New York jury convicts father of murder in death of nine-year-old Montreal girl

ELIZABETHTOWN — Melina Frattolin’s loved ones and family members sobbed in a New York courthouse on Monday after a jury found the girl’s father guilty of drowning her and hiding her body in a marsh last summer.

A group of family members held onto each other as the jury read out “Guilty” and convicted Luciano Frattolin, 46, of second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse in the death of nine-year-old Melina.

Standing between his two attorneys, Frattolin kept a neutral expression, shaking his head slightly, before sitting down. He was taken away in handcuffs minutes later.

Once the trial was officially over, the family members hugged and cried between the benches.

Michael Langey, the Essex County District Attorney, said it felt good to hear the verdict after a year of working on this case.

“The grandparents were here, the aunts were here. They had to sit in the courtroom and there was a possibility, obviously, that he wasn’t gonna get convicted. So it was a relief for them, and hopefully this could be some type of closure for them,” he said outside the courthouse.

Melina’s mother, Kali Galanis, was not in the courtroom on Monday. She had not wanted to be there in case Frattolin testified, said Langey. Galanis lost her only daughter when Melina died, he added.

“She waited for her daughter to come home all night, looked out the window… Her daughter never came home, and she had to get the call the next day that she was dead in a brook in Essex county, in New York,” he said.

Melina Frattolin’s body was found last year in a marsh in a rural area of New York, partially covered by a fallen tree with a large rock on her chest.

The girl and her father were nearing the end of a weeklong trip in the United States when Frattolin reported his daughter missing on July 19, 2025.

Her body was found the next day near Ticonderoga, N.Y., about 400 kilometres north of New York City. The autopsy found she died from asphyxia due to drowning.

Frattolin reported his daughter had been kidnapped by two men who drove off in a white van, but investigators later arrested him for the child’s murder.

Electronic data played a big role in finding Melina’s body and in the outcome of the trial, both through location data from Frattolin’s phone and car, and through records of text messages and calls.

The prosecution called several police officers and experts over the trial who used car location data, cell phone data and surveillance camera footage to recreate Frattolin’s movements on the day Melina died and prove the story he told to investigators was false.

“I think every second there was data in this case. We could see exactly where his vehicle was during the entire trip, and that was huge. … Knowing that he wasn’t where he was telling people he was was a big factor in them starting to turn the focus away from the abduction to, ‘why are you telling us you’re here when you’re not here?’” said Langey.

Documents found in Frattolin’s car helped prove intent, which was necessary in both charges the jury convicted him on. In the documents, Frattolin writes disparaging remarks about Galanis and mentions bringing his daughter to “the end.”

“It was something that when you read it, there definitely was a plan. He definitely knew a life was coming to an end somewhere on this vacation, no matter where he went,” said Langey.

“It was a tough case,” said Eric Weyand, one of Frattolin’s lawyers, walking out of the courtroom.

The jury deliberated for about an hour following a trial that lasted about three weeks.

Earlier in the day, the defence rested its case after Frattolin announced he would not testify in his defence.

“I really want to, but I was advised not to,” he told the judge earlier.

The defence presented a single witness. The prosecution, who had the legal responsibility to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, presented over two dozen witnesses.

In the defence’s closing argument, Brian Pilatzke, Frattolin’s other lawyer, went back through the evidence presented over the last three weeks to fit it into Frattolin’s version of events.

He argued that the inconsistent statements Frattolin made the night he reported Melina missing were due to English not being his first language, to stress and to exhaustion.

He added the police did not do enough to track the van when Frattolin reported the abduction, instead turning immediately to him as their suspect, and that they overlooked key evidence. The rock found on Melina’s body was never tested for DNA, sweat or blood, he said.

Frattolin is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 14, and will remain in custody in Essex County in the meantime. He has a month to appeal the jury’s decision.

Melina touched the hearts of people in the area, said Langey after the verdict was announced. Residents even adopted a section of the highway near Ticonderoga in her name.

“She really had no connection to the county, but I think whenever a child is murdered — everyone’s got parents, they have children … The community has rallied around it,” he said.

He approached the case with the same energy as he would have for a community member, he said.

“It doesn’t make a difference, whether she was from Essex County or Montreal or anywhere else. She was a nine-year-old that lost her life in our county, so I felt responsible for getting some type of justice for her,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2026.

Marieke Glorieux-Stryckman, The Canadian Press