Melina Frattolin, the nine-year-old girl whose lifeless body was discovered just hours after her father alleged she had been abducted, died by drowning, as confirmed by her autopsy.

Frattolin was reported missing on Saturday by her father Luciano Fratollin, who informed the police that his daughter had been taken away by someone driving a white van in upstate New York.

However, authorities reported that Luciano had misled the investigation when they uncovered the young girl’s body beneath a log in the shallow waters of a pond near Ticonderoga.

Luciano Fratollin, a Canadian CEO, was arrested for second-degree murder on Sunday night. The father, who is an Italian coffee mogul, remains in custody and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Now, an autopsy has ruled that Melina died from asphyxia due to drowning.

Captain Robert McConnell said her father, who lives in Montreal, Canada, killed the girl on Saturday night while they were on vacation close to the picturesque town of Lake George, located in the Adirondacks region of New York 60 miles north of Albany.

The father and daughter were both in America legally after starting their vacation on July 11. They were due to return to their native Quebec on Sunday. 

The horror unfolded on Saturday night, when Luciano called the local Warren County Sheriff’s Office claiming that two men in a white van had abducted his daughter.

An AMBER alert was then issued by New York State Police around 10pm, as they advised the public they believed she was in ‘imminent danger.’ 

Police soon became suspicious of Luciano’s story on what happened just before locating her lifeless body around 2pm Sunday. 

He is being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility as he was spotted in a white prison jumpsuit and shackles while he was hauled into Ticonderoga Town Court on Monday. 

Captain McConnell said Melina’s mother, who has been estranged from Luciano since 2019, was expecting her daughter to be returned to her home in Montreal on Sunday. 

The nine-year-old resided full time with her mother and her father visited without limitations. He also had zero criminal record, McConnell said. 

Surveillance footage from 5.30pm on Sunday showed Frattolin’s final moments as she was seen with her father in Saratoga Springs.

At 6.30pm, she phoned her mother and told her that she and her father were on their way back to Canada.

‘The child appeared to be in good health and did not indicate she was under any duress,’ McConnell said. 

‘The investigation has determined sometime after Melina’s phone call with her mother and sometime before Mr Frattolin’s 911 call, he allegedly murdered Melina and left her body in a remote area where she was later discovered by law enforcement.’

Captain McConnell said Luciano initially told cops that his child was kidnapped on the highway near Lake George when he pulled over to urinate in the woods.

The alleged killer dad said he turned around to find his daughter was no longer in their car, and he saw ‘a suspicious white van’ fleeing the scene.

He later added that ‘two unknown males forced’ Frattolin into the vehicle.

But when her body was found, detectives said there was no evidence she was ever abducted, and detectives said there was ‘no threat to the public.’ 

McConnell expressed his condolences for Melina’s family. ‘This is certainly a difficult case and a heartbreaking investigation,’ he said.

Prior to her death, Frattolin’s father gushed about her online, calling her the ‘light of his life’ and sharing pictures and videos of their ‘father daughter’ time.

In one YouTube clip from 2023, he and his daughter are seen enjoying ‘quality time’ together in the snow in Montreal, something Luciano said he would ‘miss about winter.’ 

The original video was accompanied by lullaby-style music, with the creepy lyrics ‘now hush little baby don’t you cry, everything’s gonna be alright… daddy’s here to hold you through the night.’

Portraying himself as a doting father on social media, his Instagram is filled with pictures of him and his daughter on holidays and spending time together over recent years.

In one snap, the little girl is seen celebrating Thanksgiving with her grandmother, while other content showed her enjoying a sunny holiday in Italy, where part of her father’s family is from.

Luciano is the founder of an organic coffee brand called Gambella, according to the product’s website.

‘Luciano Frattolin is an experienced entrepreneur with a proven track record of building diverse, high-performance businesses,’ the website read. 

‘With a background in the humanities and social sciences, his formal education, together with his pragmatic understanding about the complexities of life, motivates him to maintain an understanding of the world grounded in a distinct cross-cultural ethos.

‘The son of an Ethiopian mother and an Italian father, Luciano was born in the small, remote village of Gambella.’ 

This is breaking news. Updates to follow.