The mother of 9-year-old Melina Frattolin told an Essex County jury on Tuesday that her daughter had resisted the idea of leaving the country with her father months before prosecutors say the child was killed during a summer visit to New York.
Kali Galanis testified that her former partner, Luciano Frattolin, had planned to bring Melina to Ethiopia, his country of origin, for a two-week trip in January 2025. According to Galanis, those plans were ultimately dropped after Melina made it clear she did not want to go.
“She didn’t want to go,” Galanis said on the witness stand, adding that she, too, had grown increasingly uncomfortable with the proposed overseas travel.
Melina Frattolin, 9, whose mother testified that she objected to traveling overseas with her father months before prosecutors say she was killed during a trip to New York. (New York State Police)
Her testimony gave jurors a closer look at the tensions surrounding Melina’s travel arrangements and the concerns Galanis said she developed over Frattolin’s plans to take their daughter abroad before the girl’s death.
Galanis said she had been wary of international travel involving Melina and Frattolin after the couple split in 2019. She told the court that her lawyer had cautioned her about situations in which separated parents took children to another country and then failed to bring them back.
Galanis also testified that Frattolin later suggested lengthening the planned Ethiopia trip. She said discussions with Melina about the visit eventually led her to call off the travel plans altogether.
Luciano Frattolin is on trial in Essex County, New York, after pleading not guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of concealment of a human corpse in connection with the death of his 9-year-old daughter, Melina Frattolin. (New York State Police)
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“I became uncomfortable,” Galanis testified.
“I was not ok with that anymore,” she said of the proposed trip.
Instead, Frattolin suggested taking Melina on a vacation through the northeastern United States, Galanis testified.
Authorities released this image of the vehicle driven by Luciano Frattolin and his daughter, Melina Frattolin, before he allegedly made a false kidnapping report. (New York State Police)
Authorities have said Frattolin and Melina traveled through Connecticut and New York before the child was scheduled to return home to Quebec.
Prosecutors allege that on the day Melina was scheduled to return home to Quebec, Frattolin falsely reported that she had been abducted by two men in a white van, prompting an Amber Alert. Investigators later determined there was no evidence she had been kidnapped, authorities said. Melina’s body was later found partially submerged in shallow water near Eagle Lake in Ticonderoga.
Frattolin has pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of concealment of a human corpse.
The trial also heard testimony Monday from New York State Police investigator Daniel Mauro, who said Frattolin remarked during questioning that “it would’ve been easier” to kill his daughter overseas, including in Italy or Ethiopia.
Mauro testified the comment came after investigators asked Frattolin whether he had any reason to harm his daughter.
Frattolin’s trial is continuing in Essex County Court.
