A Montreal man, Luciano Frattolin, is set to receive his sentencing from a U.S. judge on Wednesday after being found guilty in August of second-degree murder in the case of his nine-year-old daughter, Melina. The jury also convicted Frattolin of concealing a human corpse. The minimum sentence for the second-degree murder charge is 15 years to life, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Frattolin and Melina were concluding a weeklong trip in the United States when he reported her missing on July 19, 2025. Her body was discovered the following day in a marsh near Ticonderoga, N.Y., approximately 400 kilometers north of New York City. The autopsy revealed that Melina died from asphyxia due to drowning.
Initially, Frattolin claimed that two men had abducted Melina, but he was soon arrested for her murder. He remained in custody without bail for nearly a year until his trial, which took place over three weeks during the summer at the Essex County Courthouse in Elizabethtown, N.Y.