WINONA (AP) — A Minnesota man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Tuesday for killing his girlfriend, whose 2023 disappearance after she dropped off their kids at daycare drew national attention and prompted thousands of volunteers to join a 69-day search for her.

A jury had found Adam Fravel, 30, of Mabel, guilty of premeditated first-degree murder in November. He was arrested in June 2023, days after a deputy found the body of Madeline Kingsbury in a culvert on a dead-end road 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 a day care in Winona, a mystery that stunned the southeastern Minnesota city of about 26,000 residents.

After more than two months of intensive searches, a deputy found Kingsbury’s body in a gray fitted bed sheet that had been closed with black Gorilla tape. Prosecutors said she had been strangled with a towel and that a medical examiner concluded she likely died of asphyxiation. The towel, bedsheet and tape matched items found in their Winona home, they said.

‘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.

The trial was moved to Mankato, about 136 miles (219 kilometers) west of Winona, because of extensive pretrial publicity, but the case returned to Winona for Fravel’s sentencing before District Judge Nancy Buytendorp, who handed down the mandatory sentence.

“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 told Fravel, adding that she hopes the resolution of the case will “inspire collective action to prevent future tragedies of this nature.”

Fravel did not testify in his own defense at trial, and spoke only briefly at his sentencing, showing little emotion. Before deputies led him away, he told the judge: “I never caused harm to Maddie and I am innocent. Thank you.”

Witnesses testified that Kingsbury had been planning to leave Fravel for another man after becoming frustrated with his alleged abusive behavior and inadequate financial contributions to their family. Witnesses testified to seeing bruises on Kingsbury’s neck. One friend testified that Kingsbury told her Fravel had warned Kingsbury that she could end up like Gabby Petito, a woman who was killed by her boyfriend in a high-profile 2021 case.

Fravel’s attorney, Zach Bauer, told the judge Tuesday they will appeal. He said in his closing argument last month that the case against Fravel relied on “tunnel vision, revisionist history and secret truths.” He contended that there was no sign of any physical struggle inside the couple’s home. He also pointed to testimony from a neighbor who claimed to have never heard the couple argue.

Kingsbury’s two children, who were 2 and 5 at the time, are now living with their grandparents, David and Catherine Kingsbury, who were among several family members who delivered emotional statements to the court about how they were devastated by her disappearance and the long search for answers.

“I will never understand a father who could and did do this to his children,” Catherine Kingsbury said in a statement that was read on her behalf. “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.”