MANKATO, Minn.  – Painful text communications over several months became evidence in the Fravel murder trial, detailing an unraveling relationship between Fravel and Maddi Kingsbury. The texts were shown in screenshots to the jury by Matt Lund, a special agent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Lund was a prosecution witness. Clear from the texts was that Fravel had already moved pretty much out of the Winona duplex he and Maddi shared by March 31, 2023, thr day she disappeared. He was pretty kuch back to his parents’ home 40 miles away in southern Fillmore County.

Phone logs and text messages

Lund detailed text exchanges back to the end of 2022 – three months before the disappearance. Among points in the thread of communications:

> Fravel wanted to know why the relationship was ending and asked Kingsbury to “lay it all out.” Kingsbury responded in lengthy messages about years of build-up.  While expressing strong feelings for Fravel, she said she could never feel the same about their relationship again. Kingsbury apologized repeatedly for the deteriorating relationship. They had been together at least six years. The last thing she wanted to do, she said, was to hurt him again.

> Fravel sent photos to Kingsbury from their past, including some of them together and some of their two pre-school children. Fravel said he found the photos while “cleaning out.” Kingsbury responded that the photos were made her feel worse. Fravel denied that such was his intent. Kingsbury asked him to stop sending photos, but he didn’t.

> In an exchange on March. 27, four days before Kingsbury went missing, she told him she was looking for a new place to live in Winona. Fravel asked her to consider a townhouse in Rushford, 20 miles south of Winona, so that the children wouldn’t be too far from his parents’ house in Mabel.

> On March 31, the day of Kingsbury‘s disappearance. she appears to have sent him a cash transfer of $20. The transfer wasn’t explained There also was Fravel asking Kingsbury what was for supper, and that he was considering taking their children to his parents’ house in Mabel for the weekend after picking them up from daycare. This was a Friday.

> A phone log of Kingsbury’s phone showed missed calls from family and friends later that day.

Defense finds sunnier exchanges

Fravel’s defense attorney, Zach Bauer, had advance access to records presented Matt Lund, the state investigator, from pre-trial proceedings. Bauer put  a different cast on the phone logs and text exchanges:

> In one thread Fravel was thanking Kingsbury’s stepmother for wishing him a happy birthday. Fravel called herb“mom.”

> In a similar exchange thenext year, Fravel thanked the stepmother for a birthday present.

> In a conversation between Fravel and Kingsbury in May 2022, both Fravel and Kingsbury appeared to be happy. Kingsbury told Fravel she appreciated him “so much” and was glad they were a family.

> Some exchanges were romantic.

> In one exchange Kingsbury told her sister that things between her and Fravel were “lots better” and that partner therapy had “really helped.” Her sister asked if they would marry. Kingsbury’s answer: “Probably yeah.” This was a month before Kingsbury went missing.

Earlier: Fravel trial /25: His attorney warns about mistrial