Father charged with murder in Lake George Amber Alert case due in court
Luciano Frattolin, 45, of Canada, is accused of falsely reporting that his daughter, Melina, went missing while they were visiting Lake George earlier this month.
His story led New York State Police to issue an Amber Alert, but investigators later said there were inconsistencies with his account.
He initially told police he was 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 discovered the next day in a pond about 30 miles north of Lake George in Ticonderoga. A later autopsy determined that her death was a homicide and she died of asphyxiation due to drowning.
Her father, 45, was charged with second-degree murder and concealment of a corpse in the case. He pleaded not guilty. Police said he 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 after she was reported missing.
Frattolin is set to be arraigned at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Essex County Courthouse in Elizabethtown.
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