Authorities say a 9-year-old Canadian girl found dead in a New York pond was drowned. Preliminary autopsy results released Tuesday classify her death as a homicide.

Luciano, who divorced Melina’s mother in 2019, stopped answering the mom’s messages after she asked one heartbreaking question.

Two North Country communities are holding vigils Tuesday evening in memory of the 9-year-old girl that was found dead in Ticonderoga. The reported abduction of Melina Frattolin prompted an Amber Alert very early Sunday morning.

Authorities released a cause of death for a 9-year-old girl believed to have been murdered by her father in upstate New York.Melina Frattolin died from asphyxia due to drowning, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide,

State Police are asking anyone with surveillance images and videos of the silver Toyota Prius that Luciano and Melina Frattolin had been driving during their vacation to reach out to them.

Luciano Frattolin — a 45-year-old debt-riddled neat-freak — was charged with second-degree murder and unlawful disposal of a corpse after the tragic child was found dead in a shallow waterway outside Ticonderoga on the northern end of Lake George on Sunday afternoon.

According to New York State Police, the autopsy of 9-year-old Melina Frattolin shows she died from asphyxia due to drowning. RELATED: Father charged with murder of daughter, 9, who was reported missing in Adirondacks areaOn July 19,