Over two months after her’suspicious’ disappearance, the body of a missing Minnesota mother was discovered, according to authorities on Thursday.
Adam Fravel, Madeline Kingsbury’s missing mother’s ex-boyfriend, was detained when officials discovered a body while investigating a tip about her absence.
A Fillmore County Sheriff’s Deputy uncovered the horrifying discovery close to the hamlet of Mabel, over 45 miles from the home that Kingsbury, 26, and her two children shared.
At a press conference on Thursday, Winona Police Chief Tom Williams confirmed the body belonged to the missing mom.
‘The body was found in some brush off Highway 43 and was located using information generated during the Madeline Kingsbury investigation,’ the Winona Police Department said.
Williams called the area a ‘low-maintenance public roadway.’ Although search teams had combed through the area shortly after her disappearance, Kingsbury’s ‘body was covered and concealed in such a manner that she was not visible,’ Williams said.
Although the area was public land, it is located only ‘several minutes’ away from the Fravel family’s property in the same small town, Fillmore County Sheriff John DeGeorge said.
The investigators from the Sheriff’s Office were lead to the area by ‘digital evidence,’ Chief Williams said, which included ‘mountains’ of phone and computer records from Kingsbury’s ex-boyfriend.
The Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office is working to identify the remains and determine if they belong to the missing mom.
Fravel, 29, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder.
‘We have said that we will hold anyone involved in Madeline’s disappearance accountable, and we will hold steadfast on that commitment,’ Chief Williams said on Thursday.
The discovery and arrest may mark an end to the two month-long search for Kingsbury, who was last seen dropping her two children, ages five and two, off at daycare on March 31.
Kingsbury’s car returned to her home after the drop-off, but Fravel said she was gone when he arrived the same morning at 10.00am.
Police described her disappearance as ‘involuntary’ and ‘suspicious.’
‘Nothing to date has indicated that Maddie left the residence on foot or in another vehicle,’ Police Chief Williams said at a press conference shortly after her disappearance.
Investigators found her phone, wallet, ID, and the jacket she had been seen wearing when dropping her children off that morning.
In April, Fravel released a statement to local media denying he had anything to do with Kingsbury’s disappearance and insisting he was cooperating with police.
‘I did not have anything to do with Maddi’s disappearance,’ Fravel stated. ‘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.’
Kingsbury’s two children have remained with their grandparents since her disappearance.