A 45‑year‑old entrepreneur with dual Ethiopian and Italian citizenship began a second‑degree murder trial on Monday in Essex County, New York, after being charged with the death of his nine‑year‑old daughter.
Authorities say the defendant’s Montreal coffee business was experiencing severe financial difficulties, a pressure that prosecutors argue may have motivated the alleged crime.
Initially, the father reported that his daughter had been abducted by men in a white van, prompting an Amber Alert. Detectives later identified numerous inconsistencies in his account and concluded that no kidnapping had occurred.
Investigators recovered the child’s body beneath a log in a shallow pond near Ticonderoga, determining the cause of death to be asphyxia caused by drowning.
Prosecutors contend that the father bound the girl in a wooded area, drowned her, and then attempted to conceal the corpse.
The defendant has pleaded not guilty and is represented by a public defender. He remains in custody after a judge classified him as a flight risk.
Pre‑trial motions filed by the defense seek to suppress evidence obtained from a cellphone search and statements made to state troopers during a nighttime interview. The judge has not yet ruled on these motions.
The parents had been estranged since 2019, and the child had called her mother shortly before the disappearance, indicating they were returning to Montreal after a ten‑day road trip through the region.
The trial is being held in Elizabethtown, New York, with the jury selection process now underway.
