Disappearance and death of Melina Galanis Frattolin.

Friday, July 11, 2025

• Melina and her father, Luciano Frattolin, enter the United States from Canada. Luciano Frattolin had partial custody of his daughter and had informed the mother about the trip. Source
• Note: Melina was residing with her mother in Canada and was scheduled to return by July 20, 2025.

Saturday, July 19, 2025

• 5:30 PM: Melina is reportedly seen in Saratoga Springs, New York. Source
• 6:30 PM: Melina has a phone call with her mother. This is believed to be her last confirmed communication.
• 9:40 PM: Melina is allegedly last seen traveling southbound on I-87 near Exit 22 in the Lake George area in a white van.
• 9:58 PM: Warren County 911 receives a call from Luciano Frattolin reporting a possible abduction.
• Luciano states they stopped at a parking lot so he could use the restroom and, upon returning, Melina was missing from the vehicle.
• He reports seeing a white van fleeing southbound on I-87. Source

Sunday, July 20, 2025

• 1:30 AM: An AMBER Alert is issued by New York State Police for Melina Galanis Frattolin.
• The search involved New York State Police, Warren County Sheriff’s Office, Essex County Sheriff’s Office, Ticonderoga Police Department, New York State Forest Rangers, DEC, K-9 units, and the NYSP Aviation Unit. Source
• Follow-up interview: Luciano changes his story and claims two unknown males forcibly abducted Melina into a white van.
• About 3:30 PM: During a grid search in the Ticonderoga area, a DEC officer finds Melina’s body in the shallow part of a pond.
• 4:30 PM: The AMBER Alert is canceled by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office.
• 5:00 PM: State Police release a statement noting inconsistencies in Luciano’s accounts, no evidence confirming an abduction, and no current threat to the public. Source

Monday, July 21, 2025

• 2:04 AM: Luciano Frattolin is arrested and booked for second-degree murder. Source
• 2:08 AM: Custody status is updated to in custody at Essex County Jail, with the charge listed as Murder 2nd Degree.
• 10:00 AM: Frattolin is arraigned in town court. A not-guilty plea is entered on his behalf. He is returned to Essex County Jail on the murder charge and concealment of a human corpse count. Court Records
• Press conference. Source

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

• Autopsy conducted: Dr. Michael Sikirica performs the autopsy on Melina Frattolin at Glens Falls Hospital. Source
• Preliminary cause of death: Asphyxia due to drowning.
• Manner of death: Homicide.
• Final report: Pending further laboratory testing and toxicology analysis.

July 23, 2025

• New York State Police conducted searches along I-87 between Exits 28 and 20, the corridor investigators believed Luciano and Melina traveled the night of her death.
• Surveillance footage showed Luciano and Melina together in Saratoga Springs at about 5:30 PM on July 19.
• Melina spoke with her mother roughly an hour later and told her they were on their way back to Canada.
• Investigators believed Melina was killed sometime between 7:40 PM and 9:12 PM on July 19.
• Investigators believed her body was subsequently left in a remote wooded pond in Ticonderoga. 

July 24, 2025

• Ticonderoga Town Court confirmed that the criminal case against Luciano Frattolin had been transferred for grand jury action.
• Additional reporting established that Luciano and Melina had legally entered the United States on July 11.
• Luciano was estranged from Melina’s mother, who lived in Montreal and had full custody of Melina following their 2019 separation.

July 25, 2025

• 1:00 PM: Frattolin is due back in court.

July 27, 2025

• A candlelight vigil honoring Melina was held in Lake George.
• The Lake George Fire Department organized the vigil.
• Luciano’s previously anticipated court appearance did not occur because the case had already moved to the grand jury. 

July 28, 2025

• Legal analysts discussed complications created by the investigation’s international nature.
• Melina was a Canadian citizen.
• Luciano was described as a dual citizen of Ethiopia and Italy who spent part of the year in Montreal.
• Legal analyst Paul DerOhannesian explained that obtaining witnesses and records located outside the United States could make portions of the investigation more complicated and time-consuming

July 30, 2025

• 10:00 am
• Luciano appeared in Essex County Court. Frattolin pleads not guilty. Judge Tatiana Coffinger denied his request for cash bail after Acting Essex County District Attorney Michael Langey argued he is a flight risk because of his citizenship in Ethiopia and Italy, as well as ties in Canada.
• The indictment alleges Frattolin concealed Melina’s body in a pond in Ticonderoga, placing her body in a wooded area in the water near a fallen tree with a rock on top of the corpse.

August 19, 2025

• Luciano appeared before Judge Tatiana Coffinger for a procedural compliance hearing.
• The proceeding addressed whether prosecutors and defense counsel were exchanging discovery and keeping the case on schedule.
• Deputy Public Defender Eric Weyand said the defense intended to submit a written bail application.
• Luciano remained in the custody of the Essex County Sheriff’s Office

December 5, 2025

• Luciano Frattolin’s trial, previously scheduled to begin in early January 2026, is pushed back to early 2026, possibly March, according to the Acting District Attorney for Essex County.

February 25, 2026

• The court held a significant evidence-suppression hearing.
• Attorneys argued over whether statements Luciano made to investigators and evidence obtained from his cellphone could be introduced at trial.
• The defense argued that some of Luciano’s statements occurred before he received Miranda warnings, including statements allegedly made during a 2½-hour vehicle ride with investigators.
• Defense attorneys also challenged the search of Luciano’s cellphone, contending that his consent was not knowing or voluntary.
• Prosecutors maintained that Luciano had voluntarily consented to the cellphone search. 

April 20, 2026

• Trial scheduled for Luciano Frattolin. Trial Postponed. 

July 20, 2026

• Luciano Frattolin’s trial is scheduled to start July 20.
• Frattolin pleaded not guilty to murder and concealment of a human corpse in connection with the death of his daughter Melina in July 2025. An Essex County grand jury handed up an indictment in the case. He has been in Essex County Sheriff’s Office custody since then, after a judge said Frattolin was a flight risk.

July 22, 2026

• Jury selection concluded after three days of voir dire.
• A panel consisting of 12 jurors and 3 alternate jurors was selected to hear the trial of Luciano Frattolin in Essex County Court.
• Frattolin continued to plead not guilty to the charge of second-degree murder in the death of his 9-year-old daughter, Melina Frattolin.
• Recently filed court documents outlined the positions expected at trial.
• Prosecution filings alleged:
  • Cell phone records showed Luciano Frattolin’s phone traveled east toward Eagle Lake for more than an hour on the night Melina disappeared, despite his initial statement to investigators that did not include leaving Interstate 87.
  • License plate reader cameras captured Frattolin’s vehicle at multiple locations along the Northway, allowing investigators to reconstruct his movements before he called 911 to report Melina’s alleged abduction near a Lake George rest area.
  • Investigators reviewed text messages exchanged between Frattolin and Melina’s mother about when he and Melina would return home.
  • Prosecutors alleged that the digital evidence, together with physical evidence collected during the investigation, demonstrated that the reported abduction never occurred.

• Defense filings argued:
  • Investigators focused on Frattolin too early in the investigation and misinterpreted critical evidence.
  • Frattolin continued to experience the effects of a prior traumatic brain injury, which the defense argued impaired his memory and ability to think clearly during interviews with law enforcement.
  • The defense sought additional particulars from prosecutors regarding how they contend Melina died, including the specific acts alleged to have caused her death.

July 23, 2026

• Opening statements were scheduled to begin at 9:15 AM in Essex County Court.
• Opening statements lasted just under 30 minutes.
• The prosecution argued that Luciano Frattolin was unhappy with the co-parenting arrangement he had with Melina’s mother and presented this as the motive for the alleged murder.
• Prosecutors told jurors:
  • Clothing Frattolin wore while visiting a McDonald’s in Saratoga Springs with Melina was recovered in a garbage bag along the Northway in Pottersville.
  • The clothing was wet and covered in mud.
  • Cell phone location data showed Frattolin’s phone remained in the parking lot near the pond where Melina’s body was later found for approximately 54 minutes.
  • Frattolin’s original report that Melina had been abducted from a Lake George rest area was contradicted by the investigation.
• The defense argued:
  • The case is entirely circumstantial.
  • No witness observed Melina’s death.
  • Law enforcement rushed to judgment by focusing on Frattolin before fully investigating other possibilities.
• Jurors heard Frattolin’s original 911 call reporting Melina missing.
• The 911 dispatcher who received the call testified as one of the prosecution’s first witnesses.
• Judge Richard B. Meyer denied requests to allow cameras in the courtroom, and the proceedings were not televised.

July 24, 2026, Trial Day 2

• One of the most important pieces of evidence presented Friday was a roughly three-hour recording from a police cruiser.
• The recording documented investigators driving Luciano through the area where he claimed Melina had been kidnapped.
• Jurors heard investigators repeatedly ask Luciano to identify the location.
• Luciano repeatedly indicated that the areas being shown to him did not look familiar and was unable to identify where the alleged kidnapping occurred.
• During the recording:
  • Investigators expressed growing skepticism about Luciano’s account.
  • Luciano continued discussing the alleged white van.
  • He criticized Melina’s mother.
  • Luciano suggested, without evidence, that Melina’s mother might somehow have been involved in the disappearance.

• The prosecution used the recording to demonstrate Luciano’s inability to locate the place where he claimed his daughter had been abducted.
• Jurors were also shown surveillance footage of Luciano and Melina leaving the Saratoga Springs McDonald’s on the evening of July 19.
• Evidence concerning notes recovered from Luciano’s vehicle also emerged in reporting about the day’s testimony. Police found writings referring to plans to “end her suffering.”
• Court then recessed for the weekend.

July 27, 2026, Trial Day 3

• New York State Police Investigator Daniel Morrow testified.
• Morrow said investigators questioned Luciano for approximately 13 hours after he reported Melina kidnapped.
• According to Morrow:

• • Luciano initially said he had not changed clothes during the day.
  • He later said he had changed his shirt because he was sweaty.
  • Investigators believed he had actually changed his shirt, shorts and shoes.

• The prosecution’s theory was that the clothing became wet and muddy while Luciano entered the marshy area where Melina was killed and concealed.
• Most significantly, testimony concerning Luciano’s cellphone location data placed him near the Eagle Lake/Ticonderoga location where Melina’s body was subsequently found.
• That location evidence directly contradicted the travel history Luciano initially gave investigators. 

July 28, 2026, Melina’s Mother Testifies

• Kali Galanis, Melina’s mother, took the witness stand. Her testimony provided jurors with the history of the parents’ relationship, custody arrangement and disputes concerning Luciano’s travel plans with Melina.
• Galanis testified that Luciano wanted to take Melina to Ethiopia for approximately two weeks in January 2025.
• According to Galanis, Melina resisted the proposed trip.
• Galanis said she became increasingly uncomfortable with Luciano’s plans and the Ethiopia trip ultimately did not occur.
• Her testimony was important to the prosecution’s proposed motive because prosecutors had already argued that Luciano was unhappy with the parents’ co-parenting arrangement.

July 29, 2026, Discovery of Melina’s Body

• The prosecution shifted heavily toward the physical recovery of Melina.
• New York State Police Sgt. Joseph Moeller, who had been part of the State Police dive team, testified.
• Moeller described investigators locating Melina submerged in shallow, muddy water in the rural Ticonderoga area.
• His testimony addressed the conditions at the recovery site and what officers encountered before divers recovered Melina.
• Additional investigators testified about the sequence of events that led police to the wooded area.
• Their testimony challenged Luciano’s kidnapping story and described how investigators ultimately focused on the Ticonderoga location. 

July 30, 2026

• Trial proceedings continued.
• Reporting from this date confirms that the previous day’s testimony had included two investigators challenging Luciano’s version of the alleged abduction and additional evidence explaining how investigators were led to the location where Melina was recovered.

August 1, 2026 to August 6, 2026, Forensic and Digital Evidence

• The prosecution continued presenting a combination of:
  • Cellphone location evidence.
  • Vehicle-location evidence.
  • Surveillance video.
  • Luciano’s discarded muddy clothing.
  • Evidence recovered from the rental vehicle.
  • Luciano’s handwritten writings.
  • Crime-scene evidence.
  • Autopsy evidence.

• Jurors were shown autopsy photographs.
• Forensic testimony established that Melina drowned and that her death was a homicide.
• The prosecution tied Luciano’s cellphone and vehicle movements to the area where Melina was recovered.
• The handwritten material found in the vehicle became part of the prosecution’s effort to establish Luciano’s state of mind before Melina’s death. 

August 7, 2026, Prosecution Rests

• After roughly three weeks of proceedings, prosecutors rested their case.
• By this point jurors had heard testimony from more than a dozen law enforcement officers and expert witnesses, in addition to Melina’s mother and other witnesses.
• Attention then turned to whether Luciano would personally testify.
• During discussions with Judge Tatiana Coffinger, Luciano indicated that he was considering taking the witness stand.
• He continued to maintain his innocence.
• The judge gave him time to decide whether he would waive his constitutional right not to testify. 

August 10, 2026

• Luciano Frattolin has been found guilty of guilty of second-degree murder and guilty of concealment of a human corpse in connection with the death of his daughter Melina Frattolin