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DA to file homicide charge in boy's death; suspect still at large

Keith Jordan Lambing

Butler County prosecutors said Wednesday that they plan to file at least one homicide charge against a 20-year-old man who is still wanted for questioning in connection with the death of a 4-year-old Butler boy on Tuesday.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said this morning that his office plans to file at least one count of general homicide against Keith Jordan Lambing. Goldinger said the court filings for that charge had not yet been prepared as of 9 a.m. today.

The decision to charge Lambing comes after 4-year-old Bentley Thomas Miller died Tuesday, from what Goldinger said was fatal bleeding. Police have said the child was being driven to his father's house by Lambing's mother on Tuesday when he became unresponsive in the vehicle. The woman pulled over in the Pullman Square parking lot near Armco Credit Union at about 9:30 a.m. and called for help, and the boy was ultimately taken to Butler Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The circumstances of the boy's death remained largely unclear today. Goldinger declined to go into specifics regarding the findings of an autopsy completed Tuesday afternoon. Butler County Coroner William Young III said that the boy suffered obvious abuse and had a scalding-type burn on one of his hands, as well as bruises on his body, but also declined to speak specifically about his condition.

“It's a bad, bad thing,” Young said. “It's a bad situation.”

Goldinger said that police continue to search for Lambing, whom police have said could be in the Butler City or Saxonburg areas. According to court documents, Lambing most recently lived in the North Hills, but has also lived in Butler and Slippery Rock.

Goldinger advised people to be cautious if they see Lambing, whom police have described as white and about 5 feet 10 inches or 6 feet tall and weighing about 150 pounds. He was last seen wearing blue jeans and black boots.

“Knowing the circumstances of what happened here, I would consider him dangerous,” Goldinger said. “There was some speculation that he did have (access to) firearms, so I would advise the police and the public to be very cautious around him.”

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