Man hiding in ceiling
The manhunt for a person of interest wanted in connection with the death of a 4-year-old Butler boy ended in ignominy.
Keith Jordan Lambing. 20, was nabbed Wednesday afternoon hiding in the ceiling of a closet in a house strewn with clothing and garbage.
He got himself stuck and had to be pulled down by a Butler police officer.
Later, while being led to a police car in handcuffs, a crowd outside the house in the 200 block of Walker Avenue peppered him with jeers and taunts of “baby killer.”
All he could do was drop his head and try to hide his face.
And to add insult to injury, Lambing's mother — holed up with her son — joined him in handcuffs and ended in the Butler County Prison after authorities learned she was wanted on a bench warrant.
“I'm glad to get him off the street,” said Butler police Lt. Chad Rensel, referring to Lambing's capture.
After getting their man, city police turned the “person of interest” in the homicide of Bentley Thomas Miller over to Butler Township police.
Officers from the township police were eager to question Lambing as part of their ongoing investigation that began soon after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday when Kristen Herold, Lambing's 43-year-old mother, drove to the Pullman Square parking lot in Butler.
Inside her car was Bentley, whose tiny body was badly injured. He was unresponsive; not breathing.
Moments earlier, Herold had picked up the boy at the nearby Super 8 motel on Route 8 south in Butler Township.
Investigators believe Lambing and the boy's mother had been recently staying together at the motel.
Paramedics performed CPR on the boy at the shopping plaza lot before he was rushed by ambulance to Butler Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy determined that he bled to death, and officials subsequently ruled the death a homicide.
Investigators, however, have declined to discuss the nature of the injuries, which Butler County Coroner William Young III described as horrific.
Police have interviewed the boy's mother and she is considered neither a suspect nor a person of interest in the case. Authorities believe she was at work when her son suffered his injuries.
Bentley's death quickly morphed into a manhunt for Lambing. Police checked all of his possible hideouts and hangouts Tuesday, but came up empty.
At 8 a.m. Wednesday, state police got a tip that he could be in Saxonburg, said Cpl. Timothy Morando.“We sent three cars out,” he said. A trio of patrol troopers searched the area near the Friedman's supermarket, where Lambing had reportedly been seen.The search was called off about a half-hour later.Fast forward to about 5:30 p.m.Butler Township police notified their city brothers in blue: A tipster claimed Lambing was in hiding in Butler.Four city officers, three township officers and a sheriff's deputy headed out to the target home — a two-story house on Walker Avenue.The home, divided into two apartments, was initially thought to be vacant. But when the team of officers arrived, a woman was seen walking away from the house.She told the officers she lived there. Police did not confirm that; they had a more pressing matter at hand.“We surrounded the house,” Rensel said. “We believed him to be armed.”The suspicion that Lambing could have a weapon was rooted in the tipster's warning that he may have one or two handguns.When they had the house surrounded, officers spotted movement in a side window.“We knew someone was in there,” Rensel said. “We called out, 'Surrender yourself.'”It didn't take long for the call to be answered. Out came a line of four people — Herold and three men, believed to be in their 20s and friends of Lambing.They emerged with hands up and were immediately detained and handcuffed.“Once they came out,” Rensel said, “I asked for confirmation if Jordan Lambing was in there. One of them said, 'Yes.'”The others holed up with Lambing also assured the officers that he had no guns.Word that their target was inside and unarmed meant police were going in.First in was Butler police Sgt. David Villotti, who also is handler of K-9 officer Blade. Man and dog went through the unlocked back door.Service pistols drawn, four other officers followed: two on the first floor and two in the basement.“I made my K-9 announcement,” Villotti said.That declaration — “I'm going to be sending the dog in” — can put the fear in the most hardened criminal.
The announcement also serves as Blade's cue: It's work time for the four-legged officer.“He started barking like crazy,” Villotti said.Within a second or two, from the kitchen, the officer heard yelling from another room, which turned out to be a side bedroom.“I'm here. I'm here. I'm here,” came the voice.Villotti stepped into the room.“I could see his arm and hand sticking out of the closet,” Villotti said of Lambing. “He was hanging out of the ceiling in the closet. But I don't know how he got up in the ceiling.”Lambing told the officer he was stuck and couldn't get down. Villotti obliged.“I grabbed him by the sweatshirt and yanked him out,” the officer said.Almost instantaneously, Lambing was handcuffed. He said nothing — not a peep — after that, police said.He was dressed in black, baggy pants worn over a pair of athletic-type pants. His hooded sweatshirt also was black.“There goes that baby killer,” yelled one or more people as officers escorted him to a waiting police car.Lambing, in response, ducked his head and tried to shield his face.As the evening faded away, city police were done with Lambing. For township police, it was almost just beginning.
