Camden resident Nathaniel Osbourne may have helped John Allen Muhammad purchase the car allegedly customized by Muhammad and his alleged accomplice to carry out a three-week reign of sniper terror in the D.C. area, but he had nothing to do with the 13 shootings, his attorney said yesterday.

Osbourne, who co-owned the blue Chevrolet Caprice believed to have been used in the attacks that left 10 people dead and three injured, agreed yesterday to be moved to federal custody in Maryland and is fully cooperating with authorities, his attorney said.

Osbourne's lawyer, Kenneth R. Sasse, and a relative who let Osbourne stay at his Camden apartment, say the 26-year-old Jamaican native barely knows Muhammad.

"I don't think he has any knowledge or involvement in the shootings," Sasse said after Osbourne's detention hearing in Flint, Mich., where he was apprehended Saturday.

But investigators think Osbourne has some knowledge that may be helpful as they continue sorting out one of the country's worst sniper serial killing cases, which has touched five states and the nation's capital.

That's why they obtained a material witness warrant for Osbourne's arrest. Investigators want to know how long Muhammad, 41, and Osbourne knew each other; what knowledge Osbourne has, if any, of Muhammad's movements up to and during the time of the killings; and in what other ways might Osbourne have helped Muhammad and his alleged accomplice, John Lee Malvo.

Officials said Osbourne is not suspected of carrying out any of the attacks, which began Oct. 2 and ended Oct. 22.

Osbourne, 26, spoke briefly and quietly as U.S. Magistrate Wallace Capel questioned him about child support payments and other financial matters. U.S. marshals are to take Osbourne to Maryland in the next few days.

Osbourne was arrested May 30 in a domestic violence case but has no known outstanding warrants.

Muhammad and Malvo, 17, will be charged today in Virginia, where three of the killings took place. Maryland prosecutors have already filed the first murder charges against Muhammad and Malvo. And the suspects face murder charges in Alabama unrelated to the sniper shootings. They also could be charged with federal extortion and murder counts that could bring the death penalty.

Osbourne helped Muhammad buy the 1990 Chevy in which Muhammad and Malvo were arrested Thursday at a rest stop near Frederick, Md.

The car was purchased Sept. 10 for $250 from Sure Shot Auto Sales Inc. in Trenton. Muhammad and Osbourne registered it the next day in Camden, listing their address as 1400 Sheridan St.

Authorities say a hole had been cut in the trunk through which someone could have fired a rifle on unsuspecting victims.

Michael Clarke, owner of the property at 1400 Sheridan - a Jamaican restaurant with an apartment above - said Osbourne's involvement with Muhammad was minimal.

Clarke said that Osbourne was his cousin by marriage.

Clarke said Osbourne had eaten at the restaurant several times in August in the company of a teen-ager, whom Clarke believes was Malvo.

Osbourne lived off and on with a girlfriend in the apartment for part of the past year, said Clarke.

Osbourne was trying to become licensed as a bus driver, and was also trying to become certified in working with the disabled. He divided his time between Trenton and Camden, Clarke said.

Osbourne entered the United States in 1996. Officials said yesterday they were unsure of his visa status.

The Rev. Charlie Byrd, who said he owns the Michigan home where Osbourne was arrested and lives nearby, said Osbourne was visiting a woman who lives there and was considering marrying her. He said the couple came to him briefly Wednesday for counseling.

Douglas Gansler, state's attorney in Montgomery County, Md., said he believes his state should prosecute the case against Muhammad and Malvo first, but acknowledged that the toughest sentence Malvo could get in Maryland would be life without the possibility of parole.

Federal law enforcement authorities are reviewing possible charges relating to extortion and murder that might allow for all the shootings to be combined in a single case and would allow for the death penalty on conviction, a Jusice Department official said. Letters left behind in the sniper slayings demanded $10 million to stop the killings.