The last video 9-year-old Melina Frattolin sent to her mother was shown in court Thursday, a devastating 10-second glimpse of the smiling fourth-grader sitting in the sunlit back seat of a car just hours before prosecutors say her father killed her.
The brief clip, recovered from Melina’s cellphone, was sent to her mother, Kali Galanis, at 4:27 p.m. on July 19, 2025.
Prosecutors allege Luciano Frattolin, 45, drowned his daughter later that evening during what had started as a court-approved vacation.
Authorities say he then left Melina’s body in a shallow pond near Ticonderoga and invented a kidnapping claim, prompting an extensive search across the Adirondacks.
Frattolin has pleaded not guilty.
In the muted video, Melina looks down toward the camera in her lap and smiles, appearing to show her mother that she had removed the two braids Galanis had styled before the trip.
Cellphone records indicate Melina and her father were headed to a McDonald’s in Saratoga when she recorded the video.
At 8:53 p.m. — within the timeframe prosecutors say Melina was killed — Galanis sent her daughter a short text in French: “Appelle-moi.”
“Call me.”
Jurors then saw call logs showing Galanis repeatedly tried to reach both Melina’s cellphone and Frattolin’s phone throughout the night of July 19 and into the early morning hours of July 20.
As prosecutors played the recovered video, Frattolin watched from the computer monitor at the defense table. When the clip ended, he removed his glasses and looked down.
Later Thursday, jurors watched chilling surveillance video showing the accused killer dad sharing what prosecutors say was his final meal with 9-year-old daughter Melina inside a McDonald’s.
The footage, recorded at a McDonald’s in Wilton on July 19, 2025, shows Frattolin and Melina arriving in a gray Toyota Prius before walking inside and ordering at a self-service kiosk, where the fourth-grader eagerly tapped through the touchscreen while her father stood beside her.
The pair then carried their food to a table before Melina decided to move to another one.
During the roughly hour-long visit, Frattolin twice got up and walked away from the table for several minutes before returning.
As they finished eating, he took a final sip from what appeared to be a soft drink, stretched, and walked out with his daughter.
Nothing in the footage hinted at what prosecutors allege came next.
Prosecutors contend Frattolin spent the next several hours driving a circuitous route through the Adirondacks before drowning Melina and dumping her body in a shallow pond near Ticonderoga.
