ROCKFORD (AP) – A northern Illinois man has pleaded not guilty to killing his wife, whose body was discovered in a river 3 weeks after she disappeared.

The Rockford Register Star reports 45-year-old Todd Smith entered the plea to first-degree murder on Friday in Winnebago County court. His wife, 30-year-old Katrina Smith of Machesney Park, disappeared in late October. Her body was found in the Rock River near Byron on Nov. 9. Authorities ruled her death a homicide after an autopsy determined she died of blunt force trauma.

Prosecutors accuse him of beating his wife to death with a baseball bat and throwing her into the river.