Melina Frattolin case update: Father pleads not guilty in drowning death
9-year-old found dead in NY, father arrested
A 9-year-old Canadian girl was reported missing by her father in upstate New York., Officials arrested the father after Melina Galanis Frattolin was found dead.
Luciano Frattolin, the man accused of drowning his 9-year-old daughter while vacationing in New York, pleaded not guilty Wednesday.
Luciano, 45, set off a frantic search for his daughter, Melina Frattolin, earlier this month by reporting her missing just before they were due back in Montreal, Canada.
He was arrested after investigators found holes in his story. He was indicted Tuesday on charges of murder and concealing a corpse.
What happened?
The backstory:
Luciano called 911 on July 19 and said his daughter went missing from a parking lot near Lake George.
He later told authorities that two men forced his daughter into a white van, according to New York State Police.
Officials issued an Amber Alert, seeking the public’s help in the search. But investigators noticed inconsistencies in the father’s account and eventually concluded there was no evidence the girl had been abducted.
A team led by state forest rangers found the girl’s body on July 20 in the shallow part of a pond in the woods of Ticonderoga, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Lake George.
The body was concealed with a rock near a fallen tree, according to the indictment.
Melina was drowned
Dig deeper:
The preliminary autopsy results said the cause of death was "asphyxia due to drowning" and classified it as a homicide, according to state police.
Luciano is the founder of Gambella Coffee, a company based in Montreal. In a biography, Melina is described as "the light of his life," WRGB reported, citing a website.
Police said the father and daughter had been vacationing since July 11 in the U.S. and were expected back in Montreal that weekend. The girl lived with her mother, who has been estranged from Luciano since 2019, police said.
The final autopsy report is pending and the investigation into Melina's death is ongoing.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press and previous reporting by FOX Local.