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Fravel Murder Trial: Prosecutors detail search for Maddi
The first witness called Wednesday was a DNR conservation officer who testified he missed the spot where Kingsbury’s body was found during a prior search.
MANKATO, Minn. — Day five of the murder trial of Adam Fravel opened Wednesday with prosecutors trying to detail the search for and discovery of Maddi Kingsbury’s body.
Fravel is charged with two counts of first-degree murder involving domestic abuse, and two counts of second-degree murder in Kingsbury’s death. Investigators say he killed Maddi after the two dropped their children off at daycare on March 31, 2023, and then buried her remains on a remote property approximately four miles from his parents’ home in Mabel, Minnesota.
Maddi’s decomposing body was discovered on that property on June 7.
KARE 11’s Lou Raguse has covered this case extensively and was in the courtroom in Mankato. He reported the first witness called by prosecutors Wednesday was Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conservation officer Mitch Boyum.
Boyum was asked about an April 23 search coordinated with the owners of the property where Kingsbury’s remains were later discovered. The officer told the jury panel that he searched the property that day and found nothing, only to later learn that Maddi had been found in a spot he missed.
“I did not know that culvert was there,” Boyum said.
Raguse reported the prosecution tried to emphasize for jurors that the body was very well hidden and to head off implications from the defense that Kingsbury’s remains might have been moved at some point by someone other than Fravel.
In cross-examination, defense attorney Zach Bauer tried to show jurors just how close conservation officer Boyum was to the spot where Maddi’s body was later found as he approached a gate on the property.
“How close would you have been?” Bauer asked.
“Feet,” Boyum answered.
In redirect, prosecutors attempted to make clear to jurors how easy it would be to spot a body if it had not been so well concealed.
“Trees and logs on the ground would seem ordinary and not caught your attention?” prosecutor Christina Galewski asked.
“Correct,” Boyum answered.
This story will be updated throughout the day as testimony continues.
Dr. Abigail Miller, Chief Medical Officer at UnitedHealthcare of MN, joined KARE 11 News at Noon to offer tips for parents.
MINNETONKA, Minn. — As teens have returned to school, many are participating – or will participate – in fall and winter sports.
Federal data estimates that over 50% of young people between ages 6 and 17 played on a sports team or took after-school sports lessons, forecasting that number to increase to 63% by 2030.
Playing sports can have physical and mental health benefits, including strengthening social relationships with friends and family. However, it can also become overwhelming and even lead to lower mental health due to the many expectations some young athletes are put under.
Dr. Abigail Miller, Chief Medical Officer at UnitedHealthcare of MN, joined KARE 11 News at Noon to offer tips for parents and promote mental health.
For more on the impact of youth sports and issues that impact young athletes, their families, coaches and officials, check out our serial blog SportsLife.
The City of Roseville hopes to lower pollution with the move.
ROSEVILLE, Minn — The City of Roseville has become the latest municipality in Minnesota to enact some form of a ban on plastics in the hope of lowering pollution.
The city is going after non-recyclable to-go containers with a new ordinance encouraging the use of compostable packing.
According to the ordinance, the new rules will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025, but enforcement won’t begin until a year later. The initiative is part of the city’s ‘Green To Go’ ordinance, which allows only compostable, recyclable or reusable containers.
Hospitals and nursing homes are excluded from the new rules, which also carve out an exception for any packaging that doesn’t meet standards, but for which there is no practical alternative.
Minnesota lawmakers have often discussed wider plastic-banning or limiting legislation, with such a debate occurring over the most recent session.
Gov. Walz, his wife Gwen and son Gus pulled up to the Ramsey County elections office — accompanied by a secret service detail — and cast their ballots.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his family walked the walk on Wednesday, casting their ballots early to encourage voters to use every opportunity available to take part in the 2024 election.
Walz, his wife Gwen and son Gus hopped in their motorcade just after 9:30 a.m. and made the 10-minute journey from Eastcliff on the University of Minnesota Campus to the Ramsey County elections office on St. Paul’s west side.
Once at the office at 90 Plato, the Walz family entered the building with the governor greeting election workers. At the counter, Tim Walz told a worker that Gus, now 18, was voting for the first time. After filling out their ballots Tim and Gus fed their ballots into the machine, with a red-shirted election worker shouting, “First time voter!” The governor and Gus high-fived as the room broke into applause.
A pool reporter said other voters seemed to go about their business, noting that Gus Walz took the opportunity to compliment an elections staffer on his Anthony Edwards sneakers.
The Democratic vice-presidential candidate stopped outside the elections office for a brief chat with reporters, saying he voted for Kamala Harris for president without mentioning his spot on the ticket. Walz also addressed interviews published Tuesday in the New York Times and The Atlantic with former Trump Chief of Staff General John Kelly. In those interviews, Kelly said the former president had expressed admiration for the generals who served Adolph Hitler, adding that Trump “certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”
“If there was ever a red line, he has stepped across it,” Walz told reporters when asked about Trump’s alleged comments. “And so I appreciate General Kelly coming out at this moment.”
Trump’s campaign denied Kelly’s accounts Tuesday, with campaign spokesman Steven Cheung saying that Kelly had “beclowned himself with these debunked stories he has fabricated.”
Reporters also asked Walz about U.S. intelligence reports saying Russian interests were behind false allegations that he had acted inappropriately while employed as a teacher at Mankato West High School, and why he thought he had been targeted.
“Putin wants Donald Trump to win,” Walz opined.
