Scott Sherman is the mayor of Winona, Minnesota, a small city on the banks of the Mississippi.
Mayor Scott Sherman: There’s just something about Winona that keeps pulling you back.
Mayor Scott Sherman: Living here in Winona is really cool.
It’s so cool that TV and film star Winona Ryder is named for the town, as she told the world in a 2020 Super Bowl ad.
WINONA RYDER IN WINONA AD: “There’s something about this place, something that feels so me …”
Madeline Kingsbury, 26, also felt that certain “something” about Winona. So, when Mayor Sherman heard that she had gone missing, he tells “48 Hours” correspondent Peter Van Sant he wanted to help.
Mayor Scott Sherman: I felt that Maddi was a daughter of Winona … She was a bright young woman working through school, working … a — a job in Rochester and raising kids all at the same time, that’s a lot. … So, I had respect for Maddi.
And Mayor Sherman thought he could help because, as an avid bicyclist, he rides the woodsy paths around Winona all year long.
Peter Van Sant: You know the back roads of this area?
Mayor Scott Sherman: I do.
Peter Van Sant: And you went out yourself.
Mayor Scott Sherman: I did.
But as mayor, Sherman felt his first job was to support Maddi’s distraught mother Krista Naber when she arrived at the search command center.
Mayor Scott Sherman: she gave me a hug that I will never forget the rest of my life. … It was a hug that showed fear, concern.
Peter Van Sant: And so what were — what message were you sending with that hug?
Mayor Scott Sherman: I’m here for you. We will do our damndest to find her.
WHERE’S MADDI KINGSBURY?
Maddi’s family first began worrying about her late in the afternoon of Friday, March 31, 2023, when Naber realized she had not heard from her daughter for nearly the entire day.
Krista Naber: Something in my gut just didn’t feel right.
Peter Van Sant: Mother’s intuition?
Krista Naber: Right.
Naber contacted Megan, Maddi’s older sister, but Megan said she was not overly concerned.
Megan Kingsbury: I sent her a couple of text messages anyway … “Hey mom, hasn’t heard from you. Can you call her? Can you text her back? … She’s concerned.” … and she didn’t reply to that.
Fravel family
At the time, Maddi was living with Adam Fravel, the father of their children. The two had met in college at Winona State University.
Megan Kingsbury: He was outgoing, and seemed interested in getting to know us, and he seemed very, almost infatuated, I guess, with … Madeline.
While still in college, Maddi and Adam learned they were expecting their first child and decided to settle in Winona.
Theresa Sis Mejia: He manned up, he manned up.
Theresa Sis Mejia, Fravel’s sister, says Adam quit school to support his new family.
Theresa Sis Mejia: He knew he was gonna be a dad. He went and got a job … and he had that job up until COVID, and then he got laid off … while he let Maddi continue college so that she could graduate … and she did. She graduated and he supported her.
After graduation, Maddi began working at the Mayo Clinic and became a clinical research coordinator. And Maddi’s father David Kingsbury said she recently had begun studying for an advanced degree.
David Kingsbury: She was … a graduate student in a master’s program at the University of Minnesota … Had just completed her first semester there and was doing very well.
Fravel, who had studied computer science in college, began taking flying lessons with an eye toward getting his pilot’s license.
Theresa Sis Mejia: When he was taking pilot lessons like that, he felt so accomplished … It made him feel good. And I was so proud of him for doing it, for doing something for himself.
Krista Naber: I enjoyed being around him … I could tell that he really cared for Madeline.
On the evening of March 31, Megan Kingsbury was hours away from Winona when she reached out to Fravel, who said he was concerned.
Megan Kingsbury: He said … I got home today and she was gone …
Fravel and the children were at his parents’ home in Mabel, an hour south of Winona. That’s when Megan Kingsbury messaged Maddi’s close friend Katie Kolka, who lived in Winona: “My parents and I haven’t been able to get in contact with Maddi all day …” Katie responds: “I’m on my way over there right now.”
The house was eerily silent, and it was at that point Kolka called the Winona police.
Peter Van Sant: And you want this missing persons report to be filed, but what did they tell you?
Katie Kolka: They told me that I wasn’t able to report it because it hadn’t been 24 hours yet.
Megan Kingsbury: I was pacing in my kitchen. I was getting really really worried.
So was Maddi’s father who tried to reach her.
David Kingsbury: Where are you? What’s going on?
The next morning, with Maddi now missing nearly 24 hours, the Kingsbury family filed a missing persons report.
And then Fravel went to Facebook asking for help. His post read in part: “If anybody has seen Maddi … please contact the Winona PD, me or any of her family members … Please help me find the mom to our 2 beautiful kids.”
Mary Fulginiti | “48 Hours” consultant: The police went to great lengths, I have to say, to try to … find Maddi quickly … because they know that there’s a ticking clock on these things.
And the investigation took off.
Mary Fulginiti: It’s extraordinary what they did.
“TIKTOK, I NEED YOU TO DO YOUR THING …”
The news that Maddi was missing spread quickly through Winona and beyond. Hailey Scott, one of Maddi’s sorority sisters, wanted to help.
Hailey Scott: I reached out to our sorority … I reached out to news outlets … I was grasping at straws.
At the same time, detectives reached out to Adam Fravel. According to police reports, Fravel told them how on the morning of March 31, the couple dropped off their children at the daycare center.
Friend of Maddi Kingsbury
Investigators confirmed the drop-off after speaking to the daycare provider who gave police security video.
This video has never been seen by the public until now. It was one of the last times Maddi is seen on video before she vanished. Police say Fravel told them he and Maddi returned home after the drop-off and she went to her office in the basement to do a little work before heading to the Mayo Clinic.
Mary Fulginiti: I have taken a look at all the evidence that we have thus far in the Maddi Kingsbury case.
Mary Fulginiti, a former prosecutor and defense attorney, is a “48 Hours” consultant. She says that in his police interview, Fravel told detectives he left Maddi his car and borrowed her blue minivan to haul some boxes.
Mary Fulginiti: He … proceeded to put some boxes in the van that he was going to move to his parents’ house … He said he didn’t see Maddi again … He drove to his parents’ house on Highway 43.
Police say Fravel told them he got as far as the township of Choice, Minnesota, when he realized he had made a mistake.
Mary Fulginiti: The boxes that he had in the van were ones that he actually wanted to put in storage. So he turned around and he went back to the home.
Police say Fravel told investigators he arrived back at his Winona home around 11:30 a.m. and saw his car still in the driveway.
Mary Fulginiti: He said he had texted her a few times, asking about dinner and whether or not she was gonna pick up the kids … There was no response.
Friend of Maddi Kingsbury
Police say Fravel told them he’d assumed Maddi had carpooled to work and when he did not hear from her, he went alone to do that pick up of the kids. Again, the video from the daycare appears to corroborate that part of Fravel’s story.
Mary Fulginiti: So he ultimately picked up the children around 4:20 or 4:30, um, from daycare and brought them to his parents’ house in Mabel, Minnesota.
During a police interview, investigators noted that Fravel had “fresh scratches” on his face the day after Maddi disappeared. Fravel’s sister says he told her the scratches came from a friend’s dog.
On Saturday, April 1, police searched the Winona house where Fravel lived with Maddi. Investigators reported they saw no overt signs of foul play.
Mary Fulginiti: But what was in the house was her purse, her jacket, her credit cards, um, but no Maddi.
Two days later, an anxious Megan Kingsbury rushed out of her shower and alerted her TikTok followers to what was going on.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST: TikTok. I need you to do your thing. I need your help. This is my sister Madeline Kingsbury. Um, she’s missing …
Megan Kingsbury: I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I was in a towel.
The post eventually had over a half million views.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST: … Help us find her. She’s got two kids. She’s my best friend, she’s my little sister. We need to get her back. Please help us.
Peter Van Sant: You’re obviously in terror here … The look on your face. But you’re reaching out for help and people wanted to help.
Megan Kingsbury: Yes.
CBS MINNESOTA | NEWS REPORT: So many people have asked to help look for Madeline Kingsbury that it allowed law enforcement to expand their search …
Hailey Scott: There’s no guidebook on how to search for a missing loved one … and searching for her was easily one of the most traumatic things I’ve ever experienced in my life.
Megan Kingsbury/TikTok
By the end of the weekend, there was no sign of Maddi. Day by day, Megan Kingsbury continued to post updates to TikTok.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST: It’s Tuesday the 25th … still no Madeline … now next week is May. We’re still in this hell …
Megan Kingsbury: I feel like all of us, like every night, we would look out — it’s cold. It’s dark. Is she like laying out there somewhere? … Is she like trapped somewhere? … and you just — you don’t know what to do.
Behind the scenes though, investigators began taking a harder look at Fravel, especially after Maddi’s friends came forward with some disturbing stories.
Hailey Scott: Madeline called me shortly after an incident happened between her and Adam … where he had told her that if she wasn’t careful, she was going to end up just like Gabby Petito.
The Gabby Petito case fixated the nation in the fall of 2021, after the young woman from Long Island was found dead one month after she seemingly vanished from the face of the earth.
Hailey Scott: I told her you need to get out and you need to get it … get out now. That’s not an empty threat.
A FATHER’S WARNING: “HE IS GOING TO KILL YOU”
Years before Maddi vanished, her sister Megan Kingsbury says the on-again, off-again relationship between Maddi and Fravel seemed to be headed for a bad ending.
Megan Kingsbury: He just wasn’t nice to her … He didn’t act like he loved her. He didn’t help take care of the kids. He didn’t clean.
Peter Van Sant: And honestly, did you reach a point where you — you advised your sister, you know, perhaps it’s time to move on in your life from him?
Megan Kingsbury: Many times.
Maddi’s father David said it pained him to see how shabbily Fravel treated Maddi.
David Kingsbury: I think she literally poured out a river of love for him and she got nary a drop in return.
Maddi’s stepmother Cathy Kingsbury says Maddi often called, saying Fravel was of no help with the children.
Cathy Kingsbury: She’d be just sobbing miserably that Adam’s not helping. I hate this.
But Maddi’s family and friends say there was more than just tearful arguments. About three years before Maddi went missing, Hailey Scott says she witnessed Fravel slap Maddi during a video call. Scott and Maddi were talking, Scott says, when Fravel appeared in the background and began shouting at Maddi.
Hailey Scott: He yelled, “I don’t understand why this house is such a f****** mess” … and she said, “I don’t know, maybe you should help me,” um, to which Adam turned, and he slapped her with an open hand across the face.
And in September 2021, some 18 months before Maddi disappeared, she told Scott about Fravel’s dark fascination with the Petito story.
Hailey Scott: Adam had an infatuation, and I would call it an obsession, with the Gabby Petito case.
Scott says Maddi had told her that one night, after she and Fravel watched a news special about the Petito murder, his obsession turned threatening.
Hailey Scott: He had actually turned and grabbed her by the throat and pinned her down and told her that if she wasn’t careful that she would end up just like her.
Katie Kolka says she tried to get Maddi to do something.
Katie Kolka: And I begged her and begged her, please go to the hospital, document it yourself, do whatever you need to do. You need to get this documented so you can get out of there safely with those kids.
But Kolka says Maddi never reported anything to the police.
Katie Kolka: She was more scared that Adam was gonna get arrested.
Peter Van Sant: She wanted to protect him.
Katie Kolka: She was protecting him.
Maddi did, however, tell her father David and stepmother Cathy about the choking incident.
Cathy Kingsbury: She was like, horribly afraid. She’d been choked and she was very, very scared and wanted help.
Cathy Kingsbury says she and David drove to Maddi’s house and got her and the children out of there.
David Kingsbury: She came with us. We went to the house so she could get some of her things and some of the clothing for the kids and whatnot and put the kids in the van and followed us back to our home in Farmington.
But Cathy Kingsbury says Maddi stayed in the Kingsbury house only three days before returning to Fravel because he was “upset” that she’d left.
David Kingsbury: I did tell her at some point, he — he is going to kill you.
Peter Van Sant: You said that to Maddi.
David Kingsbury: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: You felt there was enough danger that you had to say to your own daughter, I think he may kill you. … And how did she respond to that statement, or did she?
David Kingsbury: Honestly, I mean, she … became a pro at minimizing things, and it came back to, well, he was — he was joking. She told me he was joking, and she wanted to believe that
When Maddi went missing, her friends and family reported those incidents to police. According to a search warrant, detectives interviewed Fravel and asked if he and Maddi had ever had any “physical altercations.” “He said, ‘oh no.'” When detectives asked about those Gabby Petito comments, police say Fravel admitted them, but “claimed he was trying to make a joke.”
But according to a search warrant, investigators found an old screen shot Maddi had saved of some texts she’d exchanged with Adam:
MADDI KINGSBURY TEXT: You know I’m not really okay with or over the fact that you put your hand around my neck and pushed me down in front of the kids earlier so don’t
Not okay with it at all but especially with them there.
ADAM FRAVEL: You’ll adjust
MADDI KINGSBURY: The f*** I will …
Detectives wanted to know everything about what Fravel did the day Maddi went missing and began collecting surveillance videos from homes and businesses.
Police say a blue minivan that looked like Maddi’s was videotaped on Highway 43 — the road Fravel told police he’d taken that morning. But according to a search warrant, the timestamps do not match Fravel’s timeline. The cameras tracked the blue minivan until around noon, police say.
Mary Fulginiti: And then there’s a 45-minute gap.
That gap occurs around Choice, Minnesota. Police say that is where Adam told them he realized he took the wrong boxes, turned the van around and drove straight back to Winona. According to that warrant, “there is a 45-minute window that Fravel could not be tracked.”
Mary Fulginiti: Where was he during those 45 minutes? I mean, that was the big, you know, the big question, right?
CBS News
But with no direct evidence and no sign of Maddi, investigators did not arrest Fravel, and he continued to live at his parents’ home with the children. Meanwhile, Megan Kingsbury continued her updates on TikTok.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST | April 14, 2023: Madeline still has not been located, unfortunately. Um, so we’re still plugging along and looking for her.
As detectives continued to investigate, they uncovered a new lead — a romantic relationship Maddi had been having with another man, an Army veteran named Spencer Sullivan.
Spencer Sullivan: I’m Spencer Sullivan and I was dating Madeline Kingsbury at the time of her disappearance.
And now police were interested to know Sullivan’s whereabouts the day Maddi went missing.
A NEW LOVE INTEREST FOR MADDI KINGSBURY
In the spring of 2023, Maddi knew her relationship with Fravel was falling apart, and she was brutally honest with her father.
David Kingsbury: She says, you know, dad … I know that I’m in a bad relationship. I know my family knows it. … I know my friends know it. And I’m embarrassed about it, but I don’t know what to do about it.
But Maddi had joined Tinder, which is where she reconnected with Sullivan, who she knew from college.
Spencer Sullivan: We were friends on Facebook, so I knew that she had kids … I wasn’t sure what the status of the relationship was exactly with, uh, Adam Fravel.
As it turns out, Sullivan also knew Fravel from Winona State.
Spencer Sullivan: He was in the same fraternity as I was.
Peter Van Sant: Tell me about the Adam you knew back then.
Spencer Sullivan: He and I didn’t really talk all that much.
Maddi told Sullivan that she and Fravel had reached the point of no return. Maddi and Sullivan began dating, but quietly.
Spencer Sullivan: We both kind of agreed to keep it secret between us until she was on her own.
Mostly, the relationship was a secret from Fravel. Maddi’s family and girlfriends knew about it, and they told police about Sullivan when Maddi went missing. That’s when investigators called Sullivan in for an interview.
Spencer Sullivan: They were … just kind of asking me general questions about when we had started dating. … where were you at this point, what were you doing at this point?
Peter Van Sant: What were you doing on March 31st, 2023?
Spencer Sullivan: Uh, that morning I was at work.
Sullivan surrendered his phone while investigators checked out his alibi. As they looked into his story, they also learned from Maddi’s friends and family that only six days before she disappeared, she finally had told Fravel about Sullivan.
Megan Kingsbury: She didn’t want to lie and she just — it bubbled up inside of her the — this guilt.
Peter Van Sant: Is it true that Maddi told Adam about Spencer?
David Kingsbury: Yeah.
Peter Van Sant: That’s a pretty gutsy thing to do.
Cathy Kingsbury: Uh, we wish she had not.
It all came pouring out and Megan Kingsbury says Maddi told Fravel she was leaving him and looking for an apartment where she would live with their children.
Peter Van Sant: And did she tell you how Adam reacted to the news?
Megan Kingsbury: I think she said he cried, and he was really hurt at the time.
Theresa Sis Mejia: I’m sure he was personally hurt and heartbroken — all of a sudden, you find out … she has feelings for somebody else and it’s over.
CBS News
Fravel’s sister Theresa, as well as his brother Ryan, say news of the break-up hurt them as well, because Maddi was a cherished member of their extended family.
Ryan Fravel: Maddi was a sister to all of us, and our hearts are … broken. … We lost a close family member.
They point out that, although Adam Fravel and Maddi always had an on-again, off-again relationship, they stayed together for seven years.
Theresa Sis Mejia: I was completely shocked when I learned that she was dating Spencer behind my brother’s back.
Maddi’s best friend Katie Kolka says tensions between Maddi and Fravel were sky high after her revelation about Spencer. It was the day before she disappeared.
Katie Kolka: She called me crying and she asked if she could come work at our house … She said that Adam was hovering over her while she was working and making comments about some other man raising his kids and, you know, are you really gonna leave me for another man? … She felt very threatened.
Maddi left her house and went to Kolka’s before ending up at Sullivan’s home, also in Winona.
Spencer Sullivan: She came over to celebrate my birthday with me … she brought a couple donuts that we could split with each other. She had a gift for me. … It was a little LEGO set, a little Star Wars LEGO set. I got a card from her and it was a Star Wars card.
Peter Van Sant: That last time you saw her person to person.
Spencer Sullivan: I remember she’s standing at my front steps. She turned around and smiled at me and waved and (sighs) that was the last time I saw her.
Within days of his interview, police confirmed Sullivan’s alibi and returned his phone. Eventually, police say, he was cleared. Maddi’s friend Hailey Scott says Spencer was the best thing to happen to her in a long time.
Hailey Scott: Spencer showed her that she deserved so much more than Adam.
CBS News
Sullivan says he was devastated in the wake of Maddi’s disappearance.
Spencer Sullivan: I thought to myself, like, stuff like this doesn’t — doesn’t happen here, you know. … we were talking about her moving into her new place and … She wanted me to come over and help her decorate, do stuff … and then the next day she’s gone.
He says he couldn’t stop thinking about the birthday card Maddi had given him.
Spencer Sullivan: I think I re-read that card at least a hundred times … (sighs) that like all I could think was this — this (LEGO) kit — sorry. (emotional).
Four days after Maddi vanished, her parents were given temporary custody of her children.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST: My niece and nephew are no longer in the custody of their father. … you know we appreciate the concern for them but they’re — they’re in good hands.
When Maddi’s friend, Lauren Debois, thought about Maddi’s children, she recalled a conversation she’d had with Maddi a month earlier and she reported it to police.
Lauren Debois: She told me … that she needed me to know that if anything were to happen to her or her children, that Adam did it. She would never leave her children for anything under any circumstances.
Ten days after Maddi disappeared, police had received a tip that Fravel had been seen riding near his parents’ home with a shovel in his family’s utility vehicle. Police seized his vehicle and, according to a search warrant, cadaver dogs alerted to a scent in the vehicle and on the shovel.
Mary Fulginiti: You know, it’s my understanding that they are trained and specifically trained to find human — human remains.
Two days later, Adam put out a statement through his attorneys. It read, in part: “I have cooperated with law enforcement at every turn … 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.”
Maddi had been missing 35 days when Kolka and others gathered to remember her at a local church.
KATIE KOLKA (crying): “She was the kindest most beautiful soul … even on the brightest days, it still feels dark and gloomy without her here.
David Kingsbury addressed the crowd.
DAVE KINGSBURY: We know that Madeline is around her somewhere. She just didn’t vanish. Someone knows something. Somone saw something. Make this your battle cry. “Where’s Madeline? Where is she?” Make it loud and don’t stop until she’s found.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CASE
For Megan Kingsbury, June 7, 2023, started out like every other day since Maddi disappeared.
MEGAN KINGSBURY TIKTOK POST | June 7, 2023: Hey TikTok. Good morning. Happy Wednesday. …Maddi’s still missing … Please continue to spread the word about my sister, Madeline…
But hours later — 68 days after Maddi disappeared — a sheriff’s deputy found human remains along a lonely country road.
David Kingsbury: While it hadn’t been certified by the medical examiner, they’re fairly certain that it was my daughter.
Megan Kingsbury: I was on the floor and like screamed, crying … you know what do you say when somebody tells you something like that? There’s nothing that you can say.
For Maddi’s best friend Katie Kolka, the news was shattering; her reaction captured on her video doorbell camera.
The very next day, Maddi’s friends heard the news from Winona’s police chief.
POLICE CHIEF TOM WILLIAMS (to reporters): Law enforcement has confirmed the remains are those of Madeline Kingsbury.
Krista Naber: You can’t ever prepare yourself for one of your children, um, to — to die, much less be found somewhere outside, found as she was.
Megan Kingsbury: She was wrapped in, um, a gray fitted bed sheet that had black duct tape around the ends. And, um, there was a towel wrapped around her head.
Winona Police Department
Adam Fravel was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. The grey bed sheet wrapped around Maddi, according to a criminal complaint, seemed to match a set found in Maddi’s home.
And the isolated road where Maddi’s remains were found, according to that criminal complaint, had been maintained by the Fravel family at one point. This area is also close to the township of Choice, where, police believe, there are 45 minutes unaccounted for in Fravel’s timeline.
Maddi’s body was found in a culvert.
Maddi’s autopsy listed her cause of death as “homicidal violence” — nothing more.
In October 2023, Adam Fravel was indicted on additional first-degree murder charges. Fravel’s possible motive for murder? In a warrant, investigators allege Fravel was in distress due to “his financial dependence” on Maddi and was upset about “the end of their relationship.” Investigators also learned that Maddi had a “death benefit of $170,000” but had not listed a beneficiary.
Mary Fulginiti: She was his — his meal ticket … she was the one who provided for them.
According to a search warrant, when police entered the couple’s house, they noticed that surveillance cameras inside the home had been removed. Former prosecutor Mary Fulginiti says it’s the way they appeared to have been taken down that caught detectives’ attention.
Mary Fulginiti: They found that the surveillance cameras that he had installed have been ripped out, that they were no longer there … so all of those are indicators of, you know, he’s up to something in consciousness of guilt.
Theresa Sis Mejia: He had those down weeks before … they were in the process of moving.
Fravel’s sister and brother say at one point, before Maddi and Adam broke up, the couple was planning to move together to Adam’s parents’ home.
Ryan Fravel: We want people to know that there are two sides to the story.
Take, for instance, those cadaver dogs alerting to the utility vehicle and shovel. Fravel’s family says that’s because on the previous weekend their dad used that shovel to move a dead raccoon.
Peter Van Sant: A raccoon.
Ryan Fravel: A raccoon.
Theresa Sis Mejia: They used a shovel to pick it up.
Theresa Sis Mejia: … every time we would try to clarify anything to the investigators, we were just treated with that. Like — like we’re just delusional.
Theresa Sis Mejia: I believe Adam 150 percent that he is innocent … he would never harm Maddi, the mother to his children, you know, he’d never do such a thing.
Fravel’s defense team has asked a judge to suppress Adam’s police interview because they claim he wasn’t read his Miranda rights. It’s the interview where he admitted making comments about Gabby Petito but said he was only joking.
In preliminary hearings, his lawyers also say there is not enough evidence to warrant the first-degree murder charge. Fravel’s siblings insist authorities should take a closer look at Spencer Sullivan.
Ryan Fravel: We’re trying to — trying to expand, uh, the investigator’s eyes that something else could easily have happened.
Peter Van Sant: What do you think of that?
Spencer Sullivan: I mean, they’re trying to protect Adam … they kind of need to come to terms with the fact that — my personal opinion, uh, they got the right person.
David Kingsbury: There is a presumption of innocence in our legal system, of course, that everybody is entitled to … But there is also a court of common sense. And in the court of common sense, all roads lead to Adam Fravel.
The Kingsbury family is speaking out now in hopes of saving someone else.
David Kingsbury: That’s the reason why we’re here and that’s the reason why we’re talking about this because we don’t want it to happen to anybody else.
Peter Van Sant: This is emotionally very powerful right now for you. Are you — you don’t blame yourself for this. Do you?
Cathy Kingsbury: I think we all blame ourselves to some degree. When I would talk to her, I didn’t push, you know. I wanted her to be able to say things when she was ready to say things.
David Kingsbury: He had his hooks in her, and the kids make it really difficult.
For Maddi’s father, whatever the jury decides, there is a larger truth that haunts him.
David Kingsbury: I’ll always be the father of a murdered girl.
Spencer Sullivan told “48 Hours” he too feels haunted by a conversation he and Maddi had weeks before she vanished.
Spencer Sullivan: She told me that she was in love with me … And unfortunately, I was too chicken s*** to say it back, but (sighs).
Peter Van Sant: Does that bother you?
Spencer Sullivan: Every day.
Spencer Sullivan: I saw a future with Maddi and it felt like somebody just ripped the next 60 years out of my life.
For Megan Kingsbury, who was so close with her little sister, she still can’t imagine a future without Maddi.
Megan Kingsbury: I feel like even just saying that we’re sisters doesn’t describe being the closeness that we had. We were confidants for each other.
Peter Van Sant: How do you want Maddi to be remembered?
David Kingsbury: Somebody that mattered. And I think everything we’ve seen and heard from people really affirmed that … she mattered to many, many people … all of her friends … said “she’s my best friend.” She was everybody’s best friend.
Adam Fravel’s trial is expected to begin in the fall of 2024. His defense team has asked for a change of venue.
Produced by Paul LaRosa and Jordan Kinsey. Mike McHugh producer-editor. Mike Loftus is the associate producer. Michelle Sigona and Ryan N. Smith are the development producers. Greg McLaughlin and Jason Schmidt and Michelle Harris are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer.