TICONDEROGA, NY – That is the primary haunting glimpse of the desolate spot the place tragic Melina Frattolin’s physique was dumped within the Adirondacks after deranged dad Luciano allegedly killed her simply over a 12 months in the past.
Frattolin, 45, went to twisted lengths to cover his little one’s physique within the pristine upstate forest, trudging previous dense brush and rocky terrain earlier than shoving her corpse underneath a fallen tree and submerging it within the mud with an enormous rock, in response to photographs proven to jurors over the previous week — giving the general public its first glimpse of her grotesque closing resting place because the dad’s trial now enters its third week.
The accused psycho father allegedly spent almost 10 minutes navigating the twisting, winding path and bushwhacking by means of thick underbrush to succeed in the chilling spot.
Different unique footage of the situation, which was alongside Paragon Brook and visited by The Submit, exhibits the dense brush and tough terrain Frattolin allegedly navigated.
The rock used to overwhelm Melina’s physique was a particularly dense and weighty piece of feldspar, whose lovely pearly quartz deposits are frequent to the Adirondacks.
Photographs and photographs confirmed it was left resting on a boulder close to the location after Melina’s physique was recovered.
It may be seen laying on its facet, with its muddy mossy facet that had remained undisturbed doubtless for hundreds of years prior allegedly flipped over by Frattolin on that lethal evening final summer time, when he would report his daughter as having been kidnapped alongside the thruway.
However cops have been fast to catch onto his bogus story, with license-plate readers and different data shortly permitting them to establish him as their suspect, authorities have mentioned.
However Frattolin defiantly refused to return clear, even after state police investigators revealed they discovered Melina’s physique, officers mentioned.
Fewer than 12 hours after Melina was reported kidnapped, New York Forest Rangers, state police, native cops and different legislation enforcement swarmed the world of Eagle Lake in Ticonderoga, the place they ultimately situated her physique round 1 p.m. Saturday, July 20, 2025.
The low-lying swampy wetland that encompasses Paragon Brook is the doorway to the Pharoah Lake wilderness, a distant a part of the Adirondack again nation in style with backpackers.
Frattolin would have needed to navigate a weaving path from the Quick Swing Trailhead on Route 74, the place location information extracted from his rental white Toyota Prius and proven to jurors revealed that he was parked there round an hour earlier than he referred to as 911 to report Melina kidnapped from a relaxation cease down the thruway.
The hike for an outfitted and skilled backpacker would have clocked at just below 10 minutes, with them battling Adirondack black flies the entire time.
Frattolin was seen carrying OnCloud sneakers and royal-blue Lulu lemon shorts on surveillance footage from a Saratoga Springs McDonald’s a number of hours earlier.
Prosecutors mentioned they’re nonetheless establishing the timeline round Melina’s closing hours and what precisely spurred Frattolin to kill his daughter, who he’d fantasized of regaining custody of, in response to unusual writings discovered scattered all through the Prius.
Melina’s mom, Kali Galanis, testified final week that her daughter referred to as her to let her know Luciano was late returning her to her house in Montreal and that the pair would arrive at 8:30 p.m. July 19, 2025.
When Galanis requested Frattolin about their whereabouts, he responded round 8:55 p.m., or what would’ve been moments after rising from the woods, soaked and soiled, after allegedly committing an unspeakable evil.
He texted her to say he and Melina would arrive in Montreal at 9:15 p.m.
At 9:20 p.m., Luciano’s Prius was noticed on a license-plate reader touring southbound on I-87.
State troopers later discovered mud-covered blue Lulu Lemon shorts, sneakers and soiled moist wipes stuffed right into a rubbish bag and ditched alongside the interstate about half a mile up the highway.
