Canadian man accused of killing daughter, 9, in upstate New York
Luciano Frattolin, 45, was denied bail by Judge Tatiani Coffinger after acting Essex County District Attorney Michael Langey said he was a flight risk because of his citizenship in Ehiopia and Italy, as well as his ties to Canada.
"No amount of money would ensure he'd return," Langey told the judge.
Public defender Emily Evatt said he had no criminal history and planned to stay in New York City with a friend.
Frattolin was in financial trouble, WRGB-TV reported. He is the founder of Gambella Coffee in Montreal, which is named after the town in Ethiopia where he was born and where green coffee beans are hand-picked, WNYT-TV reported.
Frattolin is facing a second-degree murder charge and concealment of a human corpse.
He is accused of killing his daughter, Melina Galanis Frattolin, in the evening of July 19 during a vacation, then concealing her body and saying she was abducted. He said she was kidnapped when he pulled over on Interstate 87 to go into the woods to go to the bathroom, police said.
An Amber Alert was issued the next morning.
Later that day, her body was found in a pond in a remote area near Ticonderoga, which is 98 miles north of Albany and 146 miles south of Montreal.
The New York State Police said a preliminary autopsy shows she died from "asphyxia due to drowning."
In the indictment, officials said he concealed her body "by placing it in a wooded area, near a fallen tree with a rock on top of the corpse."
Authorities believe she was killed a few hours after she called her mother to say they were traveling on the way back to Montreal as part of a 10-day vacation that included New York City and Connecticut.
The girl lived with her mother.
The couple had been estranged since 2019, according to Capt. Robert McConnell of the New York State Police.
The mother said she had no prior concerns about them traveling together.
Police noticed inconsistencies in his timeline of the trip, McConnell said.
A jury trial has been set for January 2026.
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