A jury will not hear statements from a friend who said Madeline Kingsbury told her weeks before her death that if something bad happened to her, it would be caused by her ex-boyfriend, Adam Fravel, the judge in the case has ruled.

Fravel was Kingsbury’s boyfriend and the father of her two children. He is accused of killing the Winona woman. A change of venue was ordered in June, and Fravel’s jury trial is scheduled to begin Monday in Mankato.

Madeline Kingsbury. (Courtesy photo)

Fravel and his legal team objected to the introduction of relationship and hearsay evidence shared by friends and family members of Kingsbury during pretrial appearances at trial.

Winona County District Judge Nancy Buytendorp accepted some of the defense team’s arguments.

Buytendorp ruled that Kingsbury’s friend Lauren Dubois will not be allowed to testify about what Kingsbury told her in March 2023 at Mayo Clinic. Dubois told investigators that Kingsbury told her if something happened to her or her children, “It was Adam.”

“Although this statement by the alleged victim was voluntarily made, it lacks sufficient detail and context, which undermines its circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness. Furthermore, these is a significant risk that the jury may interpret the statement as a definitive indication of the defendant’s actions,” Buytendorp wrote in court documents.

Dubois’ testimony about Kingsbury asking Dubois about how she left her own abusive relationship will also not be allowed.

Testimony from Kingsbury’s father’s wife, Catherine, about Kingsbury telling her that Kingsbury’s daughter had seen too much will also not be allowed during the trial. Testimony from witnesses about Fravel having access to Kingsbury’s phone also will not reach the jury.

Buytendorp ruled witness testimony regarding statements from Kingsbury related to abuse must be specific and detailed.

She decided testimony about an event where Fravel allegedly threatened that Kingsbury would end up like Gabby Petito is allowed, except from Kingsbury’s intimate partner, Spencer Sullivan.

Buytendorp determined that witnesses, who could number more than 180 from both the prosecution and defense, would be allowed to testify about some statements Kingsbury allegedly made related to her safety right before her disappearance, including about Fravel’s behavior that Kingsbury shared, but they will not be able to testify about her state of mind.

Other testimony from pre-trial hearings that will be allowed include statements about Fravel not helping with household responsibilities, Kingsbury’s plans to leave Fravel and her concerns about doing so, a friend offering Kingsbury and her children a place to stay but Kingsbury declining, a friend hearing Fravel make degrading comments directed at Kingsbury, and injuries to Kingsbury observed by her friends and Kingsbury’s explanations for them.

Adam Fravel. (Winona County Sheriff’s Office)

Both parties agreed testimony about Kingsbury’s friends seeing “assaultive behavior” when on FaceTime calls with Kingsbury would be allowed, according to the court documents Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Buytendorp also granted a motion to sequester witnesses during the entire trial, which is scheduled to start Monday and continue through Nov. 1 in Mankato.

According to a memo filed on Wednesday, the decision was made to ensure witnesses who are waiting to testify are not influenced by the testimony of others.

“Given the gravity of the charges and to protect the integrity of the trial process, it is utterly reasonable that witnesses be sequestered from the courtroom and from accessing any audio, visual or print coverage for the entirety of the trial including during opening statements and voir dire,” Buytendorp ruled.

Buytendorp also agreed to prohibit spectators in the courtroom and witnesses from wearing items that “reference the alleged victim, violence against women, ‘justice for Maddi’ or which might otherwise elicit an emotive response from jurors,” according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Buytendorp wrote in a memorandum about the decision: “Items such as slogans, arm bands, badges, stickers or similar materials in the courtroom that reference this case, the alleged victim or campaign against gender-based violence may be highly prejudicial to the defendant. Such items could compromise the jury’s impartiality and threaten the defendant’s right to a fair trial. Therefore, all such items and any spectator conduct that could disrupt courtroom decorum are strictly prohibited.”

Fravel faces charges of 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 would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison if he is convicted of one of the first-degree murder charges. If he is convicted of one of the second-degree murder charges, he would face a maximum sentence of 40 years.

Fravel’s bail is set at $2 million with conditions and $3 million without conditions.

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Gophers fans have longed for years for head coach P.J. Fleck to be aggressive and play to win the game.

Well, he did in an a huge moment Saturday and it paid off as Minnesota upset 11th-ranked Trojans 24-17 on Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 50,913 at Huntington Bank Stadium.

Instead of kicking a go-ahead field goal with 56 seconds remaining, Fleck opted to run a quarterback sneak on fourth down from the 1/2-yard line. It was marked short of the goal line, but quarterback Max Brosmer crossed the plane upon review.

The U needed it as USC drove to Minnesota’s 28-yard line, but U true freshman safety Kio Perich intercepted Miller Moss to end the game.

The Gophers (3-3, 1-2 Big Ten) beat a Top 25 team for the first time since No. 24 Iowa last November.

Fans stormed the field and fireworks exploded.

Minnesota had first half problems against Michigan in a 27-24 loss last week and second-half woes in losses to Iowa and North Carolina at toward the beginning of the year.

Minnesota got the ball to start Saturday’s second half, but its offense was ushered off the field after four plays. Then USC marched 91 yards across 12 plays to take a 17-10 lead.

The Trojans looked like it would put the game away at the start of the fourth quarter, but Jah Joyner’s speed rush got to Miller Moss as he threw and the fluttering pass was intercepted by Devon Williams.

Minnesota answered with a 5-yard touchdown run from Max Brosmer to tie the game, 17-17, with seven minutes left.

The Gophers were the more aggressive team to start the game and took a 3-0 lead through the first quarter. Minnesota established the run with 59 yards on the ground, most coming on a nine-play, 49-yard drive.

The U’s success on the ground didn’t lead to head coach P.J. Fleck to decide to go for it on fourth and 2 from the Trojans’ 14, and Dragan Kesich gave the U an early lead 32-yard field goal.

The Trojans responded with its own running game, adding up 45 yards on a 15-play, 75-yard drive capped by Duce Robinson’s 3-yard catch in front of U safety Darius Green. USC took a 7-3 lead with seven minutes left in the half.

Minnesota came right back with another touchdown drive as Max Brosmer plunged in from 1-yard out.

Perich’s helmet forced Quinten Joyner to fumble and Ethan Robinson recovered it. But the U gave it right back with running back Darius Taylor being stripped five plays later.

Former Gophers kicker Michael Lantz then hit a 54-yarder to make it 10-10 at the half.

Minnesota United sure picked a good time to play its best soccer of the season.

The Loons beat Vancouver 1-0 on the road Saturday night, the only goal a first-half penalty kick from Hassani Dotson. It was a win that moved Minnesota above the Whitecaps in the Western Conference standings, up to seventh place and out of the 8-vs-9 wild-card places.

It was Minnesota’s fifth win in seven games, and they did it with defense; the Loons held Vancouver to a few half-chances, earning the team’s fourth consecutive clean sheet — a franchise record that couldn’t have come at a better time for the team’s playoff push.

“What we’ve done over the course of this week, when you consider the travel, the altitude and the quality of the sides we’re playing, it’s really impressive,” manager Eric Ramsay said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with what they’ve done, and the discipline they’ve showed, that is required to do what we did tonight.”

The team’s shutout streak reached 405 minutes on the evening, also a franchise record; by the time the Loons play again, two weeks from Saturday, it’ll have been a calendar month since they last allowed a goal.

Minnesota had the better of the play in the first half-hour of the game, and 24 minutes in, they were rewarded — from the penalty spot.

Center back Carlos Harvey, up for a corner kick, picked up the ball at the edge of the Whitecaps penalty area and drove into the box. He beat Vancouver’s Mathias Laborda, who unwisely tried to kick out a foot behind himself to stop Harvey — and brought down the Loons attacker in the process.

Dotson had never before taken a penalty for Minnesota, but he stepped up to take the spot kick, and converted to give the Loons a 1-0 lead.

Ten minutes later, Vancouver thought that they’d leveled the match, with a helping foot from Miguel Tapias. The Loons defender, attempting to clear a fairly tame Sam Adekugbe shot in front of his own goal, instead did something no opposing player had done in more than three games, and beat Dayne St. Clair.

Referee Ramy Touchan, though, ended up in front of the video replay monitor, and saw that the chance had clearly been created when Sang Bin Jeong was fouled by Vancouver’s Ryan Gauld, and so waved off the own goal — and saved Tapias some serious embarrassment.

The VAR decision also wiped an attempted shot off the board — notable, because the disappeared attempt would have been the only Whitecaps shot of the first half.

Vancouver came back in the second half, eventually tallying a number of corner kicks and one or two decent shots, but St. Clair wasn’t required to make any saves that were anywhere near his best.

The Whitecaps have two games remaining on their schedule, so they still control their own destiny in terms of leapfrogging back over the Loons in the standings, and potentially pushing Minnesota back into the wild-card game. But given how well Minnesota is playing, it’s clear the Loons are better than their spot in the standings.

Said Ramsay, reflecting on his team’s summer swoon, “I think if someone had said two months ago or three months ago, that we would have been in this position come this point in the year, I’d have bitten their hand off.”

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By Anne Sara Bien-Aime, Forum News Service

Two former Hawley, Minn., residents are working to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Helene destroyed their business in North Carolina.

Brian Fetting and Dan Juhnke were at Junkyard Brewing Co. in Moorhead, Minn., before they started their business venture together in 2020. Just a year later, they opened the New Origin Brewing Co. in Asheville, N.C.

“North Carolina was kind of the perfect place for us because the temperature year round was great, and the beer culture was phenomenal with so many breweries there, it’s also a tourist city. They have really high quality water,” Fetting said.

They were prepared for the potential for floods in North Carolina, but they never expected anything like the wrath of Hurricane Helene.

“We had water pumps ready, we had sandbags ready, but this was levels of magnitudes above and beyond what anybody was prepared for,” Fetting said.

By Thursday night, Sept. 26, the storm worsened. Employees and customers were evacuated.

By Friday night, the brewery was destroyed.

“The building wasn’t there, it was a pile of bricks. We could find our logo on various pieces of steel and broken glass. The office building was lifted up and brought away. We’ve been finding our fermenter tanks up to miles, miles away,” Fetting said.

Now that the storm has passed, they’re left worried about recovering.

“We did have to take out a SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration) loan to start our business and that loan still exists, but the collateral, the assets, everything that we had that was generating revenue and we were paying for that loan is now gone. We have flood insurance, but the reality is that only covers a portion of it,” Fetting said.

Between banks, insurance and cleanup, Fetting said it can take years, and anywhere from $600,000 to $1 million, to recover.

They’re hopeful that the rebuild can be bigger and better.

If you’d like to help, you can donate to their GoFundMe page. at gofundme.com/f/support-for-new-origin-brewing-after-hurricane-helene.

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