The ex-boyfriend of Madeline Kingsbury, a 26-year-old mother who went missing in 2023 and was found dead after a 69-day search, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Tuesday.

Adam Fravel, 30, was sentenced by District Judge Nancy Buytendorp in Winona, Minnesota, after he was convicted of premeditated first-degree murder about 136 miles away in Mankato due to pretrial publicity, The Associated Press reported.

“The sentence reflects the severity of your actions and serves as a clear statement that such violence will not be tolerated in this community,” Buytendorp said, adding that she hopes the case will “inspire collective action to prevent future tragedies of this nature.”

Fravel, who did not testify in his defense at trial, told the judge during sentencing that he is innocent and “never caused harm to Maddie.”

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Kingsbury, who shared two young children with Fravel, went missing in March 2023 after dropping their kids off at daycare. Her disappearance gained national attention and prompted a massive search that lasted more than two months.

Her body was found by a deputy in June 2023 in a culvert on a dead-end road near a property owned by Fravel’s parents. She was wrapped inside a gray fitted sheet closed with duct tape. Fravel was arrested days after the discovery.

Prosecutors said Kingsbury was strangled with a towel and a medical examiner determined her cause of death to likely be asphyxiation. 

Minnesota mom Madeline Kingsbury, 26, was last seen dropping her children off at daycare around 8 a.m. on March 31, 2023. (Madeline Kingsbury/Facebook)

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“The crimes committed by Mr. Fravel shook the foundations of our community, shedding a very bright light on the extremes of domestic violence, and revealing the evil acts of a man who had no care as to how his actions would affect his children for their lifetimes,” Winona County Attorney Karin Sonneman told the court, according to The AP.

Witnesses, who testified to seeing bruises on Kingsbury’s neck, also said that she was planning to leave Fravel for another man due to “alleged abusive behavior and inadequate financial contributions,” the outlet said.

Fravel’s attorney Zach Bauer told the judge they intend to appeal the sentence, arguing that the case focused on “tunnel vision, revisionist history and secret truths.”

Adam Fravel, 30, was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend Madeline Kingsbury, whose remains were located in June 2023 after a 69-day search. (Saskia Hatvany/Winona Daily News via AP, Pool)

The two children shared by Fravel and Kingsbury now live with her parents, who were in the courtroom during sentencing.

Kingsbury’s mother, Catherine, had the following statement read to the court on her behalf.

“I will never understand a father who could and did do this to his children. He took away a mother’s love, the type of love that only Maddie could give them. The knowledge of this horror will haunt me forever. All that Adam had to do was walk away and let Maddie go. He chose not to do that. He chose evil over good.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.