An Essex County judge sentenced Luciano Frattolin to 25 years to life for murdering his 9-year-old daughter Melina.

A jury convicted him in August. Wednesday's hearing set the prison term. WNYT reported up to four years consecutive on concealment; the New York Post reported one to three years consecutive on that count. Either way, the murder sentence is 25 years to life.

WNYT reported Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, that Luciano Frattolin was sentenced in Essex County Court in Elizabethtown to 25 years to life on second-degree murder and up to four years on concealment of a human corpse, to be served consecutively. The New York Post reported the same murder term and said Judge Tatiana Coffinger imposed an additional one-to-three years consecutive for hiding the body. Frattolin was convicted after a three-week trial in August, WNYT reported.

Prosecutors said Frattolin killed Melina on July 19, 2025, during an Adirondacks vacation, then hid her body in a swampy area in Ticonderoga, WNYT reported. He called police and claimed she had been abducted by two unknown men at a rest area in Queensbury, prompting an Amber Alert, the New York Post and WNYT reported. The Post said prosecutors argued the killing was driven by animus toward Melina's mother, Kali Galanis, who had won full custody after their 2019 split.

Judge Coffinger told Frattolin he lived in a "world of self made delusion of wealth and image when the greatest accomplishment in your life could've been as a great father," the New York Post reported. Frattolin maintained his innocence at sentencing, the Post said. WNYT's Dan Levy covered the hearing from the courtroom. Melina is not pictured here. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.