TICONDEROGA — A Canadian coffee entrepreneur killed his 9-year-old daughter during a trip to upstate New York, stashing her body under a log in a remote pond — just before he was supposed to return her to his ex-wife, cops said Monday.

Luciano Frattolin — a 45-year-old debt-riddled neat-freak — was charged with second-degree murder and unlawful disposal of a corpse after the tragic child was found dead in a shallow waterway outside Ticonderoga on the northern end of Lake George on Sunday afternoon. 

The dad had allegedly filed a bogus kidnapping report about Melina on Saturday night, claiming she was whisked away by two men in a white van Saturday, prompting an Amber Alert.

“Mr. Frattolin reported that he had stopped in a parking lot near Exit 22 on I-87 in Lake George to urinate,” New York State Police Capt. Robert McConnell told reporters at a briefing Monday, according to the Montreal Journal.

“He initially said he walked away from his vehicle, and when he returned, his child was gone. He reported a suspicious white vehicle near the scene, in addition to two men in the vehicle. This theory was thoroughly investigated and refuted.”

Melina’s lifeless body was discovered a few hours later, with authorities saying there was no evidence she had been kidnapped.

The family lives in Quebec, and Melina and her dad were vacationing in the Lake George area about 30 miles from where her body was found.

The child was last seen alive at a Saratoga Springs restaurant with her father around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, police said, citing surveillance video.

She was killed between 7:40 and 9:12 that night, according to the court complaint.

Frattolin, the Ethiopian-born founder of a Montreal-based company called Gambella Coffee,  was hauled to the upstate Essex County Jail at 2 a.m. Monday.

He was taken in shackles from the jail to Ticonderoga Town Court early Monday afternoon for his arraignment — looking haggard and scruffy in a white disposable Tyvek suit and boots, his hands cuffed in front of him.

He stared at reporters without saying a word when they asked him for comment before he was whisked off.

A not-guilty plea was entered on Frattolin’s behalf in court, the Times Union reported.
He spoke only to tell Judge Richard Carpenter that the Montreal address listed for him was incorrect.

He told the judge he couldn’t afford a lawyer, despite touting an expensive lifestyle of luxury cars and travel on his social media.

Frattolin and his daughter had been traveling across Connecticut and New York as part of a custody visit he arranged with his ex-wife, from whom he split in 2019, police said.

The father and daughter had been in the States since July 11, cops said.

Melina  sounded fine when she made a phone call to her mom around 6:30 p.m. Saturday, shortly before the girl and her dad were scheduled to fly back to Quebec, cops said.

When Frattolin called 911 to claim she’d been abducted, police initially feared that the girl was in “imminent danger,”  but later revealed there was no evidence that she’d been kidnapped and cited alleged inconsistencies in the dad’s claims.

The dad was authorized to travel with his daughter, who lived with her mom full-time, and had no previous criminal history or domestic violence history, cops said.

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Melina’s mother also reported no previous worries for her daughter’s safety, police said.

An exact cause of death has yet to be determined, officials said.

Officials also have yet to suggest a possible motive.

But he may have been struggling to cover child support for his daughter, owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to creditors, according to local press in Montreal.

He described his “beautiful” daughter as “the light of his life” and his “inspiration” in the bio on his coffee company’s site. 

But he also  alluded to a number of hardships he had to overcome, including getting over his “rigid” tendencies, and having to learn to live with Melina’s “messy art projects” and “chaotic” toys because of his obsession for keeping things in “perfect order.”

His social media posts last shared a picture of Melina back in 2023, with his last post in June this year only showing a Porsche car.