Husband pleads not guilty in wife’s death
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| Katrina Smith |
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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.
Smith participated in the search for his wife and said he was concerned for her. He is held in the Winnebago County jail on $4 million bond.
