Kidnap suspect appears in court

--- Orlin Wagner/The Associated Press

By MARGARET STAFFORD

The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Kan. --- The man suspected of abducting a 10-year- old girl was cleanshaven and using a wheelchair Monday during his initial court appearance in the case.

Keith D. Nelson, 24, was wheeled into a federal courtroom in Kansas City, Kan., to hear a kidnapping charge read against him in the death of Pamela Butler.

Nelson, who suffered leg and knee injuries last week as authorities searched for him, responded "Yes, sir," three times when U.S. Magistrate David Waxse read the charge to him and asked Nelson if he understood.

Security at the hearing was tight, with armed guards accompanying Nelson from the University of Kansas Medical Center to the federal courthouse. Several guards were in the courtroom for the five-minute hearing.

FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said the security was necessary because of the intense media attention the case has received. He said, however, that he was unaware of any threats against Nelson.

Nelson currently is charged only with kidnapping Pamela from her home in Kansas City, Kan., on Oct. 12. After an intense search, her body was found Friday in Grain Valley, Mo.

The case will be transferred from federal court in Kansas to the western district of Missouri. A detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Missouri.

Because Pamela was abducted in Kansas but found dead in Missouri, federal courts in both states had jurisdiction. Lanza said the case was moved to Missouri after consultation between U.S. Attorney Stephen Hill, of Missouri, and court officials in Kansas.

Hill will decide when or if to file further charges against Nelson, Lanza said. A federal kidnapping charge can carry the death penalty.

No members of Pamela Butler's family were present.

Pamela will be buried Wednesday at 11 a.m. at The CrossRoads Church in Kansas City, Kan., with visitation there from 4 to 8 p.m. today. Burial will be in Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, also in Kansas City, Kan.

On Sunday, a special service was held in her memory at the Grain Valley Christian Church, near where Pamela's body was found.

"With all the words we've heard --- like snatched, abducted, seized --- this has been our pain, too," said the Rev. David Pillow.

Paul Butler, Pamela's father, was grateful for the support.

"If it hadn't have been for everybody pitching in to help us, and all their prayers and love, I know we couldn't have gotten through this," he said. "In fact, I would have wanted to join her myself."

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