Man Accused of Killing and Drowning His Daughter in Upstate New York

A woman from Ticonderoga, New York, reported seeing a man believed to be the suspect, Luciano Frattolin, near the scene where his 9-year-old daughter Melina was found drowned. She describes seeing him running away from his car in a wooded area and states that their eyes met as she passed by.

The witness, Rebecca Kulickowski, initially reported seeing a tall, skinny man in a Toyota Prius stopped on the road. After the girl’s body was discovered submerged under a log in Eagle Lake, near where she spotted Frattolin, she contacted police. Although she didn’t see Melina with him at the time, the sighting prompted an Amber Alert.

Frattolin was later arrested, with authorities revealing that he falsely claimed his daughter had been abducted. He was charged with second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse. He had custody of Melina that week and had traveled through New York and Connecticut with her after entering the United States from Canada on July 11.

On the evening of Saturday, less than two hours after Melina spoke to her mother in Montreal, Frattolin allegedly strangled her, then stopped answering messages about her whereabouts. Approximately three hours later, he filed a missing persons report.

Melina’s body was found in Lake George. Frattolin, who had been scheduled to return Melina to her mother on Saturday, is now in custody at the Essex County Jail. He appeared in court where he entered a plea of not guilty and is scheduled for another court date.