JusticeLuciano Frattolin gets 25 years to life for murdering his nine-year-old daughterAired October 15, 2026 at 6:44 AM UTCWritten October 15, 2026 at 6:47 AM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:07Luciano Fratelin will serve a life sentence for murdering his nine-year-old0:11daughter.0:12The murder sentence is 25 years to life.0:14A further prison term for hiding her body could affect when he's considered for0:17parole.0:18How do those two sentences fit together?0:20Judge Tatiana Koffinger imposed the sentence on October 14th, 2026, in Essex County0:26Court in Elizabethtown, New York.0:27Melina Galanis-Fratelin was nine.0:30She'd traveled from Montreal with her father, and their United States trip was0:34nearly over.0:34She was expected home.0:36Fratelin told police that two men in a white van had taken Melina at a Northway rest0:40stop near Lake George.0:42He made that claim on July 19, 2025.0:44An amber alert followed very early the next morning.0:47Investigators found Melina's body just before 11 that morning, July 20, at a pond0:52off State Route 74 in Ticonderoga.0:54Her body had been concealed in a marshy area.0:57The discovery came more than a year before her father's sentencing.1:00The jury found that Fratelin concealed her body.1:03It's unclear whether she lay under a log, was pinned beneath a rock, Or both.1:07Those details haven't been reconciled.1:09Dr.1:10Michael Sikarika performed the autopsy on July 21st, 2025, at Glens Falls Hospital.1:16State Police announced the preliminary findings the following day.1:19The preliminary finding was that Melina died from asphyxia due to drowning and that1:23her death was a homicide.1:25State police said the final determination awaited further laboratory testing.1:29The final medical findings haven't been made clear.1:31Fratelin's cell phone location history led investigators to the marsh.1:35Police also matched the rental car's location data to where Melina was found.1:39Jurors heard cell phone evidence, rental car GPS records, and a video timeline as1:44prosecutors reconstructed her final hours.1:51An Essex County jury convicted Fratilin on August 10th, 2026, after a three-week1:56trial.1:57It found him guilty of second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse.2:01Both convictions were in place when Koffinger sentenced him in October.2:04Koffinger addressed his responsibility as Molina's father.2:08She told him, The greatest accomplishment of your life could have been to be a great2:11father.2:12That is not what you're going to be remembered for.2:14Fratalin's murder sentence carries a minimum of twenty-five years.2:18The separate punishment for concealing Molina's body is why that number alone2:22doesn't settle when he could first be considered for parole.2:25Fratalin also reportedly received one to three years for concealment.2:29To run consecutively, meaning after the murder term, adding the minimums gives 262:33years.2:34That arithmetic alone doesn't set his legal parole threshold.2:37His precise combined parole threshold still needs an authoritative determination.2:42Once he reaches the required minimum, he can be considered for parole.2:46Release isn't guaranteed, and the life sentence allows him to remain in prison for2:50the rest of his life.Explore with HeyDexFollow via RSSThe shortThe short ↗