PORTLAND – A 27-year-old Portland man has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge in the slaying of his live-in girlfriend, whose body was found in a stream in Bowdoinham.

Joel Olavarria-Rivera entered his plea Monday in Cumberland County Superior Court. He has been held without bail since his arrest four days after a sheriff’s deputy spotted the body of 21-year-old Jennifer Soto in the west branch of the Cathance River.

Olavarria-Rivera, the father of Soto’s two children, had reported that Soto was missing. Police believe she was killed in the couple’s apartment on Oct. 25.