Daily News from New York, New York • 99

1: 000 Lb sflgpogg By SUZANNE SATAUNE in Pittsfield, Mass. and JERE HESTER in New York Daily News Staff Writers A high school dropout charged yesterday with a boy's murder and the attempted kidnaping of a Massachusetts girl has emerged as the prime suspect in the disappearance of little Sara Anne Wood, authorities said. peared while riding her bicycle home from the Litchfield, N.Y., church her father runs. Lent, who pleaded not guilty to kidnaping, armed robbery and assault charges yesterday, was being held without bail. New York State police, meanwhile, put out a warrant yesterday charging Lent with the 1990 murder of 12-year-old Jimmy Bernardo, who was last seen bicycling to the theater where Lent worked.

The possible break in Sara's case which sparked national publicity and a massive search effort came thanks to a Pittsfield girl who police said escaped Lent's clutches and later identified him. While walking to school Friday morning, Rebecca Savarese, 12, was allegedly approached from behind by Lent, who stuck a gun in her back and ordered her to get in his pickup truck. But the quick-thinking seventh-grader distracted the suspect by pretending to hy- And police were looking into whether former movie theater custodian Lewis Lent 43, of North Adams, might be linked to additional child abductions, they said. Aided by bloodhounds, state troopers yesterday scoured the snow-shrouded Adirondack Mountains, near the lake Lent told cops he visited last summer around the time Sara, 12, of Frankfort, N.Y., vanished. The search, due to resume today, covered a half-mile area along Route 28 near Racquette Lake about 70 miles from the dirt road where the seventh-grader was snatched Aug.

18. He was a loner "This subject is a prime suspect," New York State Police Col. Wayne Bennett said of Lent, described as a loner by former co-workers. Volunteers have distributed more than 3 million posters of the 5-foot girl with curly brown hair, who disap- CANADA perventilate, then ran away. Police, acting on her description of the truck, later found and arrested him.

Lent long had been sought in connection with the slaying of Bernardo, who was abducted in October 1990. The boy's naked body was found in a wooded area near Ithaca. N.Y., a month later. 'Incriminating' words Lent made "incriminating" statements about the Bernardo case to Massachusetts police, and yesterday afternoon New York State police issued a warrant charging him in the boy's murder. Fred Lantz, a spokesman for Pittsfield District Attorney Gerald Downing, said police were looking into "a good number" of other child abductions to see if there were any links to Lent.

Tops on their list was the slaying of Holly Piirainen, 10, who disappeared from a secluded road near her grandparents' summer cottage in Sturbridge, in August about two weeks before Sara disappeared. The child's skeletal remains were found in October by two hunters in the Brim-field, woods. Sara's family remained in seclusion, as Lent's former boss recalled the bulky, bespectacled man as someone "nobody would bother with." "He just wasn't one of those guys you could love," said Richard Baumann, manager of the Pittsfield Cinema Center, who fired Lent over a year ago. "There was nothing about him that was personable." Police said Lent, who has lived in New York, Florida and Massachusetts, moved to North Adams about a year ago and had been working odd jobs. With Miguel Garcilazo in Vtiea, JV.V.

MISSING: The arrest of a Massachusetts man in the killing of a young boy spurs hope that the disappearance of Sara Anne Wood (above in family photo) finally will be solved. DOh cing(gpy star scamsdl the IMs UUcaFrankfort" NEW YORK Ithaca Newfteld 50 miles PA. Racquette i Lake VERMONT Adirondack! N.H. ram S-Jj-North Iriama Albany MASS, Pittsfield BnmfieldJ CONN. TRINE GLCVER DAILY NEWS mm.

I I I By SUZANNE SATE LINE in Pittsfield, Mass and JERE HESTER in New York Daily News Staff Writers Jenny Miller and Amy Slonski know Lewis Lent Jr. all too well: He was the one who used to stare at the children during Saturday matinees in the darkened Pitts-field Cinema in Massachusetts. "We tried not to get up to go to the bathroom," recalled Amy, 12. "We'd see him just stand- 'if 1 had gotten into that truck 1 think I would have ended up someplace Rebecca Savarese ing there watching everybody," 12-year-old Jenny said of the former movie house custodian. The pair shuddered at the thought of Lent, as they hung out last night with their best friend, Rebecca Savarese, whose quick thinking led to Lent's arrest and possibly saved her life.

The 43-year-old North Adams, man was charged yesterday with the murder of one child, was declared a suspect in the abduction of Sara Anne Wood and may be linked to other crimes against children. He was charged in the 1990 murder of 12-year-old Jimmy Bernardo, who was last seen bicycling to the theater where Lent worked until he was fired about a year ago. "Jimmy was a real good kid," said Jenny, who went to camp with the slain youth. Rebecca, 12, recalled yesterday how she escaped from Lent after he allegedly tried to force her into his black truck at gunpoint. "If I had gotten into that truck I think I would have ended up someplace dead," she said.

1 Cft 01 a 0) nTuri TifiWi J-t-i -y iliiM fc limnrn ia YOUNGSTERS, from left, Jenny Miner, Lisa Soutnara, ReDecca Savarese ana Amy SionsKi, an 12, recall suspect in child abduction cases. ovio manoschuh.