The human remains found in southeastern Minnesota this week are of Madeline Kingsbury, a mother who was last seen alive on March 31, police confirmed Thursday.
"Unfortunately, while this discovery is not what we were hoping for, we are thankful to be able to bring Maddie home to her family," Winona Police Chief Tom Williams said at a Thursday news conference.
Some attendees could be heard crying as Williams provided the update.
On Wednesday, the Winona Police Department arrested the father of Kingsbury's two children, 29-year-old Adam Fravel, "on probable cause" after a law enforcement officer found human remains "using information generated during the Madeline Kingsbury investigation," the Winona Police Department said.
Police said he was arrested "without incident."
Police did not announce charges against Fravel, but records from the Winona County Detention Center show he was being detained on a second-degree murder charge. Authorities declined to comment further on the charge at a Thursday news conference.
The 26-year-old's remains were found Wednesday afternoon in some brush off of Highway 43 in neighboring Fillmore County, police said. Her body was discovered off a "low-maintenance public roadway" and not on property owned by Fravel or his relatives, Williams said Thursday.
"The last 69 days have been frustrating, full of heartache and pain for the family, law enforcement and the community," Williams said.
On March 31, Kingsbury did not show up to work or answer calls from family and friends, police have said. The mother also did not show up to pick her children up from daycare that afternoon, they said.
In April, police said that evidence suggests Kingsbury's disappearance was "involuntary and suspicious" and investigators "remain extremely concerned for her safety."
Fravel has denied any involvement in Kingsbury's disappearance.
The Winona County Health and Human Services Department took custody of Kingsbury's children after she went missing, according to court documents obtained by CNN. A judge ruled in April that the children would remain in county custody rather than be released to their father.
Fravel did not have custodial rights to the children, ages 5 and 2, before Kingsbury disappeared, court documents show.
