This browser does not support the Video element.
Update on missing 9-year-old girl found dead in NY
The New York State Police held a briefing on Monday morning after a missing 9-year-old girl was found dead over the weekend in New York state.
NEW YORK - Melina Frattolin, the 9-year-old girl from Canada who was found dead in an upstate New York pond, was drowned, according to preliminary autopsy results released Tuesday.
Her father, 45-year-old Luciano Frattolin, was charged with murdering and concealing her body.
Melina reported missing
The backstory:
Luciano called 911 on Saturday night and said his daughter went missing from a parking lot near Lake George. He later told authorities that two men forced his daughter into a white van, according to New York State Police.
Officials issued an Amber Alert, seeking the public’s help in the search. But investigators noticed inconsistencies in the father’s account and eventually concluded there was no evidence the girl had been abducted.
A team led by state forest rangers found the girl’s body on Sunday afternoon in the shallow part of a pond in the woods of Ticonderoga, about 30 miles north of Lake George. The criminal complaint said Frattolin concealed her body under a log.
Cause of death
Dig deeper:
The preliminary autopsy results said the cause of death was "asphyxia due to drowning" and classified it as a homicide, according to state police.
Luciano is the founder of Gambella Coffee, a company based in Montreal. In a biography, Melina is described as "the light of his life," WRGB reported, citing a website.
Police said the father and daughter had been vacationing since July 11 in the U.S. and were expected back in Montreal that weekend. The girl lived with her mother, who has been estranged from Luciano since 2019, police said.
The final autopsy report is pending and the investigation into Melina's death is ongoing.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from The Associated Press and previous reporting by FOX Local.