you? What’s happening?
The subsequent morning, with Maddi now lacking practically 24 hours, the Kingsbury household filed a lacking individuals report.
And then Fravel went to Facebook asking for assist. His publish learn partly: “If anyone has seen Maddi … please contact the Winona PD, me or any of her relations … Please assist me discover the mother to our 2 lovely youngsters.”
Mary Fulginiti | “48 Hours” marketing consultant: The police went to nice lengths, I’ve to say, to attempt to … discover Maddi rapidly … as a result of they know that there is a ticking clock on this stuff.
And the investigation took off.
Mary Fulginiti: It’s extraordinary what they did.
“TIKTOK, I NEED YOU TO DO YOUR THING …”
The information that Maddi was lacking unfold rapidly by Winona and past. Hailey Scott, one in all Maddi’s sorority sisters, wished to assist.
Hailey Scott: I reached out to our sorority … I reached out to information shops … I used to be greedy at straws.
At the identical time, detectives reached out to Adam Fravel. According to police studies, Fravel advised them how on the morning of March 31, the couple dropped off their kids on the daycare middle.
Friend of Maddi Kingsbury
Investigators confirmed the drop-off after chatting with the daycare supplier who gave police safety video.
This video has by no means been seen by the general public till now. It was one of many final occasions Maddi is seen on video earlier than she vanished. Police say Fravel advised them he and Maddi returned residence after the drop-off and she or he went to her workplace within the basement to perform a little work earlier than heading to the Mayo Clinic.
Mary Fulginiti: I’ve taken a take a look at all of the proof that we have now up to now within the Maddi Kingsbury case.
Mary Fulginiti, a former prosecutor and protection lawyer, is a “48 Hours” marketing consultant. She says that in his police interview, Fravel advised detectives he left Maddi his automotive and borrowed her blue minivan to haul some bins.
Mary Fulginiti: He … proceeded to place some bins within the van that he was going to maneuver to his dad and mom’ home … He stated he did not see Maddi once more … He drove to his dad and mom’ home on Highway 43.
Police say Fravel advised them he obtained so far as the township of Choice, Minnesota, when he realized he had made a mistake.
Mary Fulginiti: The bins that he had within the van had been ones that he really wished to place in storage. So he rotated and he went again to the house.
Police say Fravel advised investigators he arrived again at his Winona residence round 11:30 a.m. and noticed his automotive nonetheless within the driveway.
Mary Fulginiti: He stated he had texted her just a few occasions, asking about dinner and whether or not or not she was gonna choose up the children … There was no response.
Friend of Maddi Kingsbury
Police say Fravel advised them he’d assumed Maddi had carpooled to work and when he didn’t hear from her, he went alone to try this choose up of the children. Again, the video from the daycare seems to corroborate that a part of Fravel’s story.
Mary Fulginiti: So he finally picked up the youngsters round 4:20 or 4:30, um, from daycare and introduced them to his dad and mom’ home in Mabel, Minnesota.
During a police interview, investigators famous that Fravel had “contemporary scratches” on his face the day after Maddi disappeared. Fravel’s sister says he advised her the scratches got here from a buddy’s canine.
On Saturday, April 1, police searched the Winona home the place Fravel lived with Maddi. Investigators reported they noticed no overt indicators of foul play.
Mary Fulginiti: But what was in the home was her purse, her jacket, her bank cards, um, however no Maddi.
Two days later, an anxious Megan Kingsbury rushed out of her bathe and alerted her TikTok followers to what was happening.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST: TikTok. I would like you to do your factor. I would like your assist. This is my sister Madeline Kingsbury. Um, she’s lacking …
Megan Kingsbury: I wasn’t desirous about the truth that I used to be in a towel.
The publish ultimately had over a half million views.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST: … Help us discover her. She’s obtained two youngsters. She’s my greatest buddy, she’s my little sister. We have to get her again. Please assist us.
Peter Van Sant: You’re clearly in terror right here … The look in your face. But you are reaching out for assist and other people wished to assist.
Megan Kingsbury: Yes.
CBS MINNESOTA | NEWS REPORT: So many individuals have requested to assist search for Madeline Kingsbury that it allowed legislation enforcement to increase their search …
Hailey Scott: There’s no guidebook on find out how to seek for a lacking beloved one … and looking for her was simply one of the traumatic issues I’ve ever skilled in my life.
Megan Kingsbury/TikTok
By the top of the weekend, there was no signal of Maddi. Day by day, Megan Kingsbury continued to publish updates to TikTok.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST: It’s Tuesday the twenty fifth … nonetheless no Madeline … now subsequent week is May. We’re nonetheless on this hell …
Megan Kingsbury: I really feel like all of us, like each evening, we might look out — it is chilly. It’s darkish. Is she like laying on the market someplace? … Is she like trapped someplace? … and also you simply — you do not know what to do.
Behind the scenes although, investigators started taking a tougher take a look at Fravel, particularly after Maddi’s pals got here ahead with some disturbing tales.
Hailey Scott: Madeline referred to as me shortly after an incident occurred between her and Adam … the place he had advised her that if she wasn’t cautious, she was going to finish up similar to Gabby Petito.
The Gabby Petito case fixated the nation within the fall of 2021, after the younger girl from Long Island was discovered useless one month after she seemingly vanished from the face of the earth.
Hailey Scott: I advised her you must get out and you must get it … get out now. That’s not an empty risk.
A FATHER’S WARNING: “HE IS GOING TO KILL YOU”
Years earlier than Maddi vanished, her sister Megan Kingsbury says the on-again, off-again relationship between Maddi and Fravel gave the impression to be headed for a foul ending.
Megan Kingsbury: He simply wasn’t good to her … He did not act like he beloved her. He did not assist handle the children. He did not clear.
Peter Van Sant: And actually, did you attain some extent the place you — you suggested your sister, you realize, maybe it is time to transfer on in your life from him?
Megan Kingsbury: Many occasions.
Maddi’s father David stated it pained him to see how shabbily Fravel handled Maddi.
David Kingsbury: I believe she actually poured out a river of affection for him and she or he obtained nary a drop in return.
Maddi’s stepmother Cathy Kingsbury says Maddi usually referred to as, saying Fravel was of no assist with the youngsters.
Cathy Kingsbury: She’d be simply sobbing miserably that Adam’s not serving to. I hate this.
But Maddi’s household and pals say there was extra than simply tearful arguments. About three years earlier than Maddi went lacking, Hailey Scott says she witnessed Fravel slap Maddi throughout a video name. Scott and Maddi had been speaking, Scott says, when Fravel appeared within the background and started shouting at Maddi.
Hailey Scott: He yelled, “I do not perceive why this home is such a f****** mess” … and she or he stated, “I do not know, possibly it is best to assist me,” um, to which Adam turned, and he slapped her with an open hand throughout the face.
And in September 2021, some 18 months earlier than Maddi disappeared, she advised Scott about Fravel’s darkish fascination with the Petito story.
Hailey Scott: Adam had an infatuation, and I’d name it an obsession, with the Gabby Petito case.
Scott says Maddi had advised her that one evening, after she and Fravel watched a information particular concerning the Petito homicide, his obsession turned threatening.
Hailey Scott: He had really turned and grabbed her by the throat and pinned her down and advised her that if she wasn’t cautious that she would find yourself similar to her.
Katie Kolka says she tried to get Maddi to do one thing.
Katie Kolka: And I begged her and begged her, please go to the hospital, doc it your self, do no matter you must do. You have to get this documented so you will get out of there safely with these youngsters.
But Kolka says Maddi by no means reported something to the police.
Katie Kolka: She was extra scared that Adam was gonna get arrested.
Peter Van Sant: She wished to guard him.
Katie Kolka: She was defending him.
Maddi did, nonetheless, inform her father David and stepmother Cathy concerning the choking incident.
Cathy Kingsbury: She was like, horribly afraid. She’d been choked and she or he was very, very scared and wished assist.
Cathy Kingsbury says she and David drove to Maddi’s home and obtained her and the youngsters out of there.
David Kingsbury: She got here with us. We went to the home so she may get a few of her issues and a few of the clothes for the children and whatnot and put the children within the van and adopted us again to our residence in Farmington.
But Cathy Kingsbury says Maddi stayed within the Kingsbury home solely three days earlier than returning to Fravel as a result of he was “upset” that she’d left.
David Kingsbury: I did inform her in some unspecified time in the future, he — he’s going to kill you.
Peter Van Sant: You stated that to Maddi.
David Kingsbury: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: You felt there was sufficient hazard that you just needed to say to your personal daughter, I believe he could kill you. … And how did she reply to that assertion, or did she?
David Kingsbury: Honestly, I imply, she … grew to become a professional at minimizing issues, and it got here again to, nicely, he was — he was joking. She advised me he was joking, and she or he wished to imagine that
When Maddi went lacking, her family and friends reported these incidents to police. According to a search warrant, detectives interviewed Fravel and requested if he and Maddi had ever had any “bodily altercations.” “He stated, ‘oh no.'” When detectives requested about these Petito feedback, police say Fravel admitted them, however “claimed he was attempting to make a joke.”
But in accordance with a search warrant, investigators discovered an outdated display shot Maddi had saved of some texts she’d exchanged with Adam:
MADDI KINGSBURY TEXT: You know I’m not likely okay with or over the truth that you place your hand round my neck and pushed me down in entrance of the children earlier so do not
Not okay with it in any respect however particularly with them there.
ADAM FRAVEL: You’ll modify
MADDI KINGSBURY: The f*** I’ll …
Detectives wished to know the whole lot about what Fravel did the day Maddi went lacking and started gathering surveillance movies from properties and companies.
Police say a blue minivan that seemed like Maddi’s was videotaped on Highway 43 — the highway Fravel advised police he’d taken that morning. But in accordance with a search warrant, the timestamps don’t match Fravel’s timeline. The cameras tracked the blue minivan till round midday, police say.
Mary Fulginiti: And then there is a 45-minute hole.
That hole happens round Choice, Minnesota. Police say that’s the place Adam advised them he realized he took the improper bins, turned the van round and drove straight again to Winona. According to that warrant, “there’s a 45-minute window that Fravel couldn’t be tracked.”
Mary Fulginiti: Where was he throughout these 45 minutes? I imply, that was the massive, you realize, the massive query, proper?
CBS News
But with no direct proof and no signal of Maddi, investigators didn’t arrest Fravel, and he continued to reside at his dad and mom’ residence with the youngsters. Meanwhile, Megan Kingsbury continued her updates on TikTok.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST | April 14, 2023: Madeline nonetheless has not been situated, sadly. Um, so we’re nonetheless plugging alongside and on the lookout for her.
As detectives continued to analyze, they uncovered a brand new lead — a romantic relationship Maddi had been having with one other man, an Army veteran named Spencer Sullivan.
Spencer Sullivan: I’m Spencer Sullivan and I used to be courting Madeline Kingsbury on the time of her disappearance.
And now police had been to know Sullivan’s whereabouts the day Maddi went lacking.
A NEW LOVE INTEREST FOR MADDI KINGSBURY
In the spring of 2023, Maddi knew her relationship with Fravel was falling aside, and she or he was brutally trustworthy together with her father.
David Kingsbury: She says, you realize, dad … I do know that I’m in a foul relationship. I do know my household is aware of it. … I do know my pals understand it. And I’m embarrassed about it, however I do not know what to do about it.
But Maddi had joined Tinder, which is the place she reconnected with Sullivan, who she knew from faculty.
Spencer Sullivan: We had been pals on Facebook, so I knew that she had youngsters … I wasn’t positive what the standing of the connection was precisely with, uh, Adam Fravel.
As it seems, Sullivan additionally knew Fravel from Winona State.
Spencer Sullivan: He was in the identical fraternity as I used to be.
Peter Van Sant: Tell me concerning the Adam you knew again then.
Spencer Sullivan: He and I did not actually speak all that a lot.
Maddi advised Sullivan that she and Fravel had reached the purpose of no return. Maddi and Sullivan started courting, however quietly.
Spencer Sullivan: We each sort of agreed to maintain it secret between us till she was on her personal.
Mostly, the connection was a secret from Fravel. Maddi’s household and girlfriends knew about it, they usually advised police about Sullivan when Maddi went lacking. That’s when investigators referred to as Sullivan in for an interview.
Spencer Sullivan: They had been … simply sort of asking me common questions on once we had began courting. … the place had been you at this level, what had been you doing at this level?
Peter Van Sant: What had been you doing on March thirty first, 2023?
Spencer Sullivan: Uh, that morning I used to be at work.
Sullivan surrendered his telephone whereas investigators checked out his alibi. As they seemed into his story, additionally they realized from Maddi’s family and friends that solely six days earlier than she disappeared, she lastly had advised Fravel about Sullivan.
Megan Kingsbury: She did not need to lie and she or he simply — it bubbled up inside her the — this guilt.
Peter Van Sant: Is it true that Maddi advised Adam about Spencer?
David Kingsbury: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: That’s a reasonably gutsy factor to do.
Cathy Kingsbury: Uh, we want she had not.
It all got here pouring out and Megan Kingsbury says Maddi advised Fravel she was leaving him and on the lookout for an condominium the place she would reside with their kids.
Peter Van Sant: And did she inform you how Adam reacted to the information?
Megan Kingsbury: I believe she stated he cried, and he was actually harm on the time.
Theresa Sis Mejia: I’m positive he was personally harm and heartbroken — hastily, you discover out … she has emotions for anyone else and it is over.
CBS News
Fravel’s sister Theresa, in addition to his brother Ryan, say information of the break-up harm them as nicely, as a result of Maddi was a cherished member of their prolonged household.
Ryan Fravel: Maddi was a sister to all of us, and our hearts are … damaged. … We misplaced a detailed member of the family.
They level out that, though Adam Fravel and Maddi at all times had an on-again, off-again relationship, they stayed collectively for seven years.
Theresa Sis Mejia: I used to be utterly shocked after I realized that she was courting Spencer behind my brother’s again.
Maddi’s greatest buddy Katie Kolka says tensions between Maddi and Fravel had been sky excessive after her revelation about Spencer. It was the day earlier than she disappeared.
Katie Kolka: She referred to as me crying and she or he requested if she may come work at our home … She stated that Adam was hovering over her whereas she was working and making feedback about another man elevating his youngsters and, you realize, are you actually gonna go away me for an additional man? … She felt very threatened.
Maddi left her home and went to Kolka’s earlier than ending up at Sullivan’s residence, additionally in Winona.
Spencer Sullivan: She came visiting to have a good time my birthday with me … she introduced a pair donuts that we may cut up with one another. She had a present for me. … It was just a little LEGO set, just a little Star Wars LEGO set. I obtained a card from her and it was a Star Wars card.
Peter Van Sant: That final time you noticed her individual to individual.
Spencer Sullivan: I keep in mind she’s standing at my entrance steps. She rotated and smiled at me and waved and (sighs) that was the final time I noticed her.
Within days of his interview, police confirmed Sullivan’s alibi and returned his telephone. Eventually, police say, he was cleared. Maddi’s buddy Hailey Scott says Spencer was the very best factor to occur to her in a very long time.
Hailey Scott: Spencer confirmed her that she deserved a lot greater than Adam.
CBS News
Sullivan says he was devastated within the wake of Maddi’s disappearance.
Spencer Sullivan: I believed to myself, like, stuff like this does not — would not occur right here, you realize. … we had been speaking about her shifting into her new place and … She wished me to return over and assist her embellish, do stuff … after which the subsequent day she’s gone.
He says he could not cease desirous about the birthday card Maddi had given him.
Spencer Sullivan: I believe I re-read that card at the least 100 occasions … (sighs) that like all I may assume was this — this (LEGO) package — sorry. (emotional).
Four days after Maddi vanished, her dad and mom got non permanent custody of her kids.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST: My niece and nephew are not within the custody of their father. … you realize we recognize the priority for them however they’re — they’re in good fingers.
When Maddi’s buddy, Lauren Debois, thought of Maddi’s kids, she recalled a dialog she’d had with Maddi a month earlier and she or he reported it to police.
Lauren Debois: She advised me … that she wanted me to know that if something had been to occur to her or her kids, that Adam did it. She would by no means go away her kids for something underneath any circumstances.
Ten days after Maddi disappeared, police had acquired a tip that Fravel had been seen driving close to his dad and mom’ residence with a shovel in his household’s utility automobile. Police seized his automobile and, in accordance with a search warrant, cadaver canine alerted to a scent within the automobile and on the shovel.
Mary Fulginiti: You know, it is my understanding that they’re skilled and particularly skilled to search out human — human stays.
Two days later, Adam put out a press release by his attorneys. It learn, partly: “I’ve cooperated with legislation enforcement at each flip … I didn’t have something to do with Maddi’s disappearance. I need the mom of my 5-year-old and 2-year-old to be discovered and introduced residence safely. I need that greater than something.”
Maddi had been lacking 35 days when Kolka and others gathered to recollect her at a neighborhood church.
KATIE KOLKA (crying): “She was the kindest most lovely soul … even on the brightest days, it nonetheless feels darkish and gloomy with out her right here.
WCCO
David Kingsbury addressed the group.
DAVE KINGSBURY: We know that Madeline is round her someplace. She simply did not vanish. Someone is aware of one thing. Somone noticed one thing. Make this your battle cry. “Where’s Madeline? Where is she?” Make it loud and do not cease till she’s discovered.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CASE
For Megan Kingsbury, June 7, 2023, began out like each different day since Maddi disappeared.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST | June 7, 2023: Hey TikTok. Good morning. Happy Wednesday. …Maddi’s nonetheless lacking … Please proceed to unfold the phrase about my sister, Madeline…
But hours later — 68 days after Maddi disappeared — a sheriff’s deputy discovered human stays alongside a lonely nation highway.
David Kingsbury: While it hadn’t been licensed by the health worker, they’re pretty sure that it was my daughter.
Megan Kingsbury: I used to be on the ground and like screamed, crying … you realize what do you say when anyone tells you one thing like that? There’s nothing that you may say.
Katie Kolka
For Maddi’s greatest buddy Katie Kolka, the information was shattering; her response captured on her video doorbell digital camera.
The very subsequent day, Maddi’s pals heard the information from Winona’s police chief.
POLICE CHIEF TOM WILLIAMS (to reporters): Law enforcement has confirmed the stays are these of Madeline Kingsbury.
Krista Naber: You cannot ever put together your self for one in all your kids, um, to — to die, a lot much less be discovered someplace exterior, discovered as she was.
Megan Kingsbury: She was wrapped in, um, a grey fitted mattress sheet that had black duct tape across the ends. And, um, there was a towel wrapped round her head.
Winona Police Department
Adam Fravel was arrested and charged with second-degree homicide. The gray mattress sheet wrapped round Maddi, in accordance with a legal grievance, appeared to match a set present in Maddi’s residence.
And the remoted highway the place Maddi’s stays had been discovered, in accordance with that legal grievance, had been maintained by the Fravel household at one level. This space can also be near the township of Choice, the place, police imagine, there are 45 minutes unaccounted for in Fravel’s timeline.
Maddi’s physique was present in a culvert.
Maddi’s post-mortem listed her reason for demise as “homicidal violence” — nothing extra.
In October 2023, Adam Fravel was indicted on further first-degree homicide expenses. Fravel’s potential motive for homicide? In a warrant, investigators allege Fravel was in misery as a consequence of “his monetary dependence” on Maddi and was upset about “the top of their relationship.” Investigators additionally realized that Maddi had a “demise advantage of $170,000” however had not listed a beneficiary.
Mary Fulginiti: She was his — his meal ticket … she was the one who offered for them.
According to a search warrant, when police entered the couple’s home, they seen that surveillance cameras inside the house had been eliminated. Former prosecutor Mary Fulginiti says it is the way in which they appeared to have been taken down that caught detectives’ consideration.
Mary Fulginiti: They discovered that the surveillance cameras that he had put in have been ripped out, that they had been not there … so all of these are indicators of, you realize, he is as much as one thing in consciousness of guilt.
Theresa Sis Mejia: He had these down weeks earlier than … they had been within the strategy of shifting.
Fravel’s sister and brother say at one level, earlier than Maddi and Adam broke up, the couple was planning to maneuver collectively to Adam’s dad and mom’ residence.
Ryan Fravel: We need individuals to know that there are two sides to the story.
Take, as an example, these cadaver canine alerting to the utility automobile and shovel. Fravel’s household says that is as a result of on the earlier weekend their dad used that shovel to maneuver a useless raccoon.
Peter Van Sant: A raccoon.
Ryan Fravel: A raccoon.
Theresa Sis Mejia: They used a shovel to select it up.
Theresa Sis Mejia: … each time we might attempt to make clear something to the investigators, we had been simply handled with that. Like — like we’re simply delusional.
Theresa Sis Mejia: I imagine Adam 150 p.c that he’s harmless … he would by no means hurt Maddi, the mom to his kids, you realize, he’d by no means do such a factor.
Fravel’s protection crew has requested a decide to suppress Adam’s police interview as a result of they declare he wasn’t learn his Miranda rights. It’s the interview the place he admitted making feedback about Gabby Petito however stated he was solely joking.
In preliminary hearings, his attorneys additionally say there may be not sufficient proof to warrant the first-degree homicide cost. Fravel’s siblings insist authorities ought to take a better take a look at Spencer Sullivan.
Ryan Fravel: We’re attempting to — attempting to increase, uh, the investigator’s eyes that one thing else may simply have occurred.
Peter Van Sant: What do you consider that?
Spencer Sullivan: I imply, they’re attempting to guard Adam … they sort of want to return to phrases with the truth that — my private opinion, uh, they obtained the appropriate particular person.
David Kingsbury: There is a presumption of innocence in our authorized system, after all, that everyone is entitled to … But there may be additionally a court docket of frequent sense. And within the court docket of frequent sense, all roads result in Adam Fravel.
The Kingsbury household is talking out now in hopes of saving another person.
David Kingsbury: That’s the rationale why we’re right here and that is the rationale why we’re speaking about this as a result of we do not need it to occur to anyone else.
Peter Van Sant: This is emotionally very highly effective proper now for you. Are you — you do not blame your self for this. Do you?
Cathy Kingsbury: I believe all of us blame ourselves to some extent. When I’d speak to her, I did not push, you realize. I wished her to have the ability to say issues when she was able to say issues.
David Kingsbury: He had his hooks in her, and the children make it actually tough.
For Maddi’s father, regardless of the jury decides, there’s a bigger reality that haunts him.
David Kingsbury: I’ll at all times be the daddy of a murdered woman.
Spencer Sullivan advised “48 Hours” he too feels haunted by a dialog he and Maddi had weeks earlier than she vanished.
Spencer Sullivan: She advised me that she was in love with me … And sadly, I used to be too hen s*** to say it again, however (sighs).
Peter Van Sant: Does that hassle you?
Spencer Sullivan: Every day.
Spencer Sullivan: I noticed a future with Maddi and it felt like anyone simply ripped the subsequent 60 years out of my life.
For Megan Kingsbury, who was so shut together with her little sister, she nonetheless cannot think about a future with out Maddi.
Megan Kingsbury: I really feel like even simply saying that we’re sisters would not describe being the closeness that we had. We had been confidants for one another.
Peter Van Sant: How would you like Maddi to be remembered?
David Kingsbury: Somebody that mattered. And I believe the whole lot we have seen and heard from individuals actually affirmed that … she mattered to many, many individuals … all of her pals … stated “she’s my greatest buddy.” She was everyone’s greatest buddy.
Adam Fravel was found guilty of murder on Nov. 7, 2024. He was sentenced to life in jail with out the
risk of parole.
“48 HOURS” POST MORTEM PODCAST
Go behind the scenes with Peter Van Sant and Producer Jordan Kinsey as they talk about how TikTok mobilized a Minnesotan group to search out Maddi Kingsbury. The crew discusses how they had been on the case from day one and the proof that may be introduced at Adam Fravel’s upcoming trial.
Produced by Paul LaRosa and Jordan Kinsey. Mike McHugh producer-editor. Mike Loftus is the affiliate producer. Michelle Sigona and Ryan N. Smith are the event producers. Greg McLaughlin and Jason Schmidt and Michelle Harris are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer.
