Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - SICKENING TWIST: 9 Y. O. MELINA VANISHES ON VACAY

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Authorities say they received a 911 call around 10 p.m. Saturday from a father who claimed his daughter, Melina, may have been abducted near Exit 22 on I-87. New York State Police said Melina and her father legally entered the U.S. on July 11 for a vacation from Canada. They were scheduled to return to Montreal on Sunday, July 20. Melina lives in another state with her mother. Her father and mother have been estranged since 2019, police said. Surveillance video shows Melina with her father in Saratoga Springs around 5:30 p.m., and she spoke with her mother on the phone around 6:30 p.m. On Sunday morning, authorities searched an area in the upstate town of Ticonderoga—near the Vermont border—where the father was believed to have been with Melina. The motive remains under investigation, officials said. Police noted that the father has no criminal record or history of domestic violence. They also said the vacation included stops in Connecticut and New York City. Joining Nancy Grace today: Jason Oshins - New York Defense Attorney     Dr. Chloe Carmichael - Clinical Psychologist, Author: ‘Nervous Energy: Harness The Power of Your Anxiety;' X: @DrChloe, drchloe.com   Dan Murphy-Former NYPD Detective-Sergeant, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Former Chief Security Officer, US Bancorp, Co-Host of "Gold Shields" Podcast, and Author: “Workplace Safety: Establishing an Effective Violence Prevention Program” Dr. Kendall Crowns -  Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), NEW Podcast --- launching on April 7th, Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University) Laura Gemmett - Reporter, WRGB CBS 6 Albany; Instagram and Facebook: @laura.gemmettcbs6  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. A sickening twist. After nine year old Melina, a beautiful little girl vanishes on a family vacation. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. A father daughter trip ends in tragedy. Nine-year-old little Malina on a family vacation. When dad stops for a travel break,

she is abducted and tonight a disturbing and sickening twist in her disappearance. Joining me, an All-Star panel, but first, straight out to investigative reporter from WRGB CBS 6 Albany, Laura Jemette is with us. Laura, thank you for being with us. Where had the family, the dad and the little girl, been vacationing? Didn't they stop at several beauty spots? So, Melina and her

father did travel around to a couple different destinations. They were on a vacation together. Some of those locations being Connecticut, New York City, and right in upstate New York in Lake George. And you know, Dr. Chloe Carmichael joining us in addition to Laura Jemette, Dr. Chloe is clinical psychologist and author of Nervous Energy. You can find her at Dr. Chloe. Dr. Chloe, this was especially important to dad because he and the mom, I believe have been estranged since 2019.

And mom has, you know, primary custody. But dad sees her quite often, and this was their big bonding where they were going to have dad and daughter time. And that's really hard to get when you have a busy family. I will never forget when Lucy, my daughter, was growing up. Father-daughter dance was a huge big deal because they would have a single night all together. And that's actually hard to come by when both parents are working and when these two were split custody. I mean, the mom has primary, but the dad tries to see her all the time. This was a big deal for the dad, Dr. Chloe. Yes, it certainly was.

And as you said, when you have, you know, custody situations, it can be really hard to get that time. At the same time, you know, those can be times when emotions do tend to run really high and things can feel intense. There can also be a lot of image pressure, you know, for the dad to try to broadcast to everybody, look, you know, we're doing these really special things together. There can be a lot of emotional intensity

and a lot at stake during those times as well. And there's also Dr. Chloe, FOMO, F-O-M-O, fear of missing out. Because when I take the twins on vacation, I want everything to be great for them and make all these memories, right? Now, up here, I know it really doesn't matter what you do or where you go,

because when we were growing up, we would have Friday and Saturday night in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. That was our vacation. And then we would come home on Sunday, but I remember it like I was on. Friday and Saturday night in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. That was our vacation. And then we would come home on Sunday. But I remember it like I was on the Riviera for Pete's sake. We had so much fun.

And everything about it was fun. And that's the memory you want your child to have, right? So there is pressure, if you're a loving parent, to make that happen. And that's what we see this dad doing. Yes, that's absolutely true is that he he seemed to want to be creating an unforgettable lifetime experience type of trip with his daughter. I would say that's true that there was a lot of effort and planning that went into orchestrating a very special trip. Okay, guys, I want you to hear

from Captain Robert McConnell. On Saturday, July 19th, 2025, at approximately 10 o'clock PM, Warren County 911 received a call from a man reporting his nine-year-old daughter missing with a possible abduction in the area of X-22 of I-87 Northway in Lake George. The child was identified as Melina Frettollin, age nine, and the caller as her father, Luciano Frettollin, age 45.

The New York State Police and Warren County Sheriff's Office immediately responded to the area of exit 22 of the Northway and initiated investigation and attempt to locate Molina. In addition to Laura Jemet, investigative reporter WRGB CBS 6 Albany, now joining us, crime stories investigative reporter Sydney Sumner. So Sydney, I'm trying to understand, they went all to all of these beauty spots, a beautiful waterside town in Connecticut.

They cut through Albany, I believe. They spent time in New York City, right? I mean, that's the whole vacation in itself. New York City, you're showing her the sights, I'm sure Times Square, everything there is to see. Now where were they, Sydney, when dad stops for a bathroom break? Well, Nancy, they're heading northbound on I-87 and they're right at exit 22, which is Lake George. So dad decides he needs to go to the bathroom and he needs to go to the bathroom

now. So he pulls over, leaves Melina in the back seat and is like, look, I'm just going to go walk over here in the woods for some privacy, relieve myself, and we'll go back on our way. You know, it's giving me a horrible, horrible flashback to a case that we covered, Sydney, you and I, and Laura, you're going to remember this, because this is in your neck of the woods, where a little girl is in upstate New York, same area, she's with her family, they're RVing and camping, and they're in the little camping circle with other RVs and the mom is watching the daughter go around and around with other children on a bicycle loop right there right in front of them and a little girl goes down the hill to the side of the bicycle loop and in that

moment literally in that moment she's abducted. She's abducted just like that. It can happen just like that. And I want to go to special guest Dan Murphy joining us, former NYPD detective sergeant who served on the Joint Terrorism Task Force, former chief security office, US B Corp, and co-host of a hit podcast, Gold Shields. He's also the author of Workplace Safety. Dan, it can happen just like that. Just like that. And it's not because a parent isn't paying attention. Of course we all know don't leave your child alone in the car. But the dad says he was just going to urinate

on the side of the road and it happened just like that. But Dan, it can happen just like that. Yes, it can. Kidnappings and abductions of children can happen. People who do it do not just randomly jump out of a car. Sometimes that happens. But in this case, they look at their victims, they look and see where the opportunity is,

and they act very, very quickly and decisively. You know, I was just talking about the case of little Charlotte Cena. Charlotte was found alive, if you will recall. And Laura, I'm sure you remember that. Charlotte was found alive. She was several miles away, and she was in the perps camper part behind his mother's home where he lived behind mommy's house and she was crammed into a as I recall Jackie correct me if I'm wrong she was crammed into a cabinet under a

counter in a camper like an RV and we've taken a lot of RV trips with the twins, Dan. And it's how he got that child crammed into that cabinet. I don't know. The good news is Charlotte lived. And she was taken, Dan, just like what we're talking about. She lived. So regardless of what may have happened in the interim, that's a victory because she lived.

Let me understand Laura Jemette joining us to be RGB. This was just a pit stop, a five minute pit stop for dad to maybe a little bit longer to get out of the car, go back behind the trees, urinate, come back to the car and get in the car. It was very quick, right Laura? Yes, that's correct. It was, it all happened extremely fast. I'm trying to understand this area where he stopped for the bathroom break. Was it in a rural area? I mean, Sydney Sumner, I know a little bit about Lake George. I know it's beautiful, but what can you tell me Sydney about the area?

Because terrain in this type of case is very, very important. You know, what if, what if, and this doesn't happen that often, a child gets out of the car and starts walking. What if, fill in the blank, tell me about the terrain, where is Lake George, where did they stop, Sydney, where exactly did they stop? Was it near a gas station? Was it near a gas station? Was it near a toll booth? Tell me. Well, Nancy, it's a little unclear exactly where they stopped if Dad actually pulled off the highway or if he was just parked on the side of the road and walked

out into the forest. And this is a heavily wooded area. They call this an old growth forest. So lots of wooded area. The lake is huge. It goes a very, very long way north and south in both directions. This is a very popular vacation spot. So there's lots of people who aren't necessarily local to the area, especially this time of year.

And there's lots of highways in this area. You get off into Route 9. This is the Northway. This is a very large highway, heavily traveled, big vacation spot. So, like you say, it's easy to get anywhere in an hour from this spot in particular. OK, you know what's disturbing about that? With me, a long time colleague, Jason Oceans, he's a veteran defense attorney

who works throughout this jurisdiction, all through New York, New Jersey, the whole tri-state area and beyond. Jason Oceans, you and I worked on the Dillon and Shasta Groney case, and that was in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Now, why am I bringing that up? You just heard both Laura Jemette and Cindy Sumner

talk about this isolated area, okay? Dad is taking his daughter all across the New York, Connecticut area, with which you're very familiar, to the sights and the sounds of New York City, to the waterside in Connecticut, and now in the Adirondack region of Lake George. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Sydney just said, there are a lot of interstates and roads leading to this particular beauty spot, and it is beautiful, that much I know. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, a guy the perp was driving along looks off the interstate and if you look at the aerial view as you and I did together on a very dark studio one day I recall it distinctly you look down and there's nothing but trees green trees you can't

see a single house, nothing. The perpetrator drives by on the interstate, looks over and sees Shasta Groene, I think she's about 11 or 12 at the time, on getting into an above ground pool. And this guy, unknown to the family, pulls over, lies in wait, waits for the family to go to bed, wipes out the family, and abducts

the little girl and boy. Dylan and Shasta Groening. So, the fact that all these roads converge in this area, this beauty spot, this tourist spot, plus it's heavily, heavily forested, is like the Cordelane case all over again. It's ideal, Nancy, as you describe it. It's that perfect set of circumstances. In this case, as we're talking about a potential abduction in upstate New York, about an hour north of Albany on the Northway.

Yeah, it's as described, it's forested, but so many little access roads in and so many tourists, so many different people from the community that it is a recipe sometimes for disaster and an abduction. And I've learned that Lake George, and I believe you visited there, Jason Oshens, Lake George is 44 square miles. I don't know, I know you've handled cases

and defended cases where there was water search. That's never good when you hear the words water search. Never Nancy. 44 square miles Dan Murphy. A water search? Exhaustive. If a water search has to be conducted on 44 square miles. I'm talking side-ski and sonar, dive teams, water dogs, dogs that can pick up human scent in water. Yes, it's real. That is an intense, intense search, Dan Murphy.

Intense. That's a tremendous amount of manpower that would take a lot of hours, a huge area to search. I don't know how deep Lake George is, I've been there, but it would require an unbelievable amount of time, energy and effort to search an area. If you did not have exact information or at least a tip as to where in the lake, it could take weeks to drag a lake like that.

New York State Police have issued an Amber Alert and are desperately searching for a little girl who disappeared from her father's car while traveling on Interstate 87. Melina Fratolin's father found her missing from the backseat of their car after making a brief rest stop near exit 22. Nine-year-old Melina is 5 feet tall, 100 pounds, has brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing light-colored shorts, a black and white striped T-shirt and black Adidas sneakers.

Anyone who may have seen Melina should call 911 immediately. Luciano Fattalin calls 911 at 950 a.m. July 19th, frantically reporting he thinks his nine year old daughter, Melina, has been kidnapped. Fattalin says he pulled over near exit 22 and walked into the woods to relieve himself. When he returned, a white van was speeding away from the shoulder Fretowin says he pulled over near exit 22 and walked into the woods to relieve himself. When he returned, a white van was speeding away from the shoulder and he found Melina missing from the back seat.

Fretowin doesn't remember seeing a license plate, but believes he saw two men sitting in the front seat of the van. New York State Police put out a bolo in the Lake George area and southbound on the Northway. But by morning, Melina is still missing and investigators issue an amber alert. An amber alert is issued, but they waited overnight to issue the amber alert. Jason Oshens, how many times have we seen a delay in issuing an amber alert? I'm just thinking right off the top of my head to Cherish Periwinkle, who was with her mother in a Target Superstore. And they met a guy in there when they were shopping with the little children, and he

offered to go get them hamburgers from the McDonald's inside the Superstore up front. And they just kept walking and instead of issuing the amber alert immediately as the mother rain begged they kept suggesting that this was somehow a custody problem and they didn't issue it as soon as they did issue it like I don't know 12 15 hours later they got a call that a white van had been seen. They went to the white van and they found Cherish dead submerged in water under a log because of a delay in issuing an amber alert. What is the problem with issuing amber alerts on time? Nancy that's a horrible spot spot that law enforcement is in.

Sometimes there are other circumstances initially in the investigation, as you mentioned, in this horrible circumstance. And in other times, they have reason to delay. There are mistakes made, but the prudency sometimes leads to other things. And oftentimes other times leads to deadly consequences. It's a very tough spot for detectives in that moment because you and I both know that 24

to 48 hours right after a loss are insanguinal. I don't know why they don't just issue it better safe than sorry. Issue the amber alert and then if it's unneeded and say hey we're withdrawing that we've got updated information why sit on it although in their defense uh to laura jimet joining us investigative reporter wrgb cbs6 albany laura the dad didn't get a tag number did he i don't i don't believe so no i don't think he did sydney sum. He couldn't get a tag number. Could he? No, there was no tag number. And Captain McConnell actually commented on this during a press conference about the case and

said that they want to be careful not to numb the public by putting out amber alerts before being sure of what's going on. So he did make that comment in their defense about waiting for a little bit more information, but ultimately they had nothing else to add other than that white van. Okay. Well, I think that's bassack words. Um, but that said, the dad gave a quasi description of the perps, even though he didn't have a tag number. You know, he's more concerned about numbing the public to amber alerts.

I disagree with that, but maybe there's more to the story than we know. Let's hear from Captain Robert McConnell. On July 11th, 2025, Mr. Fratolin and Melina expected to return on Sunday, July 20th, at which time Melina would be returned to the custody of her mother. At about 5.30 PM on July 20th, Melina is observed with her father on video surveillance

in Saratoga Springs, New York. At about 6.30 p.m., she spoke to her mother on the phone and told her she and her father were in route back. The child appeared to be in good health and did not indicate she was under any duress. Laura Jomet joining us, WRGB, the surveillance video at Saratoga Springs, that is from an unnamed business, is that right? Yes, that's correct. The name of the business hasn't been released at this time.

Now that's about 5.30 in the afternoon. 5.30 in the afternoon. At 6.30, she speaks to her mom on the phone and she says she and her dad are back en route home and she was in high spirits. Is that right Laura Jemette? That's right. State police did say that while she was on the phone with her mother there was no signs of distress and that they were just simply on their way home from finishing up their

vacation. Laura Jemet, WRGB, how long had the two been traveling on their road trip? So they were traveling on this road trip from July 11th to the 19th, so eight days in total. Eight days in total. Very difficult for dad. He finally gets time with the daughter. And then after he stops for a pit stop, she disappears. Listen to Captain Robert McConnell. So the suspect's initial account is that he had pulled over in the area of exit 22 in Lake George, pulled over to a parking lot to urinate. His initial report is he steps away to a wooden area, returns to the vehicle and at that point his child was gone from the vehicle.

He reports a suspicious white van fleeing the scene southbound. The dreaded white van. How many times is it me, Dan Murphy, former NYPD, or is it always a white van? I mean, the story I just told you about, Cherish Perrywinkle, that was a white van. Why is it always a white van? Yes, it does seem to be a white van a lot.

That was one of my first thoughts when I saw the report as well. You've got to be kidding me. How many white vans are there out there abducting children? Yeah, that to me struck me as a little repetitive from many cases in the past. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It was just a vacation, a planned vacation. The whole family had been looking forward to it. Listen, it was just a vacation. It was a planned vacation.

They visited a couple of locations in Connecticut as well as New York. They were most recently in New York City. She had no concerns for daughter safety while she was with him. She knew that he was taking her on this trip. The Warren County Sheriff's Office sent every resource available to investigate this right at its inception. Same with the New York State Police. We had us in conjunction with the law enforcement partners.

We had aviation, drones, canine, investigators, uniformed troopers. Every resource we had to bear, we applied in this investigation. When a nine-year-old little girl goes missing off a family vacation, an Amber Alert is issued. An all-out search by land, by air, by water ensues, but then a disturbing detail emerges. Listen, during a subsequent interview, he then reports two unknown males forced her into a white van.

New York state police suspect something isn't right when Luciana Fratolin first says he saw a white van speeding away from the shoulder, then claims he actually saw two men dragging Melina into a white van. Okay, let me understand what's happening to Sydney Sumner, Crime Stories investigative reporter. At first, Dad says he leaves the vehicle just for a pit stop to urinate on the side of the road and gets back to the car and sees a white van speeding off. Now I'm hearing he says he spots two unknown males forcing his daughter into a white van. That is a subtle but very critical difference, Sydney. Absolutely. It plays a huge part in police starting an investigation,

knowing where to look, what's going on. So at first he says, you know, maybe this, this van had something to do with my daughter disappearing from the car. So he thinks maybe my daughter has been kidnapped. And then he changes the story to no, I watched her get kidnapped. I was walking back to the car. I see people dragging her from my car to this white van. I'm running back up trying to stop them, but they speed off before I can get there. So,

changes the story hugely. Jason Oshens is a veteran trial lawyer in this jurisdiction where little Melina goes missing. Jason, you and I have talked a lot about inconsistent statements. And I never have a problem with a witness or a victim adding to their statement. In fact, when they add to their statement, I blame the questioner because I believe the questioner didn't ask the right question to start with. You have to change the question up. You have to come at it from different angles to get every single fact.

Adding to a statement, I don't have a problem, embellishing your statement. Good, give me more facts. But when you change the statement, I guess you're gonna tell me that he really didn't change his statement because I think he did. No, Nancy, I think in the critical analysis

of what we're talking about, it's essential for the investigator to possibly ask eight questions to get that one answer and bring it out. I can cross and ask the same question almost multiple times trying to elicit what I'm looking for perhaps. So, an investigator operates the same way as you and I do, from a prosecutor's side or a criminal defense side, but your analysis of that is exactly right. And that's seemingly the details that lead the police to question the father.

Adding on to a statement, no problem. Changing a statement. I mean, Dr. Chloe Carmichael, to this day, to this day, Dr. Chloe, I recall the last moment I saw my fiancé Keith before he was murdered. He was leaving my parents' home, and he was driving away in his white vehicle, and he lifted up his left arm out of the car and waved over the car, and I waved back. That's the last time I saw him.

I remember at this moment exactly what happened, and I have a really hard time with the fact that the dad Changed his story about the last moment. He saw his daughter first. It's when he gets out of the car to go urinate Pissed up in the woods Now he actually sees her getting dragged into a white van because that gives me a lot of questions. Dragged by who? Did you say two men? Was she screaming? Did they seem to know her? Did she know them? Were they white? Were they Asian? Were they black? Did they have facial hair? How tall were they? I mean a lot of questions, right? That's a big change Dr. Chloe. You can't remember the last moment you saw

your daughter, your nine-year-old little girl. No, of. Chloe. You can't remember the last moment you saw your daughter, your nine-year-old little girl. No, of course, Nancy, you're absolutely right. To omit such an important fact, it boggles logic. So if you're a father, your daughter has been dragged away by two men, and yet you don't see fit to mention that when you initially speak to police. It's just, it's one of the most obvious points of information that a father or any parent or even just a casual bystander would make sure to relay to the police.

So yeah, I would be very suspicious of that as well. And you know, Dr. Chloe, very often we hear arguments that, well, he was under a lot of stress. Okay, fine, we're all under stress. But in that moment, you can't remember the last time you see your daughter. I mean, Dan Murphy, joining me for my NYPD, star of Gold Shields podcast,

I would be all over him like white on rice. When he changed the last moment he sees his daughter. How can you screw that up? You can't. You can't unless you're making something up or unless you're thinking on the fly. Now an individual like this, you say he's under pressure and stress. That's believable.

But believe me, every legitimate victim I've seen who's had a family member either abducted or seriously injured remembers a great deal of things about that moment, especially when immediately confronted by law enforcement. In this case, you want to tell them everything you know. He kept it very generic at first, and it's as though he's thinking of the story in his mind. I have to make something more. I have to add more to it. Then a very disturbing update, a heartbreaking update from Captain McConnell. Listen. On Sunday July 20th a search detail comprised of officers from multiple agencies conducted an organized search in the town of Ticonderoga New York. In an area in an area Mr.

Fratone was suspected of having visited. During that search detail, at approximately 1050, members of the New York State Police Forest Rangers located Melina deceased in the shallow portion of a pond. Investigators are tight-lipped as to why, but the search for Melina leads detectives to Ticonderoga, about 40 miles north of where the little girl's father says she was last seen in one of their stops on their road trip. Authorities aren't searching long before they announce a discovery at 1 50 p.m. It's Melina. Her body found hidden under a log in the shallows of a pond. It's still uncertain how Melina died but it's clear she hadn't been there very long and someone tried to conceal her body straight out to

investigative reporter WRGB CBS 6 Albany Laura Jimet Laura again. Thank you for being with us explain to me how her body Was seemingly hidden so when they went out to tech honda roga and state police Also talked a little bit about how they knew to go out there. This was through inconsistencies with the father's story and just through different technology. So when they were searching the woods they came across a small pond, a small body of water, and they stated how her body was pressed under the log. So she was trying to be concealed, but it was clear

that she was under there. When you mentioned Laura Jemette technology, obviously the phones were pinged. Obviously phones were pinged to put her in a certain area. All of that is being investigated as we speak tonight. But we do know her body was hidden. This little nine-year-old girl, just scrubbed in sunshine, was forced under a log, much like Cherish Periwinkle was. Now, this is what I'm getting at to Dan Murphy, former NYPD and star of Gold Shields podcast, that is concealing the body.

And when there is a random attack, a random murder, let's just say a carjacking or a robbery, a burglary and the victim is home and so the perp kills them. Typically, well, overwhelmingly, statistically, the perp doesn't take time to stage the scene. They're out of there. So, I would say almost universally, this means it was someone that knows her that took the time to hide her body. Right. Can you say it better than I did? The staging of the scene, the trying to conceal the body tells me it's not random. I agree with you. It's not random. In this kind of situation, hiding the body like that is almost like putting a blanket over someone when they get killed in a home. It's an act of care. You don't want to

see the body. You either don't want to see it yourself or you don't want to see it harmed anymore. In this case out in the woods, maybe hiding it under there is twofold. One, it takes longer to find it. So maybe it gives him more time to run. But secondly, it gives whoever did this the opportunity to say, well, I didn't let animals get at it or something like that. There's a weird psychology to it. But yes, you would genuinely see people who are the random killers, they just dump it and run. But in cases like these, it's typically so.

You know what? We're seeing that right now, Dan, in the case of Suzanne Morphew, a mom out of Colorado who goes missing on a bike ride on Mother's Day. Suzanne was not murdered where her body was found. And investigative forensic experts can tell that because of the condition in which the body was found. She was not murdered there. She was dumped there post-mortem, which is staging. So obviously someone wanted to hide her body. Why? Because her body would point

to them. I think that's what happened in this case. Someone tried to hide the nine-year-old little girl, Melina's, body under a log submerged in water. Why? Joining me now, a special guest, Dr. Kendall Crowns, Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County, that's Fort Worth as I like to say, never a lack of business in the morgue at Fort Worth. He is the star of a brand new podcast, Mayhem in the Morgue, and he is an esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. Okay, Dr. Kendall Crowns, I need to know what forensic evidence I can get off this little girl's body. She's been submerged in water. We believe, according to law enforcement in that jurisdiction, that she was killed between 7.40 p.m. and 9.12 p.m.

And heartbreakingly, this is about an hour after the mother spoke to her and everything was fine. An hour and 10 minutes later, she's dead. So help me out. What can we glean from her body and how, Dr. Kendall Crouns? Okay. So pretty much it sounds like she's probably beaten and strangled. So what you'll see on the body is bruising about the head and neck, possibly on the chest. Internally there'll be hemorrhages in the neck musculature. There might be little pinpoint hemorrhages, which are called petechial hemorrhages in

the eyes, which are seen with strangulations as well. Due to her age, there probably won't be any fracturing of the bones around her neck, the hyoid bone, the thyroid cartilage, those won't be fractured because she's too young. But what you'll see internally is a lot of neck muscle hemorrhage from a strangulation. Now, if she's been beaten about the head, you'll see bruises of the head. You possibly will see skull fractures and you might see hemorrhages on the brain called subarachnoid hemorrhages

or subdural hemorrhages as well. So you might have a combination of beating with a strangulation, but that's what you'll be really looking for. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Dr. Kendall Crowns, how can I find evidence on her that can point me to the perp? How likely is it that DNA on her body would survive being pushed under a log and submerged in water? So with the DNA that you would have with blunt force injuries or strangulation, it would

be more the touch DNA on the surface of the skin. And that can be obscured by being submerged in water, especially if she's in there for a prolonged period of time. So it may be difficult to necessarily get DNA from the body that can implicate an individual. But the problem is, is she's with her father on this trip, so she's going to be covered in his DNA potentially. So if they are able to get DNA, it will obviously be his and they would be looking for someone else's to corroborate his story. Right. The fact that she may have her dad's DNA on her body would not necessarily prove anything. I mean, if he had hugged her that morning, or picked her up and put her on a ride, or anything like that could have left DNA. I still don't know if she was clothed or unclothed, which would make a big difference in the type of DNA,

if any is found on the body. Would you agree with that, Dr. Kendall-Crowns? I would agree with that. And the very fact that she's in a car with him, she's gonna be coated with his DNA. If she is nude, that could mean that she was possibly sexually assaulted. And in that situation,

there would be able to recover DNA from her vaginal orifices or anal orifice or even even her oral orifices as well, even though she's in water. Police alleged Fetullin fabricated the entire kidnapping story after killing Malina and dumping her body in a remote area hours earlier. He reported this. He fabricated the initial report of the abduction and he was in the custody of police from that point on. Sometime after Melina's phone call with her mother and before Mr. Fratolin's Nia Juan call he allegedly murdered Melina and left her body in a remote area where she was later discovered by law enforcement. Initial reports from Mr. Fratone of a suspicious white van in the area of the alleged disappearance

was proven to be untrue. The suspect has been charged with murder in the second degree and concealment of a human corpse. So it was all a hoax to cover up a murder? It's really hard for me to deal with the timing because at 6.30 p.m. Melina was alive and well, effusive, talking to her mom on the phone,

had had a great time with dad, was on the way home. What could possibly have been the motive to do this? To Cindy Sumner from Crime Stories, what's the potential motive? Well, Nancy, the parents have been divorced or separated since 2019. And I'm sure that comes with some kind of financial arrangement to take care of their little girl. That appears very, very successful on social media. He owns a coffee company. He posted something about a Netflix project. So by all accounts, Dad looks to be a very successful businessman and mom may have expected

him to continue contributing to Molina's upbringing. Straight out to Laura Jemet, WRGBCBS6, is it true that the dad, let's see that shot of him from Facebook again. He's clad in all black and kind of a ninja outfit. Is it true, Laura Jemette, that he was $200,000 in debt? How did he get that deeply in debt and how much of that was child support or do we even know that yet?

Yeah, they are saying right now that he was struggling to pay child support and that he was in debt with something to do with his coffee business. What coffee business? Could you explain his coffee business, Gambela? So he was he is he was the founder of Gambela Coffee, and he was an entrepreneur. And there's a lot of talk about him being in debt either because of the business or just certain things surrounding that, but it's not confirmed yet at this time. The Gambela Coffee business was very intricately described online. Cindy Sumner doesn't describe him, the father growing up, quote, running between the fragrant and beautifully

colored coffee beans as a boy. He named it after a hometown, correct? Yes, yes. So what we know about Fertolan is that he did a significant amount of time in Ethiopia. So this coffee company is very near and dear to his heart. This is something from his hometown that he founded and started. So even if it was a financial drain, I could see that he would put money hoping that this sinking ship would stay above water. This is after a recent posting by dad showing his daughter where he was taking her sledding.

Let's see that because it's seemingly incongruent Dr. Chloe Carmichael that he's posting all these loving videos and then just before he goes to take her back to mom, faced with $200,000 of debt, he murders her and hides her body under a log? Yes, Nancy. The whole thing, I think, is, it raises eyebrows to say the least. You know, when he's posting all of those videos as a clinical psychologist, what comes to mind for me is what we call impression management. So he's obviously going to a lot of effort to literally broadcast to people, hey, I'm a great dad, you know, I have fun with my daughter. As was also discussed about the white van and then the fact that his beautiful little girl was then found underwater,

I as a psychologist would actually start to ask myself, you know, these are some major coincidences. I would like to be able to see his search history on his phone. Was he googling and learning about past situations where little girls, you know, were kidnapped and disappeared? You know, supposedly he was this, he liked to broadcast an image of himself as this successful kind of neat freak type of person, even though from what I understand his social media posts also acknowledged

that he found his daughter to be kind of chaotic and messy, but of course he praised himself in that regard too, saying, but I've learned to accept this. A lot of times that perfectionism and that neat freak side is actually about a desire to control. And when somebody just can't tolerate that and then she's messing with his bank account in his mind, of course, it's a natural duty of him as a parent to provide. But there's obviously something going on there.

And I'm disgusted at all of this, but I'm glad at the very least that we're shining a light and looking at what happened to this beautiful little girl. You know, Dan Murphy, joining me, former NYPD and star of Gold Shields podcast, Dan, you pointed out a very significant fact earlier. There's no way that this dad is going to be able to claim any sort of mental defect, such as temporary insanity, a delusion, because you got him dead in the water. Explain. Yeah. A guy like this, in a case like this, he has gone through all this work to cover up what he's done, to deflect, to move law enforcement in different directions. You cannot claim a temporary insanity defense. I'm not an attorney, but how do you

do that when you have all this concentrated effort focused on getting the attention away from you? Now, if he had done something and snapped back into reality and called right away showing he really just lost it and cared for his daughter, there'd be a glimmer of hope for some sort of a claim like that. But in this case, he has done everything he can do to push it off to somebody else and to keep the attention away from himself. That, to me, strikes of premeditation in the act.

Dan Murphy, you were describing earlier how he intentionally circled back to the dump site, the pond, in a wooded area under a log to coordinate it with where the white van may have taken her. Explain your theory. If he is going to say that a white van with two people took my daughter and headed off down the highway. He's going to have to make sure that she is found someplace not near where he is, that it's plausible that they took her off, did something with her and then dropped her and dumped her, as opposed to having it be anywhere near him. So this takes the thought

of him driving, looking for a place to do this and thinking to his head, where would it make sense that someone who kidnapped my daughter would take her, that would have privacy, that nobody would see them, that they could get away with it and continue on their way. This is all acts of somebody who is thinking on the run, on the fly, but trying to come up with a plausible explanation for what happened. We stop to remember an American hero, Deputy Sheriff Frank Bordenaro. Genesee County sheriffs, 44, killed in the line of duty after 19 years of service, leaving behind grieving wife, now widow, Robin, and two sons, Bryce and Chase. American hero, Deputy Sheriff Frank Bordenaro. Nancy Grace signing off.

Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart podcast.