WINONA, Minn. – Masses of police evidence against Adam Fravel in the murder of Maddi Kingsbury in March, including serial beatings, have been released in court documents. Judge Mary Leahy unsealed the documents as part of the judicial process. Included are allegations that police withheld at the time so as not to tip possible perpetrators and conspirators to what the investigation was uncovering and to protect their sources. Among new revelations:
> Hospital chat. Lauren DeBois, a college classmate of Maddi, said she had told her that Fravel had been “beating the hell out of her for years.” She said Maddi, age 26, asked DeBois for advice on how to get out of the relationship. “Everything is bad with Adam at the house,” she quoted Maddi as saying. This was months before Maddi’s disappearance. At the time DeBois was hospitalized at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, where Maddi worked and had stopped by to talk. “If anything happens to me, know that Adam did it,” Maddi reportedly said.’ I would never leave my kids.” The couple had two children, 5 and 2.
> Confidant. Maddi’s close friend Katie Kolka said there have been issues with Fravel for a while and that a new man her life, Spencer Sullivan, was nice to her. Having someone finally be nice was new, Kolka quoted Maddie as saying.
> Therapy. Text messages revealed Maddi and Adam had been attending couple’s therapy since late 2022 or early 2023. To her mother, Maddi wrote: “I committed to therapy and making it work so I’m doing my best.” This was nine days before she disappeared. To another friend, Maddi had texted about therapy: “It’s been helpful so far since Adam and I just have so much traumatic history.”
> New man friend. Maddi met Spencer Sullivan on the online dating app Tinder in December 2021 and recently had resumed talking again. Six days before Maddi disappeared, she texted Sullivan, “He knows. I’m sorry.” Sullivan responded: “It’s OK. Did you tell him?” Madi answered: “Yes, he was asking what was wrong, and I can’t keep lying.” Sullivan told police that both he and Maddi knew Fravel was onto their relationship but probably didn’t know who he was. Sullivan said that when he and Maddi would get together, she would make her phone untraceable because Fravel would text her non-stop. Sullivan told police that he ended his relationship with Maddi when he learned that she had revealed it to Fravel. Later when a police investigator asked Fravel about Sullivan, Fravel responded, according to one document in the case, that he felt hurt that they were “hanging out together,” Even so, Travel told the investigator that his relationship with Maddi had continued to be cordial.
> Petito obsession. Text messages between Maddi and her friends confirmed previously reported news that Fravel had told Maddi in December that she would “end up like Gabby Petito” if she didn’t learn to “mind.” Petito was a 22-year-old woman who was killed by her fiance on a Wyoming vacation in 2021. The finance then returned to Florida before killing himself. In an April interview with police, after Maddi disappeared, Fravel admitted being “infatuated” with the Petito case. He acknowledged making the statement to Maddi but said but meant it only as a joke.
Earlier: Bail at $2 million for Fravel in murder case