A Minnesota dad convicted of killing the mother of his children once eerily warned her she'd "end up like Gabby Petito," court documents say.
On Thursday, a jury found Adam Fravel, 30, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of ex-girlfriend Madeline Kingsbury, 26, according to the Associated Press.
He will be sentenced Dec. 17.
Madeline vanished in March 2023, after she and Fravel dropped their two kids off at a daycare in Winona, Minnesota. Her body was discovered wrapped in a bedsheet and dumped in the woods a few miles from his parents' property in June 2023, and Fravel was arrested days later.
Prosecutors said the former couple had a tumultuous relationship and that he was abusive toward her. Madeline was planning to leave Fravel before he murdered her, according to the outlet.
But even before her death, Fravel threatened to kill.
"... Fravel told Madeline that if she did not listen up, that she would end up like Gabby Petito," the criminal complaint reviewed by the Lawyer Herald read. "Fravel admitted being 'infatuated' with the Gabby Petito case. Fravel also admitted that he made a statement to Madeline about her ending up like Gabby Petito. Fravel claimed he was trying to make a joke."
Petito's high-profile murder case made national headlines when she vanished during a cross-country roadtrip with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, in 2021.
The investigation revealed Laundrie strangled her to death and dumped her body in a national park.
Like Petito, Madeline also died from asphyxiation, a coroner determined.
"The relationship was never about them," prosecutor Phil Prokopowicz said in his closing statement, according to the AP. "It was always about him."
Fravel faces up to life in prison.
"This is a disappointing finish," his defense attorney, Zachary Bauer, told NBC News following the announcement of the verdict. "The family was emotional, obviously Mr. Fravel was emotional."
