A city man has pleaded not guilty to the city’s third murder of 2025.
William Smith, 64, of Niagara Falls, entered his plea to a charge of second-degree murder during an arraignment in city court on Tuesday morning. He was ordered held without bail pending a preliminary hearing set for Friday.
Smith was taken into custody Monday afternoon in connection with the murder of a woman earlier Monday at the Niagara City Lofts in the 500 block of Portage Road. Law enforcement sources have characterized the homicide as a “domestic incident.”
Falls police patrol officers responded to a 911 call of a “deceased woman” at about 10:15 a.m. Monday at the apartment building at 561 Portage Road. When officers arrived, they found a 79-year-old woman dead in one of the apartments.
The victim’s identity has still not been made public by police.
Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and Crime Scene Unit (CSU) detectives said they were able to quickly identify Smith as their suspect in the slaying. But neither investigators nor prosecutors have revealed the victim’s cause of death or what may have led to the homicide.
CID detectives said they are still actively investigating the incident and are asking anyone with information about it to contact them at 716-286-4553.