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Luciano Frattolin is taken away in custody from the Essex County Court in Elizabethtown, New York on Friday, July 24, 2026. Frattolin was convicted of 2nd-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse on Aug. 10, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov
By The Canadian Press

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

Oct 14, 2026 | 2:00 AM

ELIZABETHTOWN — 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 defence 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.

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 911, reporting she 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.”

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 community of Montreal, the school (and) teachers all felt a great loss from the defendant’s selfish actions,” District Attorney Michael 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 was guilty.

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

Marieke Glorieux-Stryckman, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press