Prosecutors allege that coffee company founder Luciano Frattolin drowned his nine-year-old daughter, Melina, in a marsh in upstate New York in July 2025, as part of a scheme to avoid paying child support. Melina's body was discovered near Eagle Lake in Ticonderoga, with her lungs, airway, and stomach filled with mud and debris, according to expert testimony.
Luciano Frattolin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to murder and concealment of a corpse. During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence including cell phone data they claim places him near the scene where his daughter's body was found. Medical examiner Dr. Michael Sikirica testified that the child's death was definitively a drowning case, noting the presence of black material, mud, and plant debris in her lungs.
Investigators allege that Frattolin attempted to conceal the murder by reporting his daughter missing on July 19, 2025, and claiming she had been kidnapped by two men in a white van. He told authorities that he had stopped by the side of the highway to urinate, and his daughter was taken when he turned away. However, inconsistencies in his account, particularly regarding changing his clothes, raised suspicion among law enforcement.
New York State Police Investigator Daniel Mauro testified that Frattolin changed his story about his clothing, first denying he changed his shirt and then admitting he did so because he was sweaty. Investigators believe he changed his clothes because he had been wading in the marsh. Frattolin's wet clothes were allegedly later found in a trash bag discarded along Interstate 87, the route he was driving back to Montreal, Canada.
During a 13-hour interrogation, Mauro told Frattolin, "You know something you haven't told us." Frattolin maintained, "I'm not lying."
Melina's mother, Kali Galanis, testified that Frattolin's trip to New York came after he had unsuccessfully sought to take their daughter on a vacation to his native Ethiopia. Galanis stated that Melina expressed fear about the Ethiopia trip, and she ultimately refused to allow it. Concerned about legal precedents involving estranged spouses taking children abroad, and alarmed by things Melina had told her about her father's statements regarding the Ethiopia trip, Galanis became uncomfortable with Frattolin's travel plans.
Frattolin reportedly compromised by agreeing to the New York trip instead. Prosecutors contend that this trip was a pretext to kill Melina to end his child support obligations. They also allege that Frattolin believed both Galanis and Melina suffered from mental illness and had been planning since early 2025 to end Melina's life to end her supposed suffering.
Frattolin's defense team maintains that the young girl was kidnapped as he described, and he is not guilty of the charges.