NEW CASTLE Man faces hearing in kidnappings

Reed also faces three charges in Butler County.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A man accused of taking his girlfriend's three children will face a preliminary hearing on kidnapping charges Jan. 4.
Dennis C. Reed, 30, of Sankey Street was sent back to Butler County Jail on Friday after failing to make $300,000 bond set at his arraignment on two of the kidnapping charges. Reed had been arraigned on one kidnapping charge Monday morning.
Matthew Mangino, Lawrence County district attorney, said police here are still investigating the death of the children's mother, Wendy Miller, 28, who was found dead Sunday near the Neshannock Creek.
Shotgun wound: An autopsy revealed that she died of a shotgun wound to the back of her head.
Miller and three of her four children were reported missing by her brother Dec. 17.
Police found the children, ages 5, 6 and 8, with Reed in Butler after he was arrested by Butler police. Reed faces drug and weapon charges there.
Reed is not the children's father and did not have permission to take them from home, says a police affidavit filed to support the kidnapping charges. Reed is the father of Miller's 12-year-old son, who was with other family members.
Authorities said Miller's younger children were unharmed when found with Reed on Dec. 22.
According to reports: The police affidavit says Reed forced his way into Miller's Sankey Street home Dec. 15 where the two argued and eventually Miller and the children left with him.
They drove to Neshannock Village, a housing complex, where Reed and Miller left the children in the car and went into nearby woods, the affidavit says.
Reed returned alone and had been living in the car with the children for about a week when he was arrested in Butler, the court document said.
At his hearing Friday, Reed said he had not met with an attorney and asked for a new hearing date.
District Justice Melissa Amodie advised Reed that he faces up to 60 years in prison and up to a $75,000 fine if convicted of the kidnapping charges.
In Butler County, Reed is being held on a $50,000 bond. Police there charged him with carrying a firearm without a license, possession of a controlled substance, and a possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.