Jury hears tape of New York police search for murdered Montreal girl

ELIZABETHTOWN — A New York jury heard a three-hour recording Friday that was captured in a police cruiser last July as officers searched for a missing nine-year-old Montreal girl.

The recording captured the interactions between Luciano Frattolin and officers who drove through an area of New York where the man had said his daughter was kidnapped.

Frattolin, 46, is charged with second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse in the death of his daughter, Melina Frattolin.

He pleaded not guilty to both charges and has been held without bail since his arrest in July 2025.

On the recording, Frattolin told police that none of the areas looked familiar and that he could not pinpoint the location where he said two men in a white van had kidnapped his daughter.

The girl lived in Montreal with her mother who is also expected to testify at the trial.

Frattolin also criticized the girl’s mother on the recording, suggesting, without evidence, that she might have been behind the abduction.

Frattolin and his daughter had been on a trip and were scheduled to return to Montreal on the day she died.

On Thursday, the jury heard testimony from local law enforcement who detailed their response to Frattolin’s initial 911 call, in which he reported the alleged kidnapping.

An officer said data from Frattolin’s phone contradicted his story, which led to the discovery of the child’s body in a marsh in Ticonderoga, N.Y.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2026.

Erika Morris, The Canadian Press