Authorities charge Butler County mother of slain 4-year-old with child endangerment

The mother of Bentley Miller, the 4-year-old Butler County boy police said was killed by his mother's boyfriend last week, was charged Thursday with child endangerment, court records show.

MacKenzie Paige Peters, 21, knew about a severe burn her son had suffered while in the care of her boyfriend, but she did not seek treatment for the boy, according to the criminal complaint. Police also said they found drug paraphernalia in the motel room where they'd been staying.

Peters is charged with felony child endangerment.

The boyfriend, Keith Jordan Lambing, was watching the boy March 21 at a Butler Township motel when police say he sexually assaulted the child to the point that he later bled to death, according to the criminal complaint filed Monday. The couple had been staying at the Super 8 Motel on Pittsburgh Road for several days.

Charges against Lambing include homicide and rape of a child. District Attorney Richard Goldinger said Tuesday he plans to seek the death penalty against Lambing.

In addition to the severe burn, which investigators think came from an iron, police said the autopsy showed bruising to the boy's head, trunk and extremities.

Lambing called his own mother, Kristen Lee Herold, the morning of March 21 and asked her to pick up the child, police wrote in the complaint. Herold, 43, was driving the child to his biological father's house — not to a hospital — when the boy became unresponsive.

It wasn't until the child lost consciousness that Herold pulled over and called for paramedics, according to the complaint. She told police the child was bleeding when she picked him up, and paramedics noted he was “bleeding excessively” when they arrived.

Miller was pronounced dead at Butler Memorial Hospital less than an hour later, police have said.

Herold was arrested last week in relation to the case. She faces charges of endangering the welfare of children, reckless endangerment and hindering apprehension.

Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-380-8519 or mguza@tribweb.com.