“He didn’t always lie, but he didn’t always tell the truth either,” Bauer said. “And he had hidden truths, and that’s okay. And his friends, in an effort to change this, told a lot of revisionist history that was not supported by evidence.”

Kingsbury’s disappearance from her Winona home on March 31, 2023 sparked nationwide attention and spurred more than 2,000 volunteers to search for her along Hwy. 43 south of Winona for more than two months. A Fillmore County deputy found her body in a culvert on June 7 of that year.

lawyers we rarely agreed based on evidence as they parsed each other’s arguments Wednesday morning and early afternoon.

Law enforcement officials testified that Kingsbury’s home on Kerry Drive, where Fravel was found, showed no signs of a struggle and appeared to be intact. Bauer said testimony showed Fravel could not have killed Kingsbury by strangling him with a towel, suggesting there might have been broken furniture or marks, as prosecutors alleged. The defense attorney also pointed out that a neighbor who shared a wall with the couple’s home said he never heard Fravel and Kingsbury arguing.

Prokopowicz argued that the 240-pound Fravel could quickly suppress Kingsbury. The prosecutor also noted that no locks or windows were damaged and said it was unlikely someone would have broken into the house, strangled Kingsbury, wrapped her body in the gray sheet she was in, and duct-taped her without Fravel’s knowledge.

Fravel told police he was home most of that morning, then left for more than two hours to take items to his parents’ home in Mabel, Minn., then returned because Kingsbury had put the wrong items in his van. Prokopowicz pointed out that Fravel switched the license plates of Kingsbury’s van with his own car, noting a 44-minute gap during which Fravel would have had time to hide Kingsbury’s body.