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A Montreal man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his nine-year-old daughter and leaving her in a marsh in rural New York.
The sentence comes two months after a jury in Essex County Court convicted Luciano Frattolin of second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse in the death of Melina Frattolin.
Judge Tatiana Coffinger delivered the sentence after rejecting a motion to set aside the guilty verdict.
“I hope, at some point in your life, you realize what you have done,” Coffinger said in court.
Frattolin would not be eligible for parole before 25 years and is expected to serve his sentence in New York. Coffinger also sentenced Frattolin to one to three years for concealment of a corpse. That sentence will be served consecutively.
The defence issued a notice of appeal following the sentence.
Melina had been living in Montreal with her mother, and had gone on a road trip to the U.S. with her father in July 2025.
On the night they were scheduled to return home, Frattolin called police, reporting that his daughter had been kidnapped after he had stopped the car he was driving on the side of the road.
“Mr. Frattolin, you live in a world of self-made delusion of wealth and image,” Coffinger said. “When the greatest accomplishment of your life would have been to be a great father, that is not what you are going to be remembered for.”
The girl’s family and other loved ones watched the sentencing from the back of the courtroom and some wiped their eyes after hearing the judge’s ruling.
“We continue to suffer deeply since the day Melina was brutally murdered,” the family said in a statement read outside the courthouse by Michael Langey, the Essex County District Attorney.
“Nothing can bring Melina back, but we are relieved that this chapter is over. We are sincerely grateful to everyone who worked on the case. Your dedication and persistence, your efforts helped bring a measure of justice for our family.”
During the three-week-long trial, the defence argued that local police had not adequately investigated Frattolin’s claims that his daughter was kidnapped.
The prosecution called on several police officers and experts, however, who used car location data, cellphone data and surveillance camera footage to recreate Frattolin’s movements on the day his daughter died and prove his story was false.
“The community of Montreal, the school [and] teachers all felt a great loss from the defendant’s selfish actions,” Langey told the court before Coffinger delivered her sentence.
The jury spent an hour deliberating on Aug. 10 at the end of the trial, before concluding that Frattolin had drowned his daughter in a marsh in a rural area of New York.