DA: Homicide suspect, mother to be charged
BUTLER TWP — Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said Thursday that he expects to file criminal charges against Keith Jordan Lambing and his mother, Kristen Herold, within the next 24 hours.
Goldinger, who said that Lambing is now considered a suspect, said the exact timing and nature of charges against the pair, who were arrested Wednesday afternoon after being found hiding in a home on Walker Avenue, would depend on how an investigation by Butler Township police proceeds.
“As soon as they're able to complete what they need to do, criminal charges are going to be filed against both of them,” Goldinger said.
Authorities remain tight-lipped about their investigation into the death of 4-year-old Bentley Thomas Miller.
“We're not releasing any further information,” Butler Township police Lt. Matthew Pearson said this morning. “We have more investigating to do and when there are developments in the case, we will release that.”
Lambing, 20, was caught hiding in a closet ceiling. His mother, Kristen Herold, 43, of Butler, and three other men were also found in the home.
Police were anxious to speak to Lambing since he was taking care of Bentley at a Butler Township motel at the time the boy died.
Police have released few other details. Pearson refused to say if Lambing spoke to police after he was taken into custody Wednesday.
“We're going to be busy doing this for weeks,” Pearson said of the investigation.
He said investigators are also awaiting lab results of forensic evidence collected in the case.
Lambing remains in the Butler County Prison a bench warrant in an unrelated case. Herold also is in the county prison for failing to make court-ordered payments in a 2014 shoplifting conviction.
Goldinger said he expects both to remain in jail as the investigation proceeds. According to county court administrators Lambing is expected to have a hearing on his bench warrant sometime tomorrow, but Goldinger said that regardless of the outcome, Lambing will remain in jail on a probation detainer.
Herold is also expected to go before a judge no sooner than tomorrow, Goldinger said. He said prosecutors will ask a district judge to set a “high' bond for her, because she is viewed as a flight risk and Goldinger expects to charge her with hidering apprehension.
Pearson said police have not ruled out charging Herold, possibly for hindering apprehension of her son.
