A 20-year-old man has been arrested for the sexual assault and murder of a 4-year-old boy, while the role of the suspect’s mother and the boy’s own mother remain in question.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Keith Jordan Lambing, of Butler County, Pennsylvania, is charged with the rape and homicide of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old son.

Police reportedly apprehended the suspect as he was hiding in the attic of an abandoned home with his mother, Kristen Herold, last Wednesday. The morning before, someone called police to report an unconscious child with Herold in a car in Butler. Authorities found 4-year-old Bentley Peters, son of Lambing’s girlfriend Mackenzie Peters, unresponsive and bleeding. 

The little boy died at Butler Memorial Hospital later that day.

Police told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the boy had severe injuries, with evidence that he had been sodomized. He reportedly had a severe, untreated burn on his left hand and bruises all over his body.

Ms. Herold reportedly told authorities that she had picked up her grandson last Tuesday morning from a Super 8 motel where her son and his girlfriend had been living for several weeks with Bentley and the couple’s infant son.

The infant is now in the custody of child services.

Ms. Herold is charged with child endangerment and hindering apprehension. She and her son are both being held in the Butler County Prison.

It is not yet known if the little boy’s mother will be charged in connection with her son’s death.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the District Attorney may seek the death penalty for Lambing.

“It would appear on its face it asks for the death penalty,” D.A. Richard Goldinger told the newspaper. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

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