ELIZABETHTOWN — The prosecution has rested its case in the Luciano Frattolin murder trial and it is to be determined if Frattolin will be the next witness to testify for the defense.
Frattolin, 46, of Montreal, is charged with killing his daughter, 9-year-old Melina, and has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of second-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse.
His murder trial has been ongoing in Essex County Court in Elizabethtown since July 23.
Essex County District Attorney Mike Langey and Assistant District Attorney Carrie Daly wrapped up their case with New York State Police Manager of the Forensic Multimedia Services Unit, Jason Cooper, on the stand Friday.
In September of 2025, Cooper had been tasked with recreating the GPS locations of Frattolin’s vehicle on the night of July 19, 2025, when Melina Frattolin died.
The more than four-hour-long video of Cooper’s recreation was played in court Thursday and Friday. The route Cooper recreated went from McDonald’s in Saratoga all the way up Interstate-87 to State Route 74 in Ticonderoga where Melina’s body was found and then back down Interstate-87, periodically stopping at different points, then ending at the Warren County Municipal Center, where the Warren County Sheriff’s Department is also located.
Cooper’s recreation of the route was recorded with a GoPro camera and an animation of Luciano Frattolin’s GPS locations was played simultaneously in court.
The defense asked Cooper during a cross-examination if he was aware of any white vans who had made a U-Turn on any of I-87’s various turnaround locations. Cooper said he was unaware.
“I guess we’ll never know,” Brian Pilatzke, Warren County Assigned Counsel Administrator, said.
Investigators previously said Luciano Frattolin had told police July 19, 2025, that his daughter had been abducted in a white van with no back doors or windows at a rest stop on Interstate-87 near Lake George.
Investigators previously said they found no evidence of any abduction by a white van.
After the prosecution rested its case Friday, Pilatzke called a witness of his own to testify: private investigator Terry Markham. Markham is the owner and operator of Gold Star Investigations in Warren County.
Markham previously worked as an investigator for the Warren County Sheriff’s Department before opening his own private investigation business.
Markham said on the stand Friday that Pilatzke hired him to travel to the location where Melina Frattolin’s body was found off State Route 74 in Ticonderoga to take the measurements and photographs of a rock there.
The rock was said to be the same one found on Melina’s body when it was discovered by New York State Police.
Pilatzke had Markham measure and weigh the rock in his presence. Markham said the rock weighed between 90 and 98 pounds, however, the surface was not exactly level when the weight was taken.
Additionally, the scale used for the weight measurement was one designed to measure a human’s weight. Markham said he had purchased it at WalMart in Queensbury on his way to the location. Markham’s measurements slightly differed from those taken by Troop B investigators last year.
In a picture taken by Markham of the location Pilatzke brought him to, which was presented to the jury Friday, there were several rocks shown. Langey had previously objected to the showing of the pictures based on relevancy since they were taken on July 26, 2026, and the scene did not accurately depict what it was like last year but Judge Tatianna Coffinger overruled his objection.
In his cross examination, Langey asked Markham how he knew which rock was the correct rock to measure. Markham said Pilatzke identified and showed him what rock to measure.
Markham said he had no way of knowing if it was the same rock otherwise.
Pilatzke, in feeling the prosecution did not prove Luciano Frattolin had committed the charges he was accused of, asked if the court would move to dismiss the charges. Pilatzke said there was also a lack of proof of intent and that the people failed to prove all elements.
Daly acknowledged that most of the evidence in the case was circumstantial but said it’s a matter of fact that the last person to see Melina alive was Luciano Frattolin. Additionally, Frattolin’s vehicle and cell phone were both established as being near the trail head off State Route 74 which led to where Melina’s dead body was discovered.
Daly said Frattolin changed his clothes that night, and the clothes he had been identified as wearing were found on the side of Interstate-87 in a garbage bag. She said notes and documents in his car depicted Luciano’s thoughts that his daughter was mentally ill and said he wanted to end this madness.
She said the last question of identity for who committed the murder should be for the jury to decide.
Coffinger reserved her decision at this time but asked Frattolin directly if he planned to testify in this case. He said he needed the weekend to talk with his attorneys before making a final decision.
Coffinger called it a “game-time decision” on Frattolin’s potential testimony Monday. If he does not decide to testify, Coffinger will go ahead with post-summation instructions for the jury. Following those instructions, the jury will begin their deliberations.
A verdict in the case could potentially come Monday. Court will resume at 9:15 a.m. Monday.