Dad of Quebec girl found dead in New York state charged with murder

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A Montreal businessman has been charged with the murder of his nine-year-old daughter after he claimed that she was kidnapped while on vacation in New York but later found in the shallow end of a pond.

During a press conference held Monday morning, New York State Police captain Robert McConnell said Luciano Frattolin, 45, is charged with second-degree murder and concealing a body.

McConnell said Frattolin was on vacation with his daughter, Melina, and visited places in Connecticut and New York state when he reported on Saturday that she had been kidnapped on Saturday while he was at a rest stop in Lake George.

“On Saturday, July 19, at approximately 10 p.m., Warren County 911 received a call from a man reporting his daughter missing, with a possible abduction,” McConnell said, adding police immediately initiated an investigation.

On Sunday, they conducted a search in Ticonderoga, N.Y. “in an area Mr. Frattolin was suspected of having visited. During that search detail, at approximately 10:50, members of the New York State Police forest rangers located Melina deceased in the shallow portion of a pond.”

“This investigation has revealed that on July 11, 2025, Mr. Frattolin and Melina, both residents of Montreal, Que., legally entered the United States for the purpose of a vacation. They were expected to return to Canada on Sunday, July 20 and (Melina) would be returned to the custody of her mother in Montreal.

“The mother and Mr. Frattolin had been estranged since 2019.”

McConnell said the motive behind the alleged homicide is still under investigation and that images of Melina and her father were recorded by a surveillance camera at Saratoga Springs, N.Y. on Saturday and she spoke to her mother around 6:30 p.m.

“The child appeared to be in good health and did not indicate she was under duress,” McConnell said. “The investigation determined, sometime after Melina’s call with her mother and before Mr. Frattolin’s 911 call, he allegedly murdered Melina and left her body in a remote area where she was later discovered by law enforcement.”

McConnell said that Frattolin’s claims of a white van being in the area where he said his daughter was kidnapped were “untrue.” He noted that the Montreal police and other law-enforcement agencies in the U.S. helped in the investigation.

“The suspect’s initial account is that he had pulled over in the area of Exit 22 in Lake George. (He) pulled over to a parking lot to urinate. His initial report is that he steps away to a wooded area, returns to the vehicle and at that point his child is gone from the vehicle. He reports a suspicious white van fleeing the scene southbound,” McConnell said.

“During a subsequent interview, he reports that two unknown white males forced (Melina) into a white van. That was thoroughly investigated and disproven.” McConnell said Melina’s body was located in a pond in Ticonderoga through “inconsistencies” in the father’s claims and “technology.”

McConnell said the cause of Melina’s death is currently unknown and that Frattolin has no criminal record or any history of domestic violence. According to provincial and municipal court records, Frattolin does not have a criminal record. He is currently involved in five lawsuits that were all filed this year. Frattolin is the plaintiff in four of the lawsuits. In the one where he is the defendant, he is being sued for more than $83,000 by a bank.

“This is certainly a difficult case and a heartbreaking investigation. On behalf of the New York State Police and our law-enforcement partners, we want to offer our condolences to the family of Melina,” McConnell said.

In a profile posted on the Instagram account of the Gambella Coffee company, one of Frattolin’s several business interests, Melina is described as “the light of his life, she is the inspiration for … well, everything.

“His pursuits for building a more equitable and just world are deeply guided by his determination that she will not have to endure the same social injustices that he encountered throughout his childhood. Seeing the world through her eyes has also helped Luciano look for creative ways to reinforce and empower Melina to know, feel and understand her own unique individual beauty and intellect, while also teaching her to celebrate those same virtues inherent in the world’s diversity.”

The profile describes Frattolin as “an experienced entrepreneur with a proven track record of building diverse, high-performance businesses,” including real estate, construction, mining “and, of course, coffee.”