Kristen Herold

Starkly different narratives of Kristen Herold’s conduct on March 21 were heard Thursday afternoon at a preliminary hearing that saw contentious exchanges between prosecutors and the defense over the events leading up to the death of 4-year-old Bentley Thomas Miller.

Prosecutors last week filed charges of hindering apprehension or prosecution, endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person against Herold, 43, of Salisbury Court, Wexford.

Butler Township police say Herold provided bad information to investigators about where Bentley was staying on the morning he bled to death after being sexually assaulted, and later tried to help the sole suspect in the crime, her son Keith Jordan Lambing, avoid arrest.

Both Lambing, 20, and Herold were arrested on March 22 after police found them at a home on Walker Avenue. Lambing has been charged with homicide and various sex offenses related to injuries that investigators say caused Bentley’s death, and were inflicted while he was baby-sitting the boy at the Super 8 hotel on Route 8 in Butler Township.

But it was Herold’s alleged role in both Bentley’s death and Lambing’s subsequent flight from the Super 8 that prosecutors were focused on Thursday. Thomas Vensel, a detective with the Butler Township police, testified that Herold’s involvement in the incident began when she picked Bentley up from the motel that morning.

Bentley would have been visibly bleeding from the assault a short time before, investigators have said, and assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz questioned why Herold didn’t immediately call for help.

“Anyone seeing that would have called for help at this point. Instead, she’s not even taking the child to a hospital,” Schultz argued before District Judge Kevin O’Donnell, who presided over the preliminary hearing.

In court documents investigators say that Herold told them that she was taking Bentley to his father’s house when he became unresponsive in the back of her car. She then pulled into the parking lot of Pullman Plaza near the Armco Credit Union, and called for help.

What Herold did after police, EMS and firefighters arrived was also debated Thursday, with Vensel testifying that Herold gave Butler city firefighters and police bad information on where Bentley had been staying and tried to leave the scene while emergency responders tried to revive the child.

“She tried to leave immediately, and a firefighter had to punch the hood of the car to stop her and get more information,” Vensel testified during one testy exchange with defense attorney Al Lindsay over Herold’s emotional state on the morning of March 21.

Lindsay, in asking O’Donnell to dismiss the charges against Herold, argued that prosecutors hadn’t met their burden of proof regarding her conduct after picking up Bentley at the Super 8. He argued that Herold had simply mixed up the name of the Super 8 with the Days Inn, which is across the street, and said Vensel’s testimony didn’t prove she knowingly endangered Bentley’s life by not immediately calling for help.

Earlier in the hearing Lindsay had pressed Vensel on what else Herold had told police that day, and the detective testified that Herold said Bentley had been talkative and alert — calling her “grandma” at the motel, and “asking for Jordan” — at the motel. It wasn’t until several minutes later, while in her vehicle and traveling across Picklegate Crossing that Bentley became unresponsive, Herold told police.

“How on Earth do you justify a (charge of) recklessly endangering when somebody in a car calls for an ambulance,” Lindsay argued. “I just don’t get it. It can’t be sustained.”

Answering questions from reporters after the hearing, Lindsay said that Herold had picked up Bentley after retrieving two other “very young” grandchildren that morning, and they were all in the car when Bentley became unresponsive. He also challenged prosecutors’ contention that Herold was taking Bentley to his father’s home and not the hospital. He claimed that Herold had called Bentley’s father to tell him something was wrong with the boy, and had intended to seek medical help.

“She acted. She called an ambulance because she didn’t think she could get to the hospital in time,” Lindsay told reporters.

Schultz pointed out that investigators have said they believe Herold left the Armco Credit Union parking lot and went directly back to the Super 8 to pick up Lambing rather than going to the hospital, where Bentley was ultimately declared dead at about 10:15 a.m.

“She knew exactly where he (Lambing) was,” Schultz said.

O’Donnell ultimately agreed with Schultz and prosecutors, and held all charges against Herold for court. He also denied a request from Lindsay to reduce the $200,000 bond he imposed last week at her preliminary arraignment.

That portion of Thursday’s proceedings briefly brought Herold to the stand, where she denied giving Lambing money during his flight from police, and testified that she takes care of her 65-year-old mother, who she said has lupus.

District Attorney Richard Goldinger, answering questions after Thursday’s hearing, said prosecutors continue to believe Herold is a flight risk, and might even be in danger, should she be able to post bail.

“Quite frankly, she might be safer where she’s at right now,” Goldinger said.