Investigators challenge father’s story around the death of nine-year-old daughter

ELIZABETHTOWN — Testimony from two New York State Police investigators Wednesday highlighted how law enforcement agents challenged the story of a man now accused of second-degree murder in the killing of his nine-year-old daughter from Montreal last summer.

Ashlee Marks and Ashley Terry, both investigators for the state police, spoke to Luciano Frattolin after his daughter’s body was found. They took the stand during the latest day of a criminal trial that began last week.

Luciano Frattolin, 46, has pleaded not guilty to the charges of second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse in the case. He has been held without bail since his arrest last July.

Along with the new testimony, the jury also viewed segments from a recording of an hours-long police interview with Frattolin conducted by Marks and Terry after investigators recovered the body of his daughter, Melina Frattolin. In the video, the father is seen sitting on a bench in a white coverall suit, handcuffed and chained to the wall.

“The more we ask you about this specific time of your travel, the more your story changes. Are you aware of that? You’re adding new details, you’re forgetting things,” Marks pointed out in the tape.

The jury had previously heard a recording of a 911 call by Frattolin to the Warren Country Sheriff’s Department on July 19, 2025 at 10 p.m. In the call, he told an operator his daughter was kidnapped by suspects who drove off in a white van.

Melina Frattolin’s body was found in a marsh next to a hiking trail she visited with her father in the hours before her death.

In the recording, Marks accuses Frattolin of not telling the truth and tells him his story doesn’t make sense. Frattolin agreed that his story was complicated.

“He was going back and forth and trying to decide what information to give us,” she said to the jury.

Earlier in the day, New York State Police officers testified about the events that led up to the recovery of the body of the girl submerged in shallow, muddy water in a rural area on July 20, 2025.

Adam Hurlburt, police chief of the town of Ticonderoga, where the body was found, recalled joining the efforts to find the missing girl on July 20.

“It rained harder than I can remember (that day). Rained so hard it felt like it was raining from the ground up,” he said.

He said law enforcement found the body right after they started their systematic search of the area. Once they did, a team of police divers was called in to recover it.

Joseph Moeller, now a sergeant for the state police, was part of that dive team who were among the first to see the body of Melina Frattolin.

In front of the jury, he described being called into work on July 20 and sent to the location where the girl’s body was found.

“I was the first one to walk towards the scene,” said Moeller.

The jury also viewed video footage of the scene, captured by Moeller as officers approached the girl’s body.

The video shows how Moeller waded into a marshy area, accompanied by three other divers walking in what he described as foot-deep muck.

As the video goes on, the girl’s legs and one of her arms become visible, floating in the water. Her head and shoulders were hidden under a log and a large rock was on her torso.

Frattolin kept his head down as the video played in the courtroom, and later when aerial shots of the body were presented.

The jury heard testimony from another officer who found two white sneakers in the marsh, a few metres from where the body was found.

In his interview with Marks and Terry, Frattolin said he had changed out of white sneakers after his hike with his daughter.

The prosecution also presented videos from truck cameras in which a silver Prius is seen around the area where the girl’s body was found at close to 8 p.m. on the night she disappeared. Father and daughter drove a car of that model during their trip to the United States.

The trial is scheduled to resume on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2026

Marieke Glorieux-Stryckman, The Canadian Press