Victim Set on Fire in 2023 Attack Found Dead inside Abandoned Home

In January 2025, a woman who had survived a brutal assault months earlier was found dead in an abandoned house on Cleveland Avenue in Niagara Falls. Authorities now believe she froze to death inside the unheated structure, unaware at the time that her death was linked to a high-profile arson attack from the previous summer.

On the morning of January 21st, a Niagara County Sheriff's deputy, while transporting an inmate from Niagara Falls City Court back to Lockport, was flagged down near 1014 Cleveland Avenue. A visibly distressed man told the deputy that a woman inside the home wasn’t breathing.

Niagara Falls Police responded to the scene and identified the woman as 48-year-old Judith Lynn Lafler. The man, a 73-year-old squatter, told officers that he had found Lafler in the abandoned property the day before.

He said she had been moaning in pain and had plastic wrap around her legs. Without access to a phone, he attempted to care for her by cleaning her wounds and wrapping her in blankets. By the following morning, she was unresponsive.

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures that night had dropped to the single digits and investigators believe Lafler likely succumbed to hypothermia. Authorities initially suspected she had been beaten shortly before her death. However, it was later discovered that her injuries were related to an incident five months earlier in which she was intentionally set on fire.

In August 2023, Lafler was attacked outside a food truck at 7th and Niagara Street. Police say she had been accused of theft by the truck’s owner, 38-year-old Barinder Singh.

During the confrontation, Singh allegedly doused her in a flammable substance and set her ablaze. Lafler suffered extensive third-degree burns to her head, arms, and torso and was hospitalized at Erie County Medical Center before being transferred to Niagara Rehab & Nursing Center.

Singh was arrested and charged with first-degree assault. He has pleaded not guilty and remains out on $100,000 bail while awaiting the assignment of a new defense attorney. Prosecutors have stated that Lafler’s death will not affect the pending criminal case against Singh.

While Lafler was reportedly receiving assistance from the Niagara County Department of Social Services, including support for housing, officials said she had the legal right to decline further services.

At the time of her death, Lafler had become disconnected from formal care systems and was living without basic shelter in the depths of winter.

Victim Set on Fire in 2023 Attack Found Dead inside Abandoned Home