Opening statements expected to begin Thursday in Blue Earth County for the trial of 30-year-old Adam Fravel, who is accused of murdering Madeline Kingsbury last year in Winona County.

Kingsbury, who is the mother of Fravel’s children, vanished from Winona last year. Police say she returned home with Fravel after dropping their kids off at daycare.

Investigators say Fravel left Kingsbury’s home in a dark mini-van and allegedly told police she wasn’t there when he returned. However, authorities say Kingsbury’s phone, wallet and ID were found in her Winona home. Her body was found wrapped in a sheet near Highway 43 in Fillmore County months later.

The judge agreed to move the trial to Blue Earth County due to the extensive pre-trial publicity in the Winona area. Even with the move, jury selection took a week and a half before both sides found 12 jurors and five alternates, who will be seated on Thursday.

Fravel, who is charged with both first- and second-degree murder, faces a life sentence if convicted of first-degree murder.

“Prosecutors like to have alternate charges and alternate ways of proving guilty. So, it’s very common for prosecutors to charge a couple different theories of murder, essentially,” says Rachel Moran, an associate law professor for the University of St. Thomas.

While cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS will be there when statements begin at 9 a.m. to bring the latest on the case throughout the day.