Montreal father receives life in prison for killing 9-year-old daughter

Inside a courthouse in upstate New York, Luciano Fratellin was handed a life sentence Wednesday for the murder of his nine-year-old daughter, Melina. A crime that shook people there and in Montreal, where the family lived. The judge not mincing words as she spoke to Fratellin, who still claims he's innocent. what you have done. Melina's mother had full custody of her and a fraught relationship with Fratellin. But in July 2025, the father and daughter took a road trip. Heading back from New York City, he called police claiming Melina had been kidnapped. The next day, after following a trail of car and cell phone location data to recreate Fratellin's movements, police found her body concealed in a swamp near Ticonderoga. The coroner's report determined she had drowned. It took a jury just one hour to come back with a guilty plea this past July. At Wednesday's sentencing, Fratellin's defense lawyers said they would appeal. Afterwards, Melina's family had the district attorney read aloud a letter. We continue to suffer deeply since the day Melina was brutally murdered. Nothing can bring Melina back, but we are relieved that this chapter is over. Fratellin was also sentenced to one to three years for concealment of a corpse to be served consecutively. It was a murder that reverberated through Ticonderoga with residents holding a vigil for the girl and adopting a stretch of highway in memory of her. Like everyone who has heard of this story, everyone wants to know why. An answer the judge says only Fratellin holds. Sarah Levitt, CBC News, Montreal.