Jury selection begins in murder trial of Minnesota man accused of killing his girlfriend

MANKATO, Minn. (AP) — Jury selection begins Monday in the murder trial of the former boyfriend of a Minnesota woman whose body was found hidden in a rural area of the state in 2023.

Adam Fravel, 30, has been charged with first-degree murder. He was arrested in June, 2023, days after deputies found the body of Madeline Kingsbury in a wooded area a few miles away from a property owned by Fravel’s parents. The 26-year-old Kingsbury vanished in March, 2023, after dropping off her and Fravel's two young children at day care in Winona, a southeastern Minnesota town of about 26,000 residents.

Kingsbury's disappearance garnered national attention and thousands of people joined in the search for her. Police said they investigated hundreds of tips and that digital evidence, including phone and computer records, helped lead to the discovery of the body. Fravel continues to maintain his innocence.

Prosecutors expect jury selection to last several days. Opening arguments could begin as soon as Oct. 14 if the jury selection doesn't take longer than expected. A judge granted a request from Fravel’s attorneys to have the case moved out of Winona, where many members of community helped search for Kingsbury. The trial will instead take place in Mankato, about 136 miles (219 kilometers) from Winona.

A criminal complaint said that after a friend reported Kingsbury missing, Fravel told police that they had recently decided to separate and she was seeing someone else. Investigators believe Fravel had financially relied on Kingsbury and killed her after she told him she planned to move out of the home they shared. The complaint said a friend of Kingsbury had seen Fravel be violent with her.

Fravel’s attorneys argue the case against him is circumstantial, citing no murder weapon or direct witness to the crime, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. They’ve also argued much of the testimony against him is hearsay.

Authorities said Kingsbury's body was found in a gray fitted bed sheet that had been closed with black Gorilla tape. An autopsy report said Kingsbury died of “homicidal violence,” but it did not contain additional details.

FILE - This booking photo provided by the Winona County, Minn., Detention Center shows Adam Fravel. (Winona County Detention Center via AP)

FILE - Officials hold a press conference discussing the finding of Madeline Kingsbury, June 9, 2023, in Winona, Minn. (Jacob Shafer/Winona Daily News via AP, file)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it won’t hear an appeal from the social media platform X over a search warrant prosecutors obtained in the election-interference case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their reasoning and there were no noted dissents.

The company, known as Twitter before it was purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, says a nondisclosure order that blocked it from telling Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The company also argues Trump should have had a chance to exert executive privilege. If not reined in, the government could use similar tactics to invade other privileged communications, their lawyers argued.

Two nonpartisan electronic privacy groups also weighed in, encouraging the high court to take the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, though, say the company never showed Trump had used the account for official purposes so executive privilege wouldn't be an issue. A lower court also found that telling Trump could have jeopardized the ongoing investigation.

Trump used his Twitter account in the weeks leading up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to spread false statements about the election that prosecutors allege were designed to sow mistrust in the democratic process.

The indictment details how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to come to Washington on Jan. 6, pressured his Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification and falsely suggested that the mob at the Capitol — which beat police officers and smashed windows — was peaceful.

That case is now inching forward after the Supreme Court’s ruling in July giving Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid rapid changes instituted by Musk, who purchased the platform in 2022 and has since laid off much of its staff, including workers dedicated to ferreting out misinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a long list of users who had been previously banned, including Trump, and endorsed him in the 2024 presidential race.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk listens as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)