The house at 213 Walker Ave., Butler where Jordan Lambing and his mother Kristen Herold were taken into custody as part of the investigation by Butler Township Police into the death of Bentley Miller.

The manhunt for a person of interest wanted in connection with the death of a 4-year-old Butler boy ended in shame and disgrace.

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.

Bentley's death quickly morphed into a manhunt for Lambing. Police checked all his possible hideouts and hangouts Tuesday, but came up empty.

About 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.

For more details, see today's Butler Eagle.