Body found amid search for missing Minnesota mother and arrest made

Human remains were found in Minnesota on Wednesday amid the search for a mother of two who went missing in late March, and a man who has been identified as her ex has been taken into custody, police said.

The body, which has not been identified, was found in Fillmore County on Wednesday "using information generated during the Madeline Kingsbury investigation," Winona police said in a statement.

The medical examiner's office was working to identify the remains, police said.

Kingsbury, 26, was last seen March 31 when she dropped off her children, then 5 and 2, at day care at 8 a.m., Winona Police Chief Tom Williams said at the time.

Winona police said law enforcement officials arrested Adam Fravel in connection with Kingsbury's disappearance but did not say on what charge.

An official with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has said Fravel is Kingsbury's ex-boyfriend.

An attorney who had been reported to have represented Fravel in recent weeks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fravel, who is the father of the two children, has denied any involvement in Kingsbury's disappearance.

"I want the mother of my 5-year-old and 2-year-old to be found and brought home safely. I want that more than anything," he said in a statement in April.

The body was found by a Fillmore County sheriff's deputy in some brush off Highway 43 north of Mabel, the Winona Police Department said.

Mabel is a community around 40 miles south of Winona.

Fravel sought custody of the two children in court, but a judge ruled that the children were to stay with Kingsbury's parents while a family court case played out, NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis has reported.

Phil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.