The man accused of murdering a Winona mom and hiding her body has successfully petitioned a judge to move his case to another jurisdiction.

Adam Fravel, 30, faces charges of first-degree murder and second-degree murder in connection with the death of Madeline Kingsbury, the mother of his children.

Kingsbury, 26, disappeared from her home on March 31, 2023. Search parties looked for months to find her, and investigators finally discovered her body on June 7, 2023, in Mabel, Minnesota, just north of the Iowa border in Fillmore County. Fravel was arrested soon after.

In January, attorneys representing Fravel filed a motion seeking to move the case from Winona County, arguing a massive amount of pretrial publicity would make a fair trial in that county impossible.

When arguing for a change of venue, the defense cited a survey of 100 Winona County adults that showed 89% of respondents had “seen, heard, or read a news story” about the Kingsbury case; 74% of those who consumed a news story about the case had formed an opinion; and 99% of those who had formed an opinion believed Fravel was responsible for Kingsbury’s death.

The defense also referenced the “substantial involvement of the Winona community” in searching for Kingsbury. According to pretrial testimony, 1,900 volunteers searched for Kingsbury on April 7, 2023, and another 700 volunteered the next day.

While District Judge Nancy Buytendorp granted the defense’s request for a change of venue, the court still has to choose a “suitable county” to take up the case, the order states.

Buytendorp also ruled on several other motions on Wednesday. She denied the defense’s requests to suppress Fravel’s statements to law enforcement and dismiss the first-degree murder indictment but approved the prosecution’s motion to submit an aggravated departure notice to the jury.

Fravel remains in custody at the Winona County Jail on a $2 million bond.