VALLEY CITY, N.D. — A woman has pleaded not guilty to killing her newborn baby before leaving the child’s body in a wooded area 45 years ago in Valley City. The child was born alive but died from asphyxiation, according to court documents. A plastic bag was found over the baby’s head, and her umbilical cord was still attached, court documents said. Testing determined Trottier’s husband, Gary Trottier, is the father, but his DNA was not found at the crime scene, court documents said. She worked at the North Dakota School for the Deaf and Resource Center in Devils Lake, North Dakota, for 41 years before retiring as a paraprofessional in 2024.