This undated booking photo provided by the New York State Police shows Luciano Frattolin, who is charged with murder and concealing a corpse in the death of his daughter, Melina Frattolin. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - New York State Police via AP (Mandatory Credit)

MONTREAL — 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 who is prosecuting the case both confirmed that the felony hearing scheduled to take place Friday for Luciano Frattolin was 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.

Grand jury proceedings are not open to the public.

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 July 20 in a shallow pond in Ticonderoga, about 50 kilometres northeast of Lake George near the New York-Vermont boundary.

Police have said Frattolin entered the United States with his daughter for a planned vacation earlier this month. On July 19, he called 911 and reported his daughter missing and potentially abducted, but officers determined the story to be false.

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

On Wednesday, New York state troopers could be seen wading through the tall grasses on the side of Interstate 87, assisted by other officers with drones. A police spokesperson said police and forest rangers were conducting an "evidentiary search" along several dozen kilometres of highway in connection with the homicide investigation.

Robert Gregor, a hotel owner in the Lake George area, said he called police on Sunday after one of his employees found an electronic tablet that contained pictures of a girl resembling Melina. He said the tablet was found in the flower beds outside the Sundowner motel off Lake George's main street, in a spot where it could have been dumped by a passing car.

Gregor said the photos included a couple of posed portrait-type shots of a smiling young girl and some blurry photos resembling selfies, which he described as "something you'd expect an eight-year-old or a nine-year-old to take."

He said the tablet was taken by police, who have not verified if it is connected to the case.

The hotel owner said that while Melina wasn't from Lake George, the tight-knit community feels "as if we lost one of our own."

"Tragic is a good word, but it doesn’t really capture the feeling of it," he said in a phone interview. "We’re all feeling a sense of loss and grieving and utter horror in this."

Ticonderoga held a vigil on Tuesday in memory of the nine-year-old, and Gregor said Lake George is planning to hold a similar event on Sunday.

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

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025