MANKATO (AP) — A Minnesota man was convicted Thursday in the killing of his girlfriend, whose 2023 disappearance garnered national attention and prompted thousands of people to join search efforts before her body was found hidden in a rural area of the state.

Less than a day after deliberations began, the jury found Adam Fravel, 30, guilty of first-degree murder. He was arrested in June 2023, days after deputies found the body of Madeline Kingsbury in a wooded area a few miles away from a property owned by Fravel’s parents. The 26-year-old Kingsbury vanished in March 2023 after dropping off her and Fravel’s two young children at day care in Winona, a southeastern Minnesota town of about 26,000 residents.

The trial centered around competing portrayals of the couple’s domestic life and the police investigation that led to Fravel’s arrest.

Phil Prokopowicz, a special prosecutor handling the case for the Winona County Attorney’s Office, built his case around testimony from family and friends of the couple who spoke to instances of alleged domestic abuse, MPR reported. Zach Bauer, Fravel’s attorney, said the law enforcement investigation and prosecution of Fravel relied on “tunnel vision, revisionist history and secret truths.”

Jurors delivered their verdict before a full courtroom with members of Kingsbury and Fravel’s families in attendance. Some sitting in the courtroom gallery burst into tears when the verdicts were handed down, MPR reported.