ELIZABETHTOWN, NY – Newly disclosed notes introduced in court Thursday suggest Luciano Frattolin may have been mapping out an elaborate effort to win back custody of his daughter, the same night prosecutors say the 45-year-old father killed the nine-year-old girl.
On the sixth day of the murder trial in Essex County Court, prosecutors presented evidence that included a strange 10-year “father’s report” found inside the glove compartment of Frattolin’s rental car, along with handwritten pages labeled “Plan A” and “Plan B.”
Investigators also recovered a mysterious document titled “closure/confession” from the Toyota Prius where Melina Frattolin was last seen alive before authorities allege her father left her body in a muddy Adirondack swamp on July 19, 2025.
Frattolin, 45, is facing charges in connection with his daughter’s brutal killing.
Among the documents, authorities said, was a draft press release apparently intended for Canadian news outlets if Frattolin gained custody. In it, he attacked his ex-wife, writing, “Kali is simply the queen of evil.”
Another note labeled as a “confession” appeared to read like a transcript of an argument between Frattolin and Kali, though prosecutors did not establish whether the exchange actually happened. One line stated: “You were not supposed to be a mother for a reason.”
The alleged transcript continued with harsher language, including the line: “Death is better than living with you. Your Dad is the only one who can control you.”
A final excerpt read: “The problem was never me it was always your mental illness.”
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Included in the trove of documents discovered by authorities — most of which was stashed in an Ikea grocery bag — were user manuals for a Porsche, pictures of his ex-wife and baby photos of Melina.
The findings introduced by the prosecution drew pushback from Frattolin’s legal team, causing his attorneys to raise objections that Judge Tatiana Cottinger overruled only after 25 minutes of closed-door deliberations.
The items were discovered while police scoured the rental car for clues hours after Frattolin reported his daughter’s bogus kidnapping on July 19, 2025, by men in a white van along the side of Interstate 87, triggering an amber alert.
Frattolin was arrested on July 21, 2025.
State police investigator Jacalyn Sommer, who led the team digging through the Prius, provided testimony to accompany dozens of photographs snapped of Frattolin and Melina’s belongings that were shown to jurors.
The dad’s bags included a laptop and several condoms in gold packaging.
Sommer told the courtroom that several items of clothing, including two stained pairs of Melina’s underpants and a pair of shorts and shirt belonging to Frattolin showed signs of “seminal fluid.”
The underwear was sent to a forensics lab for further testing, but an investigator who testified earlier in the trial said “there was no semen found in that underwear.”
Luciano’s clothing has not been tested further, Sommer added.
Frattolin is due back in court Friday.
