GLENS FALLS, N.Y. — A 9-year-old girl from Canada found deceased in a pond in upstate New York was determined to have drowned, based on preliminary autopsy results released on Tuesday.
Luciano Frattolin, 45, hailing from Montreal, faces charges of murder and concealing the body of his daughter, Melina Frattolin. He entered a plea of not guilty on Monday and is currently detained in a county jail.
Frattolin contacted 911 on Saturday night, indicating that his daughter had disappeared from a parking area near Lake George, a vacation destination in the Adirondack region. He subsequently informed authorities that two men abducted his daughter in a white van, as reported by New York State Police.
Officials issued an Amber Alert, seeking the public’s help in the search. But investigators noticed inconsistencies in the father’s account and eventually concluded there was no evidence the girl had been abducted.
A team led by state forest rangers found the girl’s body on Sunday afternoon in the shallow part of a pond in the woods of Ticonderoga, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Lake George. The criminal complaint said Frattolin concealed her body under a log.
The preliminary autopsy results said the cause of death was “asphyxia due to drowning” and classified it as a homicide, according to state police. Final autopsy results are pending.
Police said the father and daughter had been vacationing since July 11 in the U.S. and were expected back in Montreal that weekend. The girl lived with her mother, who has been estranged from Luciano Frattolin since 2019, police said.
The investigation into the girl’s death is continuing.
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