Accused killer dad Luciano Frattolin may have been struggling to pay dead daughter Melina’s child support as staggering debt is revealed

The Canadian dad accused of killing his 9-year-old daughter is in massive debt, struggled to pay child support — and made bizarre posts about how the little girl disrupted his life.

Luciano Frattolin, 45, claimed to have a high-flying lifestyle as a coffee company owner, but when he appeared in court Monday to answer charges that he murdered his daughter, Melina, during a trip to upstate New York, he told a judge that he was broke and couldn’t afford a lawyer.

Frattolin, who was born in Ethiopia, spoke glowingly of Melina on his corporate bio page for his Montreal-based java company, Gabella Coffee, calling her “beautiful” and “the light of his life.’’

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But the write-up also contained chilling clues to his fragile state of mind.

He conceded he had to learn to live with his daughter’s “messy art projects” and “chaotic” toys because of his obsession with keeping “perfect order” in his home.

In the bio — which has since been scrubbed from the internet — he also alludes to a life of painful hardships he’s had to endure, including “incidences of racism,” “feelings of isolation” and the death of his father as a teenager.

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Follow The Post’s coverage on Melina Frattolin

• Tragic Melina Frattolin’s dad charged with murder after he reported her missing, as new details hint at possible motive
• Melina Frattolin’s father hid 9-year-old’s body under log after killing her in upstate NY: cops
• Neat-freak alleged Lake George killer dad Luciano Frattolin admitted he struggled with daughter’s ‘messy art,’ ‘chaotic’ toys
• Luciano Frattolin may have been struggling to pay child support while over $200,000 in debt: reports

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Frattolin hints at an “unfortunate event” in 2019 that he said “severely affected his well-being” and necessitated a “long and arduous” road to recovery.

Cops said at a press conference Monday he became estranged from his former wife that year.
In addition to grappling with past demons and a strained relationship with his ex, Frattolin was more than $200,000 in debt stemming from business dealings in Montreal.

The flailing entrepreneur had rented a property in the hip Montreal enclave of Mile End since 2020, which he sublet as an Airbnb, according to a report in La Presse.

He hired two property managers to run the venture, including having them make the rent payments he owed — enabling him to pay his daughter’s child support with what he netted afterward, he said in court documents obtained by the outlet.

But his lease was terminated by the landlord in August 2024 when he fell $26,000 behind on rent.

He was also being denied access to the property, where he said he stored his daughter’s winter clothing and toys.

He is suing the managers for more than $115,000, claiming they exploited the property without his knowledge and never made the rent payments as promised, according to Le Devoir.

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In turn, the managers alleged Frattolin had planned to empty his bank account and flee the country, which he denied.

An employee of Dépanneur Café, a coffee shop Frattolin once owned and on which he still owes Bank of Nova Scotia about $83,000, said the accused killer had been splitting his time between Italy and Canada for the past 18 months.

The bank said Frattolin also owed it $97,000 in unpaid credit card debts from Café Gambella, another coffee shop bearing the same name as his online java business.

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But his Instagram page depicts a very different version of his financial situation, rife with photos and posts featuring exotic travel and expensive sports cars and replete with statements such as, “I am truly addicted to Porsche.”

The accused killer dad and his daughter were vacationing in the Lake George area before her slaying — and about 30 miles from where her body was found.

Before the child’s body was discovered, Frattolin filed a bogus kidnapping report claiming Milena had been snatched by two men in a white van near Exit 22 on I-87, barely an hour after she called her mother ahead of their flight back to Quebec, police said.

He entered a not-guilty plea in court Monday.

He was charged with second-degree murder — which could carry a life sentence in New York — as well as concealment of a human corpse. He’s due back in court July 25.