Businessman sentenced to 25 years to life for drowning daughter

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 14 Oct, 21:33 · Archive

Luciano Frattolin received 25 years to life for drowning his 9-year-old daughter Melina during a custody visit in New York in July 2025.

Luciano Frattolin, 46, was sentenced on Wednesday in Essex County Supreme Court in Elizabethtown for drowning his 9-year-old daughter Melina during a July 2025 vacation. He then claimed she had been abducted by masked men in a van, prompting an Amber Alert and a manhunt. Frattolin, who lived in Montreal and ran a failed coffee company, declined to make any statement when asked by the judge, uttering only 'No thank you.'

Prosecutors alleged he killed Melina to enact revenge against her mother, his ex-wife, and to avoid paying child support. Frattolin was convicted in August of second-degree murder. Judge Tatiana Coffinger handed down a sentence of 25 years to life for the murder, plus one to three additional years for disposing of Melina's body. The sentences will run consecutively.

At sentencing, the judge criticised Frattolin harshly. 'You live in a world of self-made delusion of wealth and image when the greatest accomplishment in your life could've been as a great father,' Coffinger said. She added: 'I hope at some point in your life you will realise what you have done.' Frattolin faces deportation at the end of his sentence if he is ever paroled.

How it is being reported

• Dad who murdered frightened daughter, 9, during custody vacation is sentenced to 25 years to life in prisonLuciano Frattolin, 46, was sentenced on Wednesday in Essex County Supreme Court in Elizabethtown, New York, for the July 2025 murder of his daughter Melina, 9.Daily Mail · 14 Oct, 21:11
• Judge thrashes killer dad Luciano Frattolin as he’s sentenced for murdering daughter, 9, in upstate NY: ‘World of self made delusion’Luciano Frattolin received 25 years to life in prison for the murder of his 9-year-old daughter, Melina, in an upstate New York revenge plot.New York Post · 14 Oct, 16:10

In this story: Luciano Frattolin · Melina · Judge Tatiana Coffinger · Essex County Supreme Court · Elizabethtown · New York · Ticonderoga

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