Woman charged in connection with 4-year-old boy's death; charges to be filed against man

A woman was charged Friday in connection with the death of a 4-year-old boy.

Kristen Lee Herold is charged with child endangerment in connection with the death of Bentley Miller, Channel 11's Amy Marcinkiewicz reported.

Her son, Keith Jordan Lambing, will be charged with one count of criminal homicide in connection with the boy's death, the district attorney said Thursday.

Police said they found Herold and Lambing hiding in an attic at a Walker Avenue home in Butler on Wednesday.  Both Lambing and Herold are in jail on bench warrants.

Police said both suspects had a role in the boy's death, the details of which are reportedly so horrific that search warrants have been sealed so that no one besides law enforcement officials has the information.

The district attorney said Lambing was watching the boy for a few hours at a motel while the boy's mother was at work. According to police sources, Miller suffered substantial injuries to his body, including cuts and bruises. His death was ruled a homicide.

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Lambing and the child's mother had been staying at the Super 8 Motel in Butler with their 4-month-old baby at the time of the boy’s death. The motel’s general manager said the couple paid daily rates.

“He was watching the child. The mother had gone to work that morning, and he was watching the child,” Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said Wednesday at a news conference.

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Goldinger said Lambing called his mother, Herold, because the boy was in need of medical attention. According to a criminal complaint, Herold was taking Miller to his father's house -- not to a hospital, as initially reported -- when the boy stopped breathing.

Herold pulled into the parking lot of a credit union on Hanson Avenue and called 911, stating the boy was bleeding and unresponsive. Police said that when the boy was taken by ambulance, Herold allegedly went back to the motel to alert her son and to help him escape.

Herold remains in jail on $200,000 bond.

Lambing was in court Friday on a different case. The judged revoked his bond and the prosecutor called him a murder suspect. At last check, the criminal complaint is ready, just needing a judge to sign off on it.

Stay with Channel 11 News and WPXI.com for continuing coverage. 

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