Montreal girl’s father is found dead in New York State second-degree murder
The nine-year-old Montreal girl’s father was found dead after she disappeared in northeastern New York, was arrested Monday morning and charged with second-degree murder and concealing human body.
New York State Police said officials from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a man Saturday around 10 p.m. ET who said his daughter was missing in the exit 22 area of I-87, Lake George, likely due to kidnapping.
They said the child was identified as Melina Frattolin and her father was Luciano Frattolin, 45. Both were later identified as Montreal residents.
Robert McConnell, director of criminal Investigation for the New York State Police Department, told reporters at a press conference Monday morning that the father and daughter have been on vacation in the United States since July 11.
Melina stays full-time with her mother, and Frattolin visits her children while in Canada. Police said parents have been alienated since 2019.
McConnell explained that the trip was planned, and that the mother already knew about the trip and had nothing to do with Melina.
Flatorin and his daughter are expected to return to Canada on Saturday, July 19, when Melina will be sent back to Montreal’s mother’s custody.
At around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, video surveillance images showed a girl in Saratoga Springs, NY, and her father at about 6:30 p.m. ET, Melina talked to her mother over the phone and told her they were going back to Canada.
New York State Police said Monday they arrested a Canadian man in connection with the death of his nine-year-old daughter, who was found dead in Ticonderoga, New York.
The child seemed to be in good health and did not indicate any coercion.
McConnell said sometime before that call with Flatolin, the man allegedly murdered his daughter, leaving her body in a remote area. Melina was found dead in shallow water in a pond at about 1:50 ET in Ticonderoga, New York, about 50 kilometers east of Lake George near the Vermont border in New York.
The allegations against Fratolin alleged that he covered her body under the logs.
The Warren County Sheriff’s Office initially chaired the investigation and transferred it to New York State Police. As the case progressed, officials determined the contradiction between the father’s statement about the incident and Melina’s timeline of disappearance.
Police refute Fratolin’s initial kidnapping account
McConnell shared the suspect’s initial account with reporters.
According to him, Flatolin told police that he had stopped the car in the exit 22 of Lake George, urinated, and left his car to the woodland area, and when he returned to the car, his daughter left.
Flatolin reported that a white van escaped the scene. In a subsequent interview, he mentioned two unknown people who forced Melina into the white van.
“This lead investigation and dismissal,” McConnell said, adding that the suspect had no domestic violence or criminal history.
“He fabricated the preliminary report of the kidnapping.”
Fratolin appeared in Ticonderoga Town Court on Monday. According to court officials, the representative of his arraignment did not plead guilty. The Public Defender Office assigned to defend Flatorin did not immediately respond to phone calls and email requests for comments to the Associated Press.
The victim’s death was awaiting the results of an autopsy performed later today.
On the website of a company called Gambella Coffee, the girl’s father was described as “spending as much time as possible in Montreal, Canada, with his beautiful daughter, Melina.”
By Monday morning, the link to the site had been broken.
Melina is described as “his life, she is the inspiration for…everything.”
The company is headquartered in downtown Montreal.
