Father receives life sentence in New York for murder of Montreal girl

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.

Frattolin would not be eligible for parole before 25 years.

The defence issued a notice of appeal following the sentence.

The girl 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, Luciano Frattolin called police, reporting she had been kidnapped after he had stopped the car he was driving on the side of the road.

During the three-week-long trial, the defence tried to argue that local police had not adequately investigated Frattolin's claims that his daughter was kidnapped.

The prosecution called several police officers and experts over the trial 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 jury spent an hour deliberating on Aug. 10 at the end of the trial, before concluding that Frattolin was guilty.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2026.

By Marieke Glorieux-Stryckman | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.