A father charged in the murder of his 9-year-old daughter after prompting an Amber Alert in Lake George, New York appeared before a judge on Wednesday.
Luciano Frattolin, 45, of Canada, is accused of falsely reporting that his daughter, Melina, went missing while they were visiting the Adirondack region earlier this month. He was arraigned on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to one count each of second-degree murder and concealment of a corpse.
The defense asked for Frattolin to be granted bail with monitoring, but Judge Tatiana Coffinger, citing his ties to Canada, Italy and Ethiopia, said he is a flight risk and denied the request, remanding him to the Essex County Correctional Facility.
“Remand to the correctional facility is the only way to guarantee his attendance here in court,” Coffinger said.
Frattolin is due back in court on Aug. 19, and is on track for trial as early as January.
Amber Alert for Melina Frattolin canceled
Frattolin’s story led New York State Police to issue an Amber Alert on July 20, but investigators later said there were inconsistencies with his account.
He initially told police he pulled over in a parking lot to urinate and, while he was away from the car, Melina was abducted by two men in a white van, state police said.
The girl’s body was later discovered in a pond in Ticonderoga, about 30 miles north of Lake George. An autopsy determined that her death was a homicide and she died of asphyxiation due to drowning. According to the indictment, a rock was placed on top of the body to help conceal it.
Police said Frattolin does not have a criminal record or a background of domestic violence.
Melina lived with her mother in Montreal, and her parents had been estranged since 2019. She and her father traveled to the U.S. from Montreal for vacation on July 11 and were supposed to return home on July 19, the day before she was reported missing.
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