Murder case against father of nine-year-old Montreal girl moves to a grand jury

The case against the father of a nine-year-old Montreal girl found dead in Upstate New York will move directly to the grand jury stage.

The court in Ticonderoga, N.Y., and the secretary for the district attorney both confirmed that the felony hearing scheduled to take place Friday for Luciano Frattolin has been cancelled.

Instead the case will move to a grand jury, where its members will assess the prosecution’s evidence to decide whether there is probable cause that Frattolin killed his daughter Melina and should stand trial.

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The 45-year-old has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and the concealment of a human corpse after his daughter’s body was found in a shallow pond in New York state last weekend.

Police have said Frattolin originally reported his daughter missing and potentially abducted, but officers determined the story to be false.

Preliminary autopsy results released this week concluded the nine-year-old Canadian girl died from asphyxia due to drowning, and the death was ruled a homicide.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2025.