Naman Shrestha
In March 2023, a young mother of two named Maddi Kingsbury disappeared without any trace, which made her concerned sister jump into TikTok and ask the public to help her get any clues about the whereabouts of her sister. But when Maddi’s remains were found a couple of months after her disappearance, her loved ones’ worst nightmare turned into reality. The entire case is covered in detail on CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Disappearance of Maddi Kingsbury,’ which also includes interviews with Maddi’s family and friends, as well as experts linked to the case.
Maddi Kingsbury Went Missing After Dropping Off Her Kids to Daycare
Born on June 1, 1996, to David and Krista Kingsbury in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Madeline Jane “Maddi” Kingsbury grew up under the love and care of her father and her stepmother Cathy, as well as her siblings — brother Steven Kingsbury and sister Megan Kingsbury. Her strength and competency were reflected in her strong voice as many admired her singing. After graduating from Farmington High School, she went to Winona State University for higher studies. Thanks to her educational qualifications, she bagged a job as a clinical research coordinator at the Mayo Clinic.
Meanwhile, Maddi had gotten into the University of Minnesota where she was pursuing the Public Health Administration master’s degree program. In between, she met Adam Fravel and got into an on-and-off relationship with him. One thing led to another and the couple welcomed two children into the world — Ellie and Noah — whom she loved dearly. While everything appeared to be fine on the surface of Maddi’s life, that wasn’t actually the case as the mother of two vanished into thin air on March 31, 2023. On the morning of March 31, Maddi and Adam reportedly dropped their children off at daycare. After that, reports suggested that she did not arrive for work, which was quite unusual.
As per Adam, he drove her minivan around 10 am to run some errands, but when he returned she was not at home. When Maddi did not contact her sister Megan, raising alarm bells as it was uncharacteristic of her. Megan asked her former boyfriend Adam Fravel about Maddi’s whereabouts but even he hadn’t heard from her. A few days later, a massive crowd gathered and began a two-day search for Maddi across the southeastern parts of Minnesota, which did not yield any helpful clues. Soon, Adam became a person of interest in the eyes of the authorities as he was one of the last persons to have seen her alive.
In the midst of this, two weeks after Maddi’s disappearance, Adam passed a statement through his representatives, saying, “During these 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 Maddi’s disappearance. I want the mother of my 5-year-old and 2-year-old to be found and brought home safely. I want that more than anything.” Meanwhile, Megan documented the entire search on her social media, asking public’s help and attention in bringing her sister home safe and sound.
Maddi Kingsbury’s Remains Were Found Two Months Later
After more than two months of extensive search, there was still no sign of Maddi Kingsbury until June 7, 2023, when a body was found off a remote Minnesota highway, a few miles from Fravel’s parent’s home near Mabel, covered in a bed sheet and held together with black tape. When the remains were positively identified as Maddi’s, two days later, the officials charged her former boyfriend Adam Fravel with second-degree murder.
In spite of the tragic news, Megan did not stop updating her followers on TikTok about the case. She stated, “I think it’s important to share your grief journey … I’ve gotten a lot of messages from people who’ve gone through something similar, and it’s helped them kind of face their own grief and, I guess, feel freer to share it with other people.” As the police dug deeper into the relationship between Maddi and Adam, they found out that the former was in the middle of moving out of the home she shared with her former boyfriend at the time she went missing.
Moreover, about a month before she vanished, Maddi paid a visit to one of her friends from Winona State University — Lauren DeBois — who was hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic, where Maddi was employed. Maddie reportedly opened up about her situation with Adam and told her that he had been physically assaulting her for several years. Lauren claimed that Maddi also added something along the lines of: “If anything happens to me, know that Adam did it. I would never leave my kids.” Apart from this, another piece of information that led the police to suspect Adam is the fact that he filed for custody of his two children.
However, his petition was denied by the court on June 5, 2023, just a couple of days prior to the discovery of her remains, and ordered that the children should stay with Maddi’s parents. While Adam maintained his innocence related to Maddi’s murder charge, his indictment was heightened in October 2023 as he was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder. A few months later, in January 2024, Adam appealed for a motion to dismiss the first-degree charge against him arguing that there was not enough evidence against the accused for him to receive the elevated charge.
His defense also filed a motion to move any future trial out of Winona County. While he is awaiting his trial, Adam is currently being held behind bars on a $3 million bail. His sister Theresa Sis Mejía believes that her brother is 150% innocent and had no hand in the murder of Maddie Kingsbury.
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