The man accused of killing his 9-year-old daughter and hiding her body was arraigned in Essex County Court today.
Luciano Frattolin faces two felony counts: Murder in the Second Degree and Concealment of a Human Corpse. He is accused of drowning his 9-year-old daughter Melina Frattolin and then, according to the indictment, hid her body “by placing it in a wooded area in water, near a fallen tree with a rock on top of the corpse with the intent to prevent its...discovery.”
According to authorities, Frattolin was vacationing with his daughter in the U.S. and was due to return to Canada on July 19th, the day of her killing.
Luciano Frattolin appeared before Judge Tatiana Coffinger. She explained to the defendant the purpose of the arraignment.
“The purpose of this proceeding is to advise you of your right to be represented by an attorney at all times, to advise you of the charges that have been filed against you and your rights under those charges,” Coffinger expalined. “Mr. Frattolin, do you understand the charges that have been filed against you?”
Frattolin responded, “Yes.”
Essex County Public Defender Emily Lynn Evatt waived a formal reading of the charges and then entered a plea on behalf of Frattolin.
“I’m going to enter a plea of not guilty.”
Essex County District Attorney Michael Langey asked the judge to hold Frattolin without bail.
“He has an Italian and an Ethiopian passport. He has claimed residences in Canada as well as Ethiopia and has businesses listed in Canada as well as Ethiopia. Given his lack of ties to our country and to the state, of the possible life sentence that he’s now facing, the people would ask that he be remanded without bail,” Langey said. “It is the people’s opinion that no amount of money would ensure that he would return given his lack of ties and I believe he is a flight risk.”
Defense attorney Evatt argued that Frattolin has no criminal history and has been cooperating.
“He is not a U.S. citizen and has never had a warrant for his arrest or failure to appear in court. If he is released, he intends to stay in an apartment in New York City with a friend. He would give up his Italian passport, which he has, not an Ethiopian passport, and be subject to electronic monitoring,” Evatt assured the court. “He would appear at every and all proceedings in this court case. We would request reasonable monetary bail. Mr. Fratolin, as I said, has no reason to run from these allegations. He maintains his innocence. He has no financial support here in the United States and is not a flight risk, So we ask for reasonable monetary bail.”
Judge Coffinger acknowledged that Frattolin has no criminal history, but found the severity of the charges and his lack of community ties could not be ignored.
“I find that remand to the correctional facility is the only way to guarantee his attendance here in court because of the transient nature of this, um, of these allegations, of his citizenship and really his ties to this area. I can’t guarantee his return,” Judge Coffinger considered. “So, Mr. Frattolin, I will be remanding you to the custody of the Essex County Sheriff.”
Frattolin is due to appear for a compliance conference on August 19th.
The defendant has 45 days to file motions followed by prosecutor’s responses.
If pretrial hearings are required they will be held on November 12th and if a jury trial occurs it will begin on January 5th.
