Multiple longtime friends of Winona resident Madeline Kingsbury testified Wednesday they witnessed abuse at the hands of her accused killer and saw unusual bruises on her.

During a pre-trial appearance for Adam Fravel, Hailey Scott recalled a FaceTime call she had with Kingsbury shortly before Kingsbury revealed she was pregnant with Fravel’s second child, who was born in 2020.

Scott described Kingsbury in the kitchen with her and Fravel’s oldest child when Fravel came in and harshly asked why the house was a mess. Kingsbury told him that it maybe would not be that way if he helped with cleaning, Scott recalled.

Fravel then allegedly backhanded Kingsbury across her face. As a result, Kingsbury bumped into the counter, her phone falling to the ground.

The friends testified at the hearing against Fravel, who faces two first-degree murder and two second-degree murder charges and is expected to face trial starting Oct. 7 in Mankato.

Another good friend of Kingsbury, Lauren Debois, shared a similar experience Wednesday.

Debois said that while on a FaceTime with Kingsbury in 2021 or 2022, Kingsbury was cooking with her son present when Fravel started asking why the house wasn’t clean and food wasn’t done. Kingsbury told him that she was working on it, before Fravel allegedly shoved her.

Debois also said that when she and Kingsbury were visiting at Mayo Clinic in March 2023, Kingsbury told her, “If anything happens to me, Adam did it.”

Debois remembered during a March visit at Mayo — where she was regularly a patient and Kingsbury an employee — Kingsbury asked her for concealer so she could cover a red mark on her neck. Debois said she had seen part of the mark that day.

That wasn’t the only unusual bruise Kingsbury’s friends saw on her during her relationship with Fravel.

Scott said while on a FaceTime call with Kingsbury in fall 2022, she saw purple-colored bruises on her. When she inquired, Scott remembers Kingsbury telling her that it was just shadows, before using her sweater to cover the marks.

Scott tried to follow up, but recalled Kingsbury changing the topic and then abruptly saying that she had to end the call.

“She was afraid to be alone with him,” Scott said about Kingsbury’s relationship with Fravel.

Adam Fravel. (Winona County Sheriff’s Office)

Katie Kolka also said she saw bruises on Kingsbury’s neck in the fall of 2022, after she asked Kingsbury why she wore a turtleneck and leggings on a warm day.

Another friend of Kingsbury, Holly Stamschror, told the court she once saw pink, red and a little bit of purple discoloration on Kingsbury in 2018 — six months after the birth of Kingsbury and Fravel’s first child.

When asked about it, Kingsbury claimed things had gotten out of hand during intimacy.

Kingsbury’s friend Michaela Shaw recalled Wednesday that during a lunch between Shaw and Kingsbury in the summer or fall of 2022, she witnessed Kingsbury rolling her shoulder due to it bothering her. Kingsbury said it was injured when Fravel pushed her into a wall.

Shaw said Fravel had spoken to Kingsbury in derogatory fashion in the past, including calling her a “slut,” “dumb” and a “bitch.”

She said Fravel accused Kingsbury of trapping him in the relationship by getting pregnant.

Stamschror said she had been told there was emotional and mental abuse, as Kingsbury said Fravel was degrading about her body, told her she wasn’t good enough and that she would never find anyone else.

Debois also said Fravel became controlling after the first child was born and that Kingsbury started to fear for her safety then.

Debois said Kingsbury told her that Fravel threatened she would never see her children again if she left him.

The friends said Kingsbury frequently shared frustrations she had with Fravel, like him not helping enough with the children and house and how he treated her.

All five of Kingsbury’s friends who testified Wednesday recalled Kingsbury telling them that Fravel once put his hands around her neck and threatened that she would end up like Gabby Petito, a woman killed in 2021 by her fiancé.

Kingsbury’s family members discussed a similar incident Tuesday in court.

Kolka also testified about a situation that occurred the day before Kingsbury disappeared.

Kolka said Kingsbury called her frantically on March 30, 2023, and asked to come over to her house to work. Kingsbury said Fravel was scaring her and hovering over her at their home as she worked.

Kolka said Kingsbury told her Fravel made statements about her leaving him for her then-intimate partner Spencer Sullivan and was upset about the idea of another man raising his children.

Kingsbury told Kolka she had found a new place to live and was going to start a relationship with Sullivan.

Throughout the incidents, Kingsbury’s friends said they attempted to offer help to Kingsbury and advised her to leave Fravel.

Closer to her disappearance, Kingsbury said that she planned to leave, but before then, Kingsbury often stated reasons for staying such as not wanting to take her children away from their father.

Her friends also mentioned that Kingsbury did not want to involve the police.

Melissa Scaia, who has worked with over 2,000 victims of domestic violence throughout her career, testified about common reasons why a victim might stay in an abusive situation and why a victim might only tell certain people or share only certain details about the abuse.

Fravel faces four different charges in the case, including murder in the first degree while committing domestic abuse with a past pattern of domestic abuse, murder in the first degree premeditated, murder in the second degree and murder in the second degree without intent while committing a felony.

Fravel has been held in the Winona County jail since June 7, 2023. The body of Kingsbury, who went missing on March 31, 2023, was found that day in a culvert north of Mabel near the home of Fravel’s parents.

Kingsbury’s cause of death was listed only as “homicidal violence.”

Fravel’s trial is expected to start Oct. 7 in Mankato, after a change of venue request was granted earlier this year to move the case out of Winona County Court.

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