A Canadian man has been charged with murder in the death of his 9-year-old daughter in upstate New York over the weekend, authorities said.
Melina Galanis Frattolin’s body was found in a shallow pond on Sunday. She died by homicide and from “asphyxia due to drowning,” according to preliminary autopsy results, New York State Police said Tuesday.
Officials alleged that her father, Luciano Frattolin of Montreal, falsely told police she had been kidnapped. He allegedly killed his daughter during a vacation to the U.S., concealed her body near Lake George and fabricated a story that she was abducted when he pulled over to go into the woods to urinate, Capt. Robert McConnell of the New York State Police said at a news conference Monday.
McConnell said investigators believe Melina was killed Saturday evening, just hours after she called her mother to say that she and her father were on their way back to Montreal following a 10-day vacation to New York City and Connecticut.
“He allegedly murdered Melina and left her body in a remote area where she was later discovered by law enforcement,” McConnell said.
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According to McConnell, Frattolin and his daughter’s mother have been estranged since 2019. He said the mother knew Frattolin had taken Melina on a vacation and told police she had no prior concerns about them traveling to the U.S. together.
The father and daughter entered the U.S. on July 11, McConnell said. Melina’s body was discovered on Sunday afternoon by New York State Police Forest Rangers at the shallow end of a pond in a remote area near Ticonderoga, New York, authorities said.
The kidnapping report from Frattolin led the New York State Police to issue an Amber Alert early Sunday. A massive search was launched, involving State Police K-9 and aviation units, New York State Park Rangers, the Essex and Warren County sheriff’s offices, the New York State Department of Conservation and the Ticonderoga Police Department.
“He fabricated the initial report of the abduction,” McConnell alleged during the news conference, adding that police began to focus on the father as a suspect after finding inconsistencies in his account of events and the timeline he provided.
Frattolin was placed under arrest in Essex County and booked at the Essex County Jail early Monday. He has been charged with second-degree murder and concealment of a corpse, police said. He pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment Monday in Ticonderoga Town Court and is scheduled to next appear in court on Friday.
A motive for the alleged killing remains under investigation. McConnell said Frattolin had no criminal history and that investigators found no evidence of domestic violence in his past.
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McConnell said Melina lived with her mother full-time in Montreal.
According to police, Frattolin called 911 in Warren County late Saturday, claiming his daughter had been abducted by two strangers. The father allegedly claimed the girl was kidnapped around 9:40 p.m. after they pulled off Interstate 87 at exit 22 near Lake George, where he allegedly falsely claimed he went into the woods to urinate, McConnell said.
McConnell alleged that the father falsely told police that, as he was returning to his vehicle, he saw two men put his daughter in a white van and speed off.
As part of the investigation, the New York State Police said Tuesday they are seeking video evidence or eyewitness accounts of the 2024 gray Toyota Prius the pair traveled in from July 11 to Saturday — in particular, the area of the I-87 Northway between exits 28 and 20 during the evening hours Saturday.
“This is certainly a difficult case and a heartbreaking investigation,” McConnell said. “The best we can do is provide some measure of justice to the family.”