Flames of hope. Clergy from several churches lit candles at the aisles to be passed through the pews until everyone had a symbolic flame. The vigil ended with everyone raising a candle and singing “You Are My Sunshine.”
Father: “Don’t stop until she’s found”
WINONA, Minn. – Hundreds of townspeople filled every pew in First Congregational Church for a vigil to bring Maddi home. Her family and college sorority sisters were tearful with memories and simultaneously hopeful that Maddi, age 26, mother of two, would be found. Her father pleaded as firmly as his broken voice would allow:
“When you leave here tonight you should be thinking: Not here. Not in our town.
“Someone knows something. Someone saw something.
“Make this your battle cry: Where’s Madeline? Where is she? Make it loud. Don’t stop until she’s found.”
Whoever is responsible, justice will be done, he said.
Missing from memory montage
A slide-show montage of photos from Kingsbury family albums was shown on a large screen. Notably absent from hundreds of photos was anything with the father of Maddi’s children — Adam Fravel. He is the last person known to have seen Maddi the day she disappeared. To Maddi’s family, Fravel has been persona non grata. He has not been invited to her family-organized searches and news conferences nor or to either of two vigils — this even though he’s concerned: “I want the mother of my 5-year-old and 2-year-old to be found and brought home safely,” he said. “I want that more than anything” Fravel, a software engineer, is seeking custody of their children. Social workers took the children from Fravel at his parents’ home Mabel, 45 miles from Winona, after police declared Maddi an “endangered missing person” whose disappearance was “suspicious.” Police have been consistent that Fravel is neither a suspect nor a person of interest. The children, meanwhile, are being well cared for temporarily in a home selected by social workers, Maddi’s family said.