Girl’s phone stopped being used hours before her father reported she was missing

ELIZABETHTOWN — The phone of a nine-year-old Montreal girl found drowned in New York last summer went silent in the hours before she was reported missing, her father’s murder trial heard Thursday.

The jury was presented evidence showing Melina Frattolin previously opened apps on her phone thousands of times in the week she was in New York with her father.

Luciano Frattolin is charged with second-degree murder and the concealment of a human corpse in the death of his daughter. The 46-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to both charges and has been held without bail since his arrest in July 2025.

He alleges his daughter was kidnapped by two men who drove off in a white van.

The case has provoked an outpouring of emotions on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, including candlelight vigils and tributes for the girl from residents living around the New York region where she died.

David Hungerford, an electronic devices analyst from the New York State Police, extracted data from the phones of Melina, Frattolin, as well as the girl’s mother, Kali Galanis.

On Thursday, the prosecution showed the jury a video the girl sent her mother at about 4:30 p.m. on July 19, 2025, the day she was reported missing. In the selfie video, she could be seen smiling and playing with her hair.

After this, phone data shows Melina spent about an hour at a McDonald’s.

Her phone was last used at about 5:30 p.m., Hungerford testified. Melina had previously used her phone regularly, texting and calling her mother and playing mobile games.

Her father reported her missing at about 10 p.m. that day. Her body was found the next day in a marsh in a rural area of New York.

Phone data presented Thursday also showed Galanis trying to get in touch with her daughter throughout the evening and night.

Just before 9 p.m., around the time where Frattolin is alleged to have left the area where Melina’s body would later be found, Galanis texted her daughter, “Appelle moi” (“Call me”). She continued trying to call Melina until almost 3 a.m.

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Brian Pilatzke asked Hungerford about searches on the Google Maps app of Frattolin’s phone that happened after the time his location data suggests he left the area where Melina’s body was found.

At this time, his phone recorded a search for “Melina” and “Wildlife viewing hut.” Pilatzke asked Hungerford if the data showed who had searched for this. Hungerford answered that it did not.

“That could have been Melina who conducted that search?” Pilatzke asked Hungerford, who answered with a yes.

Later in the day, the prosecutors presented footage of Frattolin and Melina from surveillance cameras at the McDonald’s.

In the video, the jury saw Melina skipping on her way into the restaurant, her father walking by her side. The two order and are seen play-fighting for a moment before sitting down.

At this point, Frattolin, who had been intently watching the videos, wiped his eyes with a tissue.

The jury also heard more testimony on how the police retraced Frattolin’s steps that evening and night, this time using data from cell carriers and the car’s location.

Samuel Lizzio, investigator for the New York State Police and officer for the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Response Team, presented the main locations of Frattolin’s phone and car. These points show the car exiting and getting back onto Interstate 87 multiple times after leaving the McDonald’s, often turning back and retracing a previous route.

“(The data shows) up and down travel on the highway,” said Lizzio.

The location data shows the car and phone stopping for close to an hour next to a hiking trail in the area where Melina’s body was found.

It also shows a stop of less than five minutes next to the place where a bag of clothes with Luciano and Melina’s DNA would later be found.

The trial is expected to resume Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 6, 2026.

Marieke Glorieux-Stryckman, The Canadian Press