Father’s DNA found on clothes near where Montreal girl’s body was found, trial hears

Luciano Frattolin is taken away in custody from the Essex County Court in Elizabethtown, New York on Friday, July 24, 2026. Luciano Frattolin is charged with 2nd-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov)

A jury has heard that the DNA of a man accused of killing his daughter was identified on a pair of shorts found near the area where police discovered the girl’s body last summer.

A DNA analyst for the New York State Police testified Wednesday that she found the DNA of Luciano Frattolin and his nine-year-old daughter Melina on the shorts, which were found inside a garbage bag recovered near the highway a short drive away from the girl’s body. 

May Scarlat told the court she was unable to identify DNA on other clothes in the bag, which included a t-shirt and shoes.

Frattolin is charged with second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse in the death of Melina Frattolin, who lived in Montreal.

The 46-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to both charges and has been held without bail since his arrest in July 2025.

Scarlat said Melina’s DNA was identified on the clothing she was was wearing when her body was found, including a jacket with traces of blood, but that the accused’s DNA was not found on these clothes.

Some of the other clothes the girl was wearing showed traces of other sets of DNA, but not enough for Scarlat to identify whose they were. 

Scarlat testified that it was possible the DNA had transferred from elsewhere.

“It’s possible for shorts or any type of pants, when you’re sitting in public, to pick up other people’s DNA,” she said.

Environmental factors like heat and moisture can also affect DNA testing, she told the jury.

Melina was found drowned to death in a marsh in rural New York, at the end of a trip with her father.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2026.